Arthurian Romance Books - Page 4

The Once and Future King (Cliffs Notes)

Daniel Moran

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Whole New Perspective 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

A few weeks ago I recieved my school reading list. I was happy that the Once and Future King was on it because I had already read it. I purchased the Cliff Notes. The refreshed my memory with out taking to much time. I also liked how they list the characters and what they did in the beginning of the book. That way if you forget you can always look it up. The comments that are contained also help widen my perspective on what the book means. I think that everyone who has read the book should purchase these cliff notes.

Editorial Review:

Based on medieval Arthurian legends, The Once and Future King is a twentieth-century version of young Arthur's quest for the sword Excalibur and his claim to the throne of England. Including many well-known and much-loved episodes with Merlyn, the sorcerer; Morgan La Fay, the witch; and knights jousting and hounds engaged in the hunt, White's novel adds to the lore surrounding the person of King Arthur.

CliffsNotes brings you this easy-to-understand study guide that covers all four volumes of The Once and Future King with special emphasis given to the most popular volume, The Sword in the Stone. The other three novellas are treated within critical essays.

Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart (Records of Civilization, Sources and Studies ; No. 97)

de Troyes Chretien

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The romantic poems of 12th-century French poet Chretien de Troyes were of immense influence across Europe - widely imitated, translated, and adapted. Giving rise to a tradition of story-telling that continues to this day, the poems established the shape of the nascent Arthurian legend. In this translation of "Lancelot", Burton Raffel brings to English language readers the fourth of Chretien's five surviving romantic Arthurian poems. This poem was the first to introduce Lancelot as an important figure in the King Arthur legend. "Lancelot" tells of the adulterous relationship between the knight and his mistress, Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur. Thematically this poem differs from Chretien's other romances - Lancelot and Guinevere'slove is a serious crime against their king, Lancelot casts aside his knightly ideals and reputation for the sake of his beloved. and Arthur is endowed with a weaker personality. Raffel has created a three-stress metric verse from that captures Chretien's narrative and old French.

Favorite Medieval Tales

Mary Pope Osborne

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Knights, Monsters, Heroes, and Dragons..... 5 out of 5 stars.
34 of 34 people found this review helpful.

As Mary Pope Osborne tells the reader in her marvelous introduction..."In the beginning of medieval times in Europe, books did not exist. Most people were unable to read or write. Nevertheless, there were stories - stories of heroes and monsters, told by minstrels and poets, that were passed down orally from one generation to the next..." Eventually, these stories were written down by scribes, and Ms Osborne has collected nine favorite tales to share. From Robin Hood And His Merry Men, The Sword In The Stone, Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, and Finn Maccoul, to Beowulf, The Werewolf, The Song Of Roland, Island Of The Lost Children, and Chanticleer And The Fox, these engaging retellings are dramatic and entertaining, easy to read, and often better when read aloud. Meet monsters, knights, heroes, and dragons, and travel to faraway, mysterious, and enchanting places. Troy Howell's vivid, lush paintings, stay true to the medieval style, and add just the right touch to enhance each story. Ms Osborne and Mr Howell include informative reference notes on the stories, medieval story forms, people, time periods, language, chronology, and the art of the middle ages that is sure to peak the interest of young and old alike. Perfect for youngsters ten and older, Favorite Medieval Tales is a masterpiece of intriguing storytelling that will whet the appetite, and send readers looking for more.

Editorial Review:

In nine favorite tales from medieval Europe, characters such as King Arthur, Beowulf, and the merry outlaw Robin Hood weave a glorious tapestry of an enchanted time. Full color.

The Romance of Tristan: The Tale of Tristan's Madness (Penguin Classics)

Beroul

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Folksy and Fabulous 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

It is usually the case that within a page or two of reading an introduction, the reader knows whether or not they are in the hands of a reliable editor and translator. Alan Fedrick inspires such confidence. His is a scholarly, readable prose translation, adequately but not overwhelmingly annotated. Beroul's account of the Tristan and Yseult legend (in others, the lovers' names appear variously as Tristram, Isolde, Iseut, etc.) is the oldest extant version, although it now exists only in fragmentary form. Its fascination lies partly in that it belongs to an older form of storytelling, with quite different conventions from modern forms. So be prepared for characters dying more than once, events occurring out of sequence, and plenty of unapologetic author intervention. Some of the plot elements are wonderful, and have been borrowed and reworked ever since, by Shakespeare and others. Some have become interwoven with the Arthurian cycle. Read this if you are interested in seeing how the art of fiction has evolved in Europe through the ages, or if you enjoy fables that have a folksy (and sometimes vulgar) flavor.

Editorial Review:

One of the earliest extant versions of the Tristan and Yseut story, Beroul's French manuscript of The Romance of Tristan dates back to the middle of the twelfth century. It recounts the legend of Tristan, nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, and the king's Irish wife Yseut, who fall passionately in love after mistakenly drinking a potion. Their illicit romance remains secret for many years, but the relentless suspicion of the king's barons and the fading effects of the magic draught eventually lead to tragedy for the lovers. While Beroul's work emphasizes the impulsive and often brutal behaviour of the characters, its sympathetic depiction of two people struggling against their destiny is one of the most powerful versions of this enduringly popular legend.

Parsifal's Page (The Squire's Tales)

Gerald Morris

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is very good! It has amazingly descriptive characters that you can relate to. The smuggness of peirre and the courage of Parsifal. This book brings the perfect combination of romance, fantasy, and comedy all together in one book. Kids of all ages will love and adore this book. Please read this non-stop page turner by Gerald Morris. This is definitly a book you don't want to miss.

Editorial Review:

Piers (or Pierre, as he wants to be called) is desperate to escape the dirty, tedious labor of his father"s blacksmith shop. So when a knight shows up and says he"s on "the quest," Piers begs to go along. Soon he is off on a series of adventures he never dreamed possible. However, Piers"s knight quickly runs into some difficulties and is slain by an odd character named Parsifal, who is on his own quest. Piers has no other choice but to join him. Parsifal is unlike anyone Piers has ever met and doesn"t behave "knightly" at all. As their journey continues, Piers and Parsifal are drawn into the Quest for the elusive Holy Grail, and slowly, as the Quest continues, Piers begins to realize what being a knight really means.

The Death of King Arthur (Penguin Classics)

Anonymous

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Moving Close to the Tale 4 out of 5 stars.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.

While "The Death of King Arthur" is the shortest romance in the entire Lancelot-Grail cycle (formerly known as the "Vulgate Cycle" and a principal source of Sir Thomas Malory) it is also one of the best suited to modern tastes. Unlike the earlier segments of the cycle (the Lancelot or the Quest of the Holy Grail particularly) it does not underline its themes through endless variant repetitions that irritate the modern reader. Instead, the plot is remarkably linear and focuses on the love of Lancelot and Guinevere, and the disastrous consequences that their affair wreaks on King Arthur and his entire kingdom.

Because it was originally written as a sequel to the Lancelot and Grail portions of the cycle, certain knowledge is assumed for the reader. The reader is assumed to know that Arthur is the King, that Lancelot is his boldest knight, and that the Round Table is recovering slowly from a long and very destructive Grail Quest. Without the lengthy process of interlacing adventures between Lancelot and Gawain or Bors and Gareth, it can be difficult for the true weight of the story to come across to the uninitiated.

Cable's translation is workmanlike and readable, and serves as a worthy introduction to this classic tale until such time as the recent English translation of the entire cycle (Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, edited by Norris J. Lacy) is available in an affordable paperback series. (I bought the hardback at an exorbitant price per volume myself.)

Editorial Review:

Recounting the final days of Arthur, this thirteenth-century French version of the Camelot legend, written by an unknown author, is set in a world of fading chivalric glory. It depicts the Round Table diminished in strength after the Quest for the Holy Grail, and with its integrity threatened by the weakness of Arthur's own knights. Whispers of Queen Guinevere's infidelity with his beloved comrade-at-arms Sir Lancelot profoundly distress the trusting King, leaving him no match for the machinations of the treacherous Sir Mordred. The human tragedy of The Death of King Arthur is so impressed Malory that he built his own Arthurian legend on this view of the court - a view that profoundly influenced the English conception of the 'great' King.

The Boy's King Arthur

Thomas Malory, Sidney Lanier, N.C. Wyeth

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Story Of King Arthur and His Knights 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

N.C. Wyeth illustrated the book of "The Boy's King Arthur"in 1917. The Boy's King Arthur, is avout the top main knights such as, Lancelot, and how they become a knight. This story exists as part of the original King Arthur stories, but it becomes shorter than the original. Also in The Boys King Arthur, you will encounter how knights acted back in the fourth century.
The author of this story uses more details, and more unique, and unusual things than the original story. The battle with Mordred and Arthur at the end, I considered that to be an extremely unique fight, because Mordred becomes a traitor to his own father, Arthur. Unusually, N.C. Wyeth adds old English in the ways of back then in the story. The Narrator of The Boys King Arthur remains just an outsider of the story. The main setting of the novel places in England, and the themes of the novel, exists as just how peasents and people become the top Knights of the Round Table. (Lancelot, Tristram, Galahad, Percival, and the fair maid of Astolat) Also the story illustrates how King Arthur becomes King of England, And his death.
I recommend that people should read this book only if they're thirteen and up. Also I recommend that you should read The Boys King Arthur only if you read the original version of King Arthur. I say this because the book remains in old English, and might be quite hard to understand. I thought this book is quite hard to understand of the old English, and the length of the book with the old English.

Editorial Review:

This handsome volume features text reset in the original typeface and illustrations newly reproduced from Wyeth's original canvases, bringing a beloved classic to a whole new generation of readers. 14 full-color illustrations.

King Arthur (Usborne Classics Retold)

Felicity Brooks

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

7th grade reluctant readers LOVE it! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I use this book as the last thing I do with my 7th graders. They study the Middle Ages in social studies and this is a great cross-curricular activity. My students are restless and ready to be out of school for the summer at this time of year, but they LOVE this book. Many, many of my reluctant readers tell me every year how much they enjoy this book - even if they have always hated reading.

Tales of King Arthur 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The books were received in a timely manner. I was expecting a different size book than the one I received. The one I thought I was ordering was also a paperback, but was not novel size. The book does have the exact same stories so I was able to use it in my classroom. It does not have the fabulous pictures that the other book had.

Ywain : The Knight of the Lion

Chretien de Troyes, Robert W. Ackerman, Frederick W. Locke, C. Carroll

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

An affordable edition of one of the great romances! The twelfth century in France experienced an efflorescence of vernacular literature, especially troubadour poetry and the genre of narrative literature that encompasses the court epic of romance. Chretien de Troyes, a native of Champagne in Northern France, is considered one of the most talented writers of romance of this period. Achieving literary greatness not so much by plot innovation as by the shaping and refining of existing and perhaps widely known material to his own purposes, de Troyes's influence on the characteristic structure, tone, and theme of medieval romance is undeniable. This translation of Ywain from the original French version avoids both archaic- sounding English and the overly modern idiom in an effort to produce a smooth, accessible and accurate text. As with de Troyes's other Arthurian romances, the principal characters and episodes of this tale are Celtic in origin, and the marvelous adventures assigned to Ywain are apparently derivative of Celtic story lore. Readers will be charmed by the appropriately urbane expression of this fine narrative, imbued as it is with the ideals and sentiments of courtly knighthood.

Mordred, Bastard Son (The Mordred Trilogy, Book 1)

Douglas Clegg

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Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Stoker Award-winning novelist Douglas Clegg (Afterlife, The Hour Before Dark, and over a dozen other best-selling novels of contemporary horror) sets his rich imagination to the task of reinventing Arthurian legend, and the results are spectacular. A young monk becomes enthralled by the story a mysterious prisoner begins to tell as he tends to his wounds. The prisoner is Mordred, bastard son of King Arthur Pendragon and his half sister Morgan Le Fay, who has been arrested for murder and treason. His story is one of ambition, power, and betrayal, and it will change the monk's life forever. In Clegg's ambitious reimagining of Camelot, Mordred, the traditional villain of Arthurian legend, emerges as a heroic and romantic figure, torn between his powerful mother's desire for revenge against Arthur, his own conflicted feelings toward the father who betrayed him, and his passionate love affair with a knight in King Arthur's court: Lancelot. The first of a trilogy, Mordred, Bastard Son sets the stage for an epic adventure of love, friendship, magic, war, and betrayal, a fresh, dazzling chapter in the Arthurian canon.

Douglas Clegg has been called "the new star in horror fiction" by Peter Straub, and The New York Times best-selling author Dean Koontz says, "Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby." He is the author of many books, including the bestsellers Nightmare Chronicles, The Hour Before Dark, The Infinite, and You Come When I Call You. He lives outside Manhattan.