I had read this years ago, and after rereading it this year, I remember how good this novel was. Yes, I am aware that Haldeman was writing this in part as a response to the Vietnam War and all that other academic interest. But this is just a very good science fiction novel as well. It is fast paced once it gets going, and it is a very quick and easy read. Haldeman does well in character development, especially looking at Mandela's character who goes from private to major in the space of a few years, or a lot of centuries, depending on who's counting on what calendar. This is thanks to the wonders of time dilation and space travel. There is some science and physics involved, but it is just the right amount to make the novel work and give us the image of a soldier who stays eternal and fights on.

If you have not read it, I will not reveal the ending, which is not only interesting, but it makes a nice twist. The novel also makes some interesting social commentaries including issues such as evolution of the human race and even heterosexuality and homosexuality. If you don't read it for the adventure, you may be interested in those angles of the book. I think the novel, given the current war on terror, gains a new relevancy, and that may be another reason to read (or reread) the novel. It is a classic of science fiction, an award winner, and if you read it, you'll see why. ( )

With the publication of The Arthurian Encyclopedia in 1986 students were able to access, in one volume, academic discussion on a range of Arthurian topics — art, history, literature, fiction, drama, music and cinema for example — across space and time, all listed in alphabetical order. In 1991 an updated hardback edition was published as — naturally — The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, followed by a paperback edition in 1996 which was itself supplemented by an addendum detailing video games and new fiction that had appeared in the intervening years.

Anybody remotely interested in Arthurian matters should own or at least have regular access to this last volume, despite its desperate need to be updated yet again some two decades on from its last publication. With its multiplicity of contributors the Encyclopedia is authoritiative and wide-ranging, from book-length entries covering Arthurian literature in most European languages to short descriptions of minor authors of Arthurian-related fiction, from films to computer games (though many of these will be positively antediluvian by now) and from two- and three-dimensional artwork to drama on both stage and screen. All entries are credited to one or more named contributors and many include a select bibliography. Packed into over 600 pages is a preface and lists of the hundred-plus contributors, entries by category and illustrations, followed by a bibliography and a chronology (up to 1990) before we even get to the encyclopedia proper, index and supplement (1990-1995). From Accolon of Gaul to Roger Zelazny and El Libro del Cabellero Zifar we are led through a bewildering array of Arthurian-inspired themes and obsessions, some very tenuous and others central to any consideration of our hero.

While largely dominated by North American contributors there is a broad field of interpretation, and in only a few ways is the scholarly material dated: this is mostly in the historical field where, for example, the Sarmatian and Riothamus origin theories are given approval (by being accorded serious discussion) despite the flaws inherent in any speculative reconstruction of Arthurian identity and chronology. That said, these are small niggles given the value of this compendium of Arthuriana; it has a pride of place on my shelves, and I heartily recommend to any enthusiast.

But if a new edition of The New Arthurian Encyclopedia is ever planned, what would they call it?

http://wp.me/p2oNj1-yu ( )