Arthurian Romance Books - Page 6

King Arthur's Courage (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

Stephanie Spinner

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Editorial Review:

Long ago, in the days of knights and castles, one king became a legend—King Arthur, ruler of all England. Everyone knew of his famous Round Table, but few people knew about his half-sister and her wicked plot against him. Fighting Morgan le Fay’s dark magic was the true test of King Arthur’s courage.

The Mabinogion (Dover Thrift Editions)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Ian Myles Slater on: More Victorian than Medieval? 4 out of 5 stars.
22 of 23 people found this review helpful.

Lady Charlotte Guest was a daughter of the ninth Earl of Lindsey, and so a member of the English upper class. Born in 1812, she came to Wales as the wife of John Guest, an ironmaster and member of parliament, and while residing there began to work on translating a number of stories from medieval and early modern Welsh manuscripts, eventually published in seven volumes, 1838-1845, as "The Mabinogion." (The title is itself a mistake, but now so embedded in usage that it may never be eradicated.) It was very aristocratic way of involving herself in Welsh culture, and certainly avoided many of the grubby realities, although that may not have been what she intended.

She was not the first translator of some of the stories, and she had assistance, but, considering that she was starting from learning Welsh to begin with, her industry is impressive, and the literary success of her project well deserved -- Tennyson was only one of her admirers. The stories she translated have, with minor variations, become a canonical set: she used pretty much every example of early secular Welsh narrative that wasn't either plainly historical or clearly a straightforward translation from another language. Her version was, and is, widely read, and has helped form a vision of Welsh (and generally Celtic) literature of considerable influence -- not all of it good.

Her husband's death, and her involvement in managing his business, another extraordinary effort for a proper early-Victorian Lady, took Charlotte Guest away from medieval Welsh studies; from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution. After her remarriage to Charles Schreiber (her son's tutor, another interesting story), she turned her energies in a third direction, the collection of ceramics. (To my considerable annoyance, the modern editor of her journals considered this of far, far more importance than either the iron industry or that Welsh literature stuff, and omitted much of both to make room for descriptions of buying fine porcelain ... .) She then went on to become on expert on fans, as well. Much more ladylike, I'm sure; except that she also became an authority on their construction. A really remarkable person, deserving of respect.

This is relevant because, although she lived until 1895, her work on medieval Welsh effectively came to an end a half-century before, and was that of a devoted amateur even then. The translation was not only based on poorly-edited texts, imperfectly understood: in accordance with the practice of the time, she omitted, or at least veiled in obscure phrasing, whatever she found morally offensive, and cut or expanded descriptions, and, generally produced a work that, except on the level of graceful writing, has not stood up well.

Add that early nineteenth-century Welsh studies were plagued by the hand of Iolo Morganwg, who combined real learning with a taste for fraud, and you will realize that what she says may be not only obsolete, but a good-faith repetition of falsified texts, or complete fabrications. (For example, Iolo wrote two sets of Welsh Triads to go along with the real ones; his versions are still being quoted by the unaware, the careless, and those who can't bear to give up a convenient lie.)

However, Charlotte Guest's "Mabinogion" is long out of copyright, which seems to guarantee it a place in some publishers' lists.

Editions which include at least some of the notes she provided still have some value as representing early nineteenth-century knowledge of Welsh literature in the English-speaking world. The 1906 Everyman's Library edition is an example of this approach; a small (mass-market paperback size) hardcover, based on a one-volume edition of 1877, it was almost 450 pages long. In fact, a full, critical edition of her work would probably be of great importance to Victorian studies.

The edition illustrated by Alan Lee reportedly includes Guest's notes; if so, it must be a striking combination of modern fantasy art and useful resource. Stories-only editions of the Guest translation, however inexpensive, are of much less, even dubious, value. The reader may think, "so this is what it is like," when it isn't.

Still, a searchable digital text is an enormous convenience, so long as it isn't mistaken for something definitive, or even very reliable. And a convenient paperback, like the Dover Thrift Edition, is probably a great convenience for readers of Tennyson, and a lot of early twentieth-century Celtic and Arthurian fiction (although even for this, her notes are sometimes of equal or greater importance).

For those with any real interest in the subject, three other translations are available. Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones translated "The Mabinogion" in the 1940s, and their version replaced Guest's in the Everyman's Library series in 1949. After several revisions, it remains in print, in hardcover (Knopf) and paperback (Everyman Paperback Classics). I have reviewed the paperback edition of this at some length.

More recent is Jeffrey Gantz's "The Mabinogion" for Penguin Classics (1976), which is more modern in language. Like Jones and Jones (and a now-unavailable 1929 translation), Gantz omits one of Guest's selections, "The Tale of Taliesin." He also departs from the usual spelling of some characters' names, for reasons which do not seem entirely clear. As prose, it doesn't seem to me close to Jones and Jones, and well behind Guest, but some people seem to prefer it.

Finally, we come to "The Mabinogi, and Other Medieval Welsh Tales," edited and translated by Patrick K. Ford (1977), which drops the common title, and with it three heavily French-influenced tales, and two other stories with debatable features, but restores "Taliesin," re-edited from manuscripts not subjected to Iolo Morganwg's meddling; in his version, it appears in two parts, "The Tale of Gwion Bach" and "The Tale of Taliesin." He also includes a translation of "Cad Goddeu," or "The Battle of the Trees," an unsatisfactory version of which Charlotte Guest had used in her notes. Ford's introductions are clear and informative; and he was acutely aware of the modern literary uses of the stories. (I know this last because I was taking a course from him while the translation was in draft.) The translation doesn't try to make a medieval text sound more modern than it is, but it doesn't try to make it quaint or archaic, either.

With any of these available to you, Charlotte Guest's translation will make an interesting supplement. One thing it doesn't lack is charm.

Editorial Review:

Collection of 12 medieval Welsh stories considered a masterpiece of European literature. Includes Kilhwch and Olwen, one of the earliest Arthurian tales in Welsh; The Dream of Rhonabwy; 3 Arthurian romances: The Lady of the Fountain, Peredur the Son of Evrawc and Geraint the Son of Erbin, and more.

The Lancelot-Grail Reader: Selections from the Medieval French Arthurian Cycle (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities)

Norris J. Lacy

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Whole Story (Abridged) 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

As a child, a grew to love Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. But I also fond it frustrating. Why were the end of the stories of Tristan and Palamedes missing? Why did the Roman War not seem to have existed after that book? What was the questing beast? Why were there two differing accounts of how the Fisher King was maimed?

I read comments, but the commentators seemed, to me, to be amazingly uninterested in such questions. They would explain that Malory alone had first made one book out of the many Arthurian books, but I sometimes wondered if they had even read this one book.

Of course, eventually I discovered the old French romances in the University Library, and taught myself to read Old French to some degree. And, I discovered why Malory was so good, but also discovered all the missing parts which Malory didn't put into his tale. I found out who Galahaut the High Prince was, discovered the story of Guinglain son of Gawain, read the account in the Prose Tristan about Tristan and the Land of Servage, which was so much superior to Malory's poor efforts.

Best of all, was Oskar Sommer's Vulgate Arthurian Cycle, in 8 enormous bound volumes that seemed liked phone books, providing secret lore concerning Lancelot and his kind.

Then in 1196 the final volume of Norris J. Lacy's Lancelot-Graal appeared, the conclusion of a translation into modern English of the 7 of Sommer's 8 volumes, plus a translation of the remnant of the Post-Vulgate, a modified cycle which now existed only in fragments, but which told such major Athurian events as the death of King Lot, the death of the Queen of Orkney, and the death of King Pellinore, the Christening of Sir Palamedes, and the final end of the Questing Beast.

Unfortunately this immense series of books is out of print now, not because of demand, which if anything has increased, but because of unaccountable lack of interest by the publisher in either putting out another printing of the books themselves or assigning rights to an eager paperback company.

However, a selection of material from the Lacy Lancelot-Grail volumes is still in print, in The Lancelot-Grail reader. The selections are knitted together by short summaries of the missing parts, and there is more missed than presented.

That creates a delightful tension. One knows one is missing material. Most of the material dropped makes sense, though I do wish Lacy had kept the account of Mordred for the first time learning who is true father is. But this is very much a "good parts" book, as William Goldman described his Princess Bride. If you want to get the gist of most of the full Lancelot version of the Arthurian legend, and read the best of it, then this is the book.

The book ends with an appendix of some Post-Vulgate material, exactly that material which in my opinion is most important.

Editorial Review:

The Lancelot-Grail Reader is a single volume condensation of the complete five volume translation of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles of Arthurian romance.

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.

El Rey Arturo / King Arthur: La Espada Excalibur Desenvainada / Excalibur Unsheathed (Mitos Y Leyendas En Vinetas / Graphic Myths and Legends) (Spanish Edition)

Jeff Limke

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Dover Books on Literature & Drama)

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Editorial Review:

This prose rendering of a poem from the late 14th century (or earlier) recounts an adventure undertaken by King Arthur's famous nephew, Sir Gawain. Brave and chivalrous, faithful to his word and ever-mindful of his honor, as well as others', Gawain represents the model of knightly grace.

The Story of the Champions of the Round Table (Dover Classics for Children)

Howard Pyle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

one of Pyle's amazing works 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

If you can find this in any addition, though the hardback is very nice gift, it is a great addition to any Grail Lore Collection.

Pyle did so many books great books on the Medieval Myths and Legends. First published in 1905, Pyle wrote and illustrated his own tales, such as Lancelot, Tristam & Isoult, and Percival. The pen in and ink drawing are simply amazing and so bring alive his stories.

Highly recommended for those interested in tales of the Round Table. Hopefully, with the interested Tolkien's Rings, it will reawaken a hunger for these tales of chivalry, of valour and those willing to stand and fight in what they believe.

Stirs the imagination 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Howard Pyle weaves another masterpiece in this, the sequel to The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. It is frought with adventure, chivalry, and Pyle's own version of Old English to go with it. Pyle's english and his drawings add greatly to the already great story, making this series one of the best I have ever read.

This book details the early adventures of Sir Launcelot, Sir Tristram, and Sir Percival. One would think that the jousts/battles would get repetitive and boring after a while, but Pyle is so masterful a storyteller that it never gets boring, and each adventure captures the imagination more than the last.

Overall grade: A+

Editorial Review:

Sir Launcelot, Sir Tristram, and Sir Percival in spirited adventures of love and triumph retold in Pyle's inimitable style. 50 drawings.

Arthurian Chronicles (MART: The Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching)

Mason

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Editorial Review:

The spread of the Arthurian legend during the course of the twelfth century is one of the most remarkable phenomena in literary history. "Arthurian Chronicles" looks at two unsung but deserving poets who contributed to the diffusion of the legend, Wace who preceded the more famous Chretien de Troyes, and Layamon, who followed him.

Wace was of an inquiring turn of mind, with, for his day, a scholarly and sceptical approach to lais, marvellous tales, and fables. 'Not all lies, nor all true, all foolishness, nor all sense. So much have the story-tellers told, and so much have the makers of fables fabled to embellish their stories, that they have made all seem fable,' he writes. He was the first to mention the famous Round Table.

In Layamon's Brut, Arthur, hero and emperor, makes his first appearance in English vernacular literature. It is Layamon who tells of the elves that attended on the infant Arthur and endowed him with gifts and qualities; he also launched Arthur after his last battle to Argante in Avallon, to be healed of his wounds.

In this English language prose translation of the Wace and Layamon Arthurian poems, the folk-tale ferocity of Arthur is made as exciting to the readers as to the poets who contributed so much to Arthur's legend.

Originally published by J.M. Dent & Sons,1962.

The Development of Arthurian Romance

Roger Sherman Loomis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

From the Beginning 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Roger Sherman Loomis is probably the doyen of Arthurian scholars. He has written countless works on the subject, and has made a name for himself as an academic who has a very clear picture of what is fact, what is legend, and what is fantasy. And in the realm of Arthurian scholarship there is no more important differentiation to make. For the student trying to make sense of the stories of a 6th Century chieftain and the legacy of legend and story that follow him about life without Loomis would be 'through a glass, darkly.'

Loomis features completeness, an unbiased approach, and a lucid writing style that brings the confusion into focus. I have several of Loomis's more scholarly works (most of which have sadly gone out of print) but this is really the most accessible of the bunch. Keep in mind, though, that this is still intended for students of the subject rather than for those seeking popular treatments. It provides much material for thought, and many pointers to other sources that might interest the reader.

Editorial Review:

Painstakingly researched and brimming with scholarly insight, the masterly study examines the evolution of fiction surrounding the Arthurian legend — from Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain and the Welsh tales known as The Mabinogion, to Chrétien de Troyes' Arthurian stories, as well as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Le Morte d'Arthur.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Saddleback's Illustrated Classics)

Mark Twain

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

A Big Surprise - Not What I Expected 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Saddleback's Illustrated Classics)

I saw nothing in the description to indicate that this is a summary of the book in comic book form. I wasn't familiar with Saddleback's Illustrated Classics. Perhaps that would be a clue to some buyers of what it is, but there should be a clear description so that there are no misunderstandings. It did make my grandson want to read the full book.

Editorial Review:

This series features classic tales retold with attractive color illustrations. Educators using the Dale-Chall vocabulary system adapted each title. Each 70-page, softcover book retains key phrases and quotations from the original classics.