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Editorial Review Product Description
A blessed king who strives for peace and justice; the round table where only the most gallant knights may sit; the dramatic quest for the Holy Grail; a fateful romance that destroys a dream: the epic story of King Arthur never fails to stir the imaginations of readers everywhere. This outstanding illustrated version adds to Sir Thomas Malory's skillful recounting with original artwork that creates a unique vision of Camelot. Some of these breathtaking, elaborate watercolors and pens-and-inks have hung in museums, including the depiction of the Tintagel Castle, the Sword in the Stone, Merlin and Nimue, and Guenevere rescued from the stake. With remarkable accuracy, Anna-Marie Ferguson captures every nuance of the historical period-the knights' shining armor, the intricate architecture, and the English forests with their abundant flora and fauna. Yet she also revels in the fantasy, with mysterious and magical landscapes, misty and moonlit. These legends have always been a treat for the mind-and now they are a feast for the eyes, too.
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Review of the Winchester Manuscript from Oxford World Classics
This is a review of Le Morte D'Arthur: The Winchester Manuscript (Oxford World's Classics).I haven't read numerous other editions, so I can't compare this, but what I can say is that you'll be a richer person for reading this book.I don't claim that it will be easy, as significant amounts of historical English permeate the text.After a little while, though, your brain will switch over and it will be easier.There are a tremendous number of endnotes to help the reader along and a table of translations that also comes in handy.
Months after reading this I still find myself recalling the characters and stories.If you've never read it, this is as good an edition as any and I truly am happy I read this book.
Idealism Doomed by Human Weakness
Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur " is perhaps the best-known version of the Arthurian legends in English. Despite the title, "the death of Arthur", the work does not deal solely with King Arthur's death but rather with the whole of his life and reign. The error appears to have originated with Malory's first publisher William Caxton who applied the title of Malory's final section to the entire work. The book retells some well-known stories from French and English sources, such as the Sword in the Stone, the Quest for the Holy Grail, the romance of Tristan and Isolde, the adulterous love between Lancelot and Guinevere and the death of King Arthur at the hands of the traitor Mordred. One of the book's eight sections, the Tale of Sir Gareth, appears to be Malory's own invention.
The identity of the author is not precisely known. During the time it was being written, during the 1450s and 1460s, there were at least six men named Thomas Malory living in England, but most (although not all) modern scholars attribute the work to Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire. This individual lived from around 1413 to 1470, so would have lived through the latter part of the Hundred Years War as well as the Wars of the Roses. He appears to have been a colourful character who served as an MP for Warwickshire but also served time in prison for various offences including rape and robbery. There is an irony if such a man was indeed the author of Le Morte D'Arthur, as one of the work's major themes is how one might reconcile two of the great preoccupations of the Middle Ages, love of God and love of violence.
There is some doubt as to whether King Arthur ever existed, and to judge from Caxton's preface there were some people who had doubts about his existence even in the 1400s. Malory, however, presents his work as though it were the true story of a real historical figure who lived about a thousand years before his own time. The work is, however, anachronistic in that the society which Malory describes bears a much greater resemblance to that of the fifteenth century than it does to that of the fifth. Malory even makes reference to cannon, even though firearms were only introduced into Europe about a century before his birth. (Mind you, the only character who actually makes use of guns is Mordred. Perhaps Malory saw them as the coward's weapon.)
Indeed, the whole work is based around an anachronism. Although fifth-century societies had warriors, they had no concept of the institution of knighthood or chivalry, something which grew up in the later Middle Ages. This institution may have developed in an attempt to reconcile warfare with Christian ideals. In "Le Morte d'Arthur" these ideals are represented by the Pentecostal Oath sworn by the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur makes his knights swear that they will only fight in a righteous cause, show mercy to defeated opponents, uphold justice, fight against oppression, protect the poor and weak and respect the chastity of women.
A key concept in the book is "honour"- except that Malory generally does not use this Norman-French loanword, preferring the native English "worship", with all its religious connotations. A knight can gain worship by mighty feats of arms, provided they are performed in a worthy cause. A knight will lose worship if he fights in an evil cause or if he fights unfairly, such as by striking an opponent who is wounded or unhorsed.
Yet despite this note of idealism, Malory's vision is at heart a pessimistic one. The only knight who wholly lives up to these ideals is Galahad, who is rewarded with a vision of the Holy Grail but dies young. Galahad's father Lancelot, in other respects a paragon of knighthood, is deemed unworthy because of his adultery with Queen Guinevere, and most of the other knights fall a lot further short of the ideals expressed in the Pentecostal Oath than does Lancelot. Even Arthur himself, although initially presented as a beacon of hope, is far from being an idealised monarch- he fathers a child, for instance, by his own sister. It is the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere which leads to the civil war which devastates the kingdom, to the downfall of the Round Table and to the death of Arthur. Malory was doubtless inspired to write these passages by the civil war which had devastated England in his own lifetime and his message is clear; idealism is doomed to failure by human weakness.
My comments are based upon the Wordsworth edition which modernises the spelling and punctuation but otherwise leaves the text as it was first published by Caxton. The modern reader's main problem with the work is unlikely to be Malory's language- there are only a handful of unfamiliar vocabulary items, and the Wordsworth edition provides a helpful glossary of these- but his long-winded prose style and tendency to repeat himself. Apart from the Holy Grail sequences, which are more like an extended religious allegory, the narrative tends to fall into a very familiar pattern- Knight A rides out, meets Knight B, fights with him, overcomes him and then moves on to a fight with Knight C, which is described in similar terms. Even Malory's similes become repetitive- two knights fighting are generally likened to two wild boars hurtling together, even though these creatures had been extinct in England for around two hundred years at the time he was writing. Malory's passion for informing us exactly how many knights Lancelot or Gawaine unhorsed at some particular tournament recalls that of the football anorak who can recite by heart all Sheffield Wednesday's results from the 1956-57 season.
Some modern editions abridge the text, and I can understand why. "Le Morte D'Arthur" may be the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature today, but "well-known" does not always equate to "widely read", and I suspect that most readers today will owe their familiarity with the story to a modern retelling. The original, at least in its unabridged form, will probably be of most interest to those with an academic interest in the development of English literature.
Boring? Stupid?
This is not a review of any particular edition, but of the work in general and I only put this here in response to a number of one-star reviews scattered about various editions available on Amazon.
Often a reviewer will say the book is "boring" and "stupid" then give it a one-star rating. Some reviewers go on to recommend some outrageous alternative (like a video game) so I am not sure if all those reviewers are serious or not, but they do get a couple of things right -- it does get repetitive ("long and boring"?) and some of the characters do some very stupid things (like blindly promising to grant anyone pretty much whatever they ask for before knowing what it will be).
But all that has a purpose. It eases you into accepting and joining that reality -- falling in love with that imaginary time and place. The story starts with light hearted and humorous episodes -- good deeds are done, victories are won, valor is rewarded, romances consummated (or not) -- but as you go through the "boring" parts it slowly gets darker and darker. When it all comes to its (by then) inevitable end it really means something to you. Just where did things go wrong? Where is Merlin when you need him?
"HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE"
("Shame be to him who thinks evil of it")
Modernized Malory
This 1962 translation of Sir Thomas Malory's account of the King Arthur legend has many things to recommend it. Robert Graves, a historical novelist of just renown, writes an introduction telling us about Malory's life, the good, the bad and the ugly. We get the benefit of Graves' scholarship as well as his authorly insight. Malory, born a gentleman, was a Member of Parliament for Warwickshire in 1445, but he turned rogue and robber five years later and was imprisoned in Newgate.There he languished, wrote this collection of tales about King Arthur and there he died.
The text is a pleasure to read.Keith Baines has walked a narrow line with razor sharp accuracy.He gives us the action in clear, crisp language that contains no jarring anachronisms.This is important because the ornamental nature of Malory's fifteenth century prose is a two-edged sword.Despite the beauty of the prose, it's heavy going for a modern reader.
The importance of Sir Thomas Malory's work can hardly be overstated.Writing in the fifteenth century, he still had access to earlier works and oral legends that have been lost to later ages.In Malory's work, the legend of Arthur becomes codified into the romantic love triangle of king-queen-leading knight that still inspires a diverse collection of writers.Every era sees a definitive retelling of this story changing the emphasis and details to make King Arthur forever young.
I love this edition and it grieves me to see that it is out of print and has become a rarity. Some copyright hindrance must be the issue as this book does not lack in excellence.
A great story beautifully told
From beginning to end, this story braces the imagination, and takes one to a place and time where faith, honor, and courage were central.You just may find yourself admiring and beginning to love some of the knights and damsels you're reading about.When I finished the book and put it on the shelf, it was a lot like saying good-bye to a friend.
What makes the book even better for a modern is that Mr. Matthews' edition has rendered it extremely readable, while still keeping the ancient flavor that helps put aside for a moment the outlook of the present century.And Ms. Ferguson's excellent drawings of various scenes, interspersed throughout, are further delights that help the mind paint its own pictures along the way.
It is said that Arthur's story is known throughout the world.That must be in part because the story is great; and this edition tells it very well.
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