Seaworth'sShipmate Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 What is the best medium for reading about the "King Arthur" cycle? I know it is the ancient precursor of modern fantasy, and has influenced ASOIAF to a degree. The problem is when I have read a part of Thomas Malory's work, it feels so stale and the characters a bit lifeless. Perhaps because he wanted to write it as an actually history? I have heard that "Idylls of the King" by Alfred Lord Tennyson is one of the better ones. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lies And Perfidy Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 I wrote on this topic a couple years back! Here's a TLDR of my recs, for those who don't wanna slog through a whole article. The Once & Future King, TH White - The best.Mists of Avalon, Marrion Zimmer Bradley - Important reinterpretation, not actually super well-written.The Pendragon Cycle, Steven Lawhead - Philosophical counterpoint to Mists, same purple prose issues.The Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell - Realistic Gritty Arthur.The Wicked Day, Mary Stewart - Mordred-centric. Actually the 4th in a series but the only one that focuses on the Arthur era (rather than Merlin.)The Pendragon, Catherine Christian - Obscure semi-historical interpretation. Really good.Arthur Rex, Thomas Berger - Almost a loving parody, plays with the Malory high-style and tropes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liffguard Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Seconding The Warlord Chronicles. Really well written. Moody as hell. The scene where Merlin tries to summon the gods of Britain is one of my favourite "magic" scenes in literature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 It depends, I really liked modern translations of the medieval texts. Many from the continental traditions (Wolfram von Eschenbach, Cretien de Troyes) but also some of the English works, perhaps choose some that are more epic than Mallory. Eta: some of the pre-Arthurian Welsh works collected in the Mabinogion are quit interesting as well, and of course Gawain and the Green Knight is a classic in its own right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 I would go with the Merlin trilogy by Mary Stewart, The Warlords trilogy by Cornwell, and The Sword at Sunset by Sutcliffe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leofric Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 The Boy's King Arthur edited by Sidney Lanier and illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, one of the first books I ever owned and I still have it. The illustrations are phenomenal. Totally agree with the Merlin books by Mary Stewart and the Warlord chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The BlackBear Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I have this really vague memory of a series based around Arthurian legend. There were more than one book. There was some weird thing where some guy turned into a wolf, and a raven that was really perverted, Arthur was stuck in some dream world, and there was a war with the saxons going on. I gave up when there was weird Merlin magic rape. I kind of want to have another go at it. Am I totally mad, or does anyone else know what I'm talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 goodness, don't mess around with modern stuff, which can't be properly evaluated without reading the 1,000+ years worth of material on which it is purportedly premised. start therefore early and work up to malory as the definitive statement of the mythology in english, who is incidentally not writing history but rather a merger of the then-current chronicle and romance forms.begin then with the quasi-historicals: relevant sections from bede's historia ecclesiastica gentis anglorum, gildas' de excidio et conquestu britanniae, nennius' historia brittonum, and the respective welsh and anglo-saxon chronicles.then jump to the mabinogion and galfridus' historia regum britanniae, which tries to be quasi-historical, but is just made up. we jump across the channel for wace & layamon (malory's oft-cited 'frynsshe booke'), and for chretien and then beroul. make sure to grab along the way the alliterative morte arthure, the stanzaic morte arthur, and the well-taught gawain and green knight, too.there is of course much else in french, german, and so on, both sources and analogues, but this is a start. as a coda in english, read the faerie queene, and then maybe treat yourself to the tennyson (it's alright) and twain's connecticut yankee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lies And Perfidy Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 While I love me some Celtic mythistory, I can't help but think that someone who found Malory "stale and...lifeless" might be more interested in novel-format Arthur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 nah. he asked for what's best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malik Ambar Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 King Arthur's Disasters. Now that's a cartoon,...... but still Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scortius the charioteer Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 The Pendragon, is an overlooked classic of Arthurian lit I think. It's my favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteGabriel Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 The Pendragon, is an overlooked classic of Arthurian lit I think. It's my favorite. The one by Catherine Christian? I think Lies and Perfidy recommended that one too, in the first reply. I loved it dearly when I first read it, and I re-read it a couple of times, but that was 20 years ago. I wonder how it'd hold up if I read it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love2Read Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I wrote on this topic a couple years back! Here's a TLDR of my recs, for those who don't wanna slog through a whole article. The Once & Future King, TH White - The best. Mists of Avalon, Marrion Zimmer Bradley - Important reinterpretation, not actually super well-written. The Pendragon Cycle, Steven Lawhead - Philosophical counterpoint to Mists, same purple prose issues. The Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell - Realistic Gritty Arthur. The Wicked Day, Mary Stewart - Mordred-centric. Actually the 4th in a series but the only one that focuses on the Arthur era (rather than Merlin.) The Pendragon, Catherine Christian - Obscure semi-historical interpretation. Really good. Arthur Rex, Thomas Berger - Almost a loving parody, plays with the Malory high-style and tropes. I'm definitely going to check out The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. I'm enjoying his Saxon Chronicles, finishing up the 3rd book in the series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaßvogel Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Le Morte d'Arthur is my favorite. I also agree, however, that Once & Future King by TH White is the best, for a variety of reasons. Man I hated Mists of Avalon. Perceived importance doesn't mean it merits being on any lists. I remember how much my Arthurian Lit teacher hated it, too. When asked why it wasn't in her syllabus she replied "Well, this is an ARTHURIAN LITERATURE course." And left it at that. I had a junior-high librarian who had me read it because she knew how much I loved books about King Arthur, I never took her advice again. Barf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dlrsa Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Le Morte d'Arthur is my favorite. I also agree, however, that Once & Future King by TH White is the best, for a variety of reasons. Man I hated Mists of Avalon. Perceived importance doesn't mean it merits being on any lists. I remember how much my Arthurian Lit teacher hated it, too. When asked why it wasn't in her syllabus she replied "Well, this is an ARTHURIAN LITERATURE course." And left it at that. I had a junior-high librarian who had me read it because she knew how much I loved books about King Arthur, I never took her advice again. Barf.Could it be that you are male? I understand why a female librarian would have recommended the Mists of Avalon, it's more female oriented than the majority of male dominant Arthurian writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Sure sounded like his professor who hated it was female. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyanidePie Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Bernard Cornwell's trilogy The Warlord Chronicles is the best series I've ever read about Arthur. Really hope to see a trilogy of movies based on those books one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Slightly off topic but I'm just listening to an old podcast of "in our time" (BBC radio) and they are discussing Mallory's Mort D'Arthur. The introduction is that Mallory was a bit of a thug at a time when being a thug in England was all the rage. I didn't realise he wrote it in prison. I'll listen to the rest on the way home and let you know if there's any other fun insights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galactus Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 T.H. White is arguably THE modern version. Mists is OK for what it does, but has issues (and depending on your views you might not want to give MZB's estate your money) I'm not very fond of "historical" Arthur, as I feel they kind of miss the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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