I’m curious of reading the stories about King Arther, but querying amazon produces a flood of titles, and I have no idea which ones are best.
A nice comprehensive selection of stories for someone who doesn’t know too much about king arthur. Any suggestions?
I recommend turning straight to the originals – the Old French narratives, Chretien de Troyes, and the anonymous epics. I don’t have my books in front of me, so I can’t really be responsible for titles, but the tales, despite being set in Ireland/British Isles, were first and best told by the first and best of their tellers. I wouldn’t trust an Englishman with this stuff. Too important (and yet not so important that I can remember any bibliographical details, evidently).
I also recommend Jack Spicer’s volume of poetry about the legends (in “The Collected Books of Jack Spicer,” Black Sparrow Press) for entertainment and enlightenment. These aren’t “true to life” tales, but they work.
Don’t forget Wolfram von Eschenbach!
Eugene Vinaver has an edited-down edition (c. 230pp rather than c650pp) of Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. It includes most of the tales that you’re likely to be familiar with when you think “Arthur” (but, unfortunately, a grossly truncated Grail story) and a few surprises.
Really, though, I’d just dive in to a complete edition of Malory.
Fixed title.
If you want a good, readable version, you can always start with Howard Pyle’s book. It’s for kids, but it tries to tell the story straight – adult versions always interpret them. For pure, unvarnished Arthur, read Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, the acknowledged first book we have to detail King Arthur. Note that it’s significantly different from the version you know.
The other classic books can be a labor to work though – for some Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’arthur is tough going, as are Wace and Layamon’s and Chretien de Troyes. There’s the anonymous Quest for the Holy Grail and the wonderful Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I liked the Penguin translation of this, and hated Tolkien’s.
For modern treatments, I really liked T.H. White’s Once and Future King – he knows and respects his source material, although you may not like his take. Tennyson’s Idylls of the King is from Mallory, too, but you might not be into the poetry. John Steinbeck wrote an excellent book on King Arthur, but it’s not true to the legends. The same can be said for Mary Stewart’s Crystal Cave and its sequels, or Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon. Thomas Berger’s Arthur Rex is closer to the originals, interestingly, told as if by a prejudiced aristocrat, and with a lot of sex thrown in.
My personal favorite telling is Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, but that’s completely off the wall.
Rosemary Sutcliffe’s Sword at Sunset was a circa 1960 attempt to tell the true King Arthur story, using the latest (then) results of archaeology and scholarship. It’s a bit dated now, but still interesting.
“The story of King Arthur and his knights” written and illustrated by Howard Pyle
Actually, from what I gather, Steinbeck did set out to sort of “translate” Mallory into contemporary language. I once wrote a paper on Mallory and used the Steinbeck whenever I got bogged down with the demi-French English of the original.
At points it’s quite true to the original, but sometimes Steinbeck got noticeably sort of sidetracked and elaborated certain points or left things out he did not deem that important. Also, the retelling is kind of tongue-in-cheek at times (which I enjoyed immensely). For example, Mallory spends pages and pages on elaborating which knight dehorsed what knight and who smote whom while Steinbeck just writes: “Fight ensued, lots of knights got thrown off horses.” (my approximation, haven’t read it in some time). It’s quite an enjoyable read, however, Steinbeck never finished it.
I also really like the Mark Twain, FWIW.
Others have already hit most of the ones I would have recommended. For a very different interpretation, try Merlin by Robert Nye.
Some of the oldest stories were most likely originally Welsh. The Red Book of Hergest, The White Book of Rhydderch, The Black Book of Caermarthen, and The Book of Taliesin make mention of Arthur and several of the familiar knights. One thing about them is that these manuscripts are all much later than the originals (The Red Book includes a translation of Geoffrey’s History). These versions were likely filtered through France before coming back to Wales (according to one version of The Mabinogion that I have).
If you want to read them, several of the stories can be found in translation in the book titled The Mabinogion, which is taken from The Red Book and The White Book. Editions of this book vary (since there was no unified work called the Mabinogion) but tend to include most of the Arthurian ones.
These characters aren’t as recognizable, however. It was the French (particularly Chretien) who really started to make them into the more familiar characters we associate with the story. It is nonetheless possible to see the skeletons of the stories used. One can see a clear line of influence from Peredur to Chretien’s Perceval to Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival.
The problem with the Welsh legends is that we don’t have them. The earliest extended narrative of Arthur we have is Geoffrey. Earlier mentions are, at best, mentions.
The Penguiin volume of a Celtic Miscellany has a few such. You can find out more from books like Geoffrey Ashe’s many works on Arthur.
For primary sources and copyright free info, the University of Rochester has a great web-site, The Camelot Project. It reproduces material from Gildas to Geoffrey of Monmouth and Malory, and reviews or excerpts from modern day materials.
There was just a series on PBS, and companion book called In Search of Myths and Heroes by Michael Wood. The segment on Arthur and The Holy Grail was quite interesting.
Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles, Really compelling. No magic – it’s a more realistic take on the Arthur legend.
My absolute favorite is Mary Stewart’s version.
Robert Whyte has another take on it.
As is Firelord by Parke Godwin (Who has also written two excellent novels about Robin Hood)
And for delicious anachronism you can’t beat John M Ford’s narrative poem ‘Winter Solstice, Camelot Station’. King Arthur and steam trains - you can’t get more romantic than that!
As a good read (though I really don’t know enough to comment on its veracity), I second White’s Once and Future King.
And though it’s not what the thread asked for, while you are on an Arthur kick, and you have a free evening for a movie, go with John Boorman’s excellent Excalibur.
Another interesting take is Jack Whyte’s “A Dream of Eagles” series. I think it’s called The Camelot Chronicles in the US. Essentially, it’s all build up leading to Arthur being coronated. It starts with the a few guys who forsee the Roman’s leaving Britain and they start a military colony to protect themselves when the Roman’s leave. That colony is called Camelot. Oh hell, it’d be easier to link to it, then to try to summerize it.
Anyway, the latest book is Clothar The Frank, which is Lancelot’s tale. Basically him growing up and going to Britain. It finishes when he meets Arthur and the next book is still to be released. The series tries to explain the legends through practical means with no magic.
That link is for the first book, for more info search Jack Whyte and read up on the other books. I also see that one title has been changed for the American release.
White clearly knew Mallory well, and knowingly manipulates his source material. Read his Sword in the Stone. The original children’s book was substantially rewritten when he incorporated it into TOaFK, and he cut out whole sections, including Madame Mim.
Also read White’s The Book of Merlin, published posthuimously. Some of this got incoroporated into TOaFK, but not all.
White’s other stuff is well worth going into, too,. His The Bestiary is a translation (with commentary) of a 12th century Book of Beasts, and it tells you much about the Medieval mindset. His Mistress Masham’s Repose fantasy based on Gulliver’s Travels.
There were a number of good sources mentioned already. I love the T. H. White book, and the Marion Zimmer Bradley. I haven’t read many other fictional versions - always meant to get around to Mary Stewart’s version, since I liked her other books, but never did.
My small contribution: There is an author named Gerald Morris who has a series of books retelling Arthurian legends. The first was called The Squire’s Tale . They are usually found in the children’s fiction section of the library, as they are short, simple and PG. But they are also very entertaining, & I hope they find an audience.