King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
If you are looking for a version of King Arthur’s life and times from his birth and death focusing particularly on the life events in between, I would reach for the works of Rosemary Sutcliff and her Legends of King Arthur trilogy. For me, it is the best illustrated cover of the collection of tales about Arthur, independently compiled from many sources and rethought by the author in her magnificent prose. Different readings of one and the same story seem to come out of the woodwork nowadays, but as far as I am concerned Maxim’s retelling is the best of them.
Nonetheless, those who are keen on the Arthurian legend and are looking for more literature about him will find Roger Lancelyn Green’s work equally important. Green had been a member of one of the famous Inklings of Oxford University (this group included J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis) and had the facility of writing and bringing together several Arthur-oriented short stories into a single novel that would appeal to children.
In this regard, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is significant not only because of the coherence about the previously scattered different versions of stories which Green created, but also because this time these stories were specifically written for children.
Prior to this, most of the Arthurian novelizations followed Malory’s works but Green gives a wider collection of sources in the prologue namely Geoffrey of Monmouth, Godfrey of Strasbourg, Chrestien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach and various other British, French and German sources. In fact even the ending is taken from a more recent collection of Charles Chambers a collection of articles about king Arthur.
Green’s contribution is his ability to connect well different independent adventures into one neat pattern of a consistent struggle between good and evil, the glory and tragedy of the kingdom, chivalry and holiness as against seductions and treachery. Accordingly, the book is divided into four sections: The Coming of Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, the Holy Grail, and the Departure of Arthur. This scheme has more or less been observed by nearly all the Arthurian novelists who came after.
Feel free to elaborate on anything you may have learned from reading this document, including lesser-known facts such as: Arthur’s mysterious birth, his adoption by Sir Ector, the legendary sword, the dream lake where Lady of the Lake stewards the kingdom’s most famed weapon, Camelot’s creation, Arthur’s wedding to Guinevere, and the Round Table.
The cast of characters should be very clear: Arthur, Guinevere, Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, Morgana le Fay, Sir Gawaine, Sir Lancelot and all other Knights of the Round Table are all present. The smiles, however, are noted in the second book where the Knights Mentioned go on a spree in the kingdom of Logres, on the verge of its collapse and the third book tells of the Grail. Alack, the story ends as it started a tragedy where evil Mordred wins and drives Arthur’s queen to have a blind affair with his most trusted knight.
In this version, there has been some level of restraint with regard to depictions for children. In this sense, the relationship of Lancelot and Guinevere does not progress beyond an invitation, and even the fact that Mordred comes from Arthur’s incestuous son of his half-sister is no longer tenable.
With regard to the prose, Green possesses a clear and simplistic approach to writing it’s definitely more readable than Malory, but a bit on the dull side in comparison to Sutcliffe. What he offers here are the cardboard templates of the Arthurian material, the characters drawn very loosely. Hardly any information on the characterization is given, while the plot as such can be deeply intricate even in the light of Green’s central design. Things take place for no apparent reason or rhyme, and the work abounds with such notions as love at first sight, honor before reason, miracles that transcend human comprehension and the like.
Different characters in the feature may also exhibit incomprehensible behaviors. Knights can turn from chivalry to bloodthirst in a flash and although Morgana le Fay is the chief villain in the first part of the book, he is nowhere to be seen in the central part and returns as a kind lady who escorted Arthur to Avalon. There are no explanations whatsoever that are offered in relation to this complete U-turn.
Some significant characters are simply written off from the story with no explanation of where they have gone or how they have perished while other characters splash into the scenes with no proper introduction. Then there are the plot-holes, such as: if Avalon is the place to which Arthur has been taken by the Lady of the Lake in the barge, then who the hell was that hand that pulled out Excalibur from the lake just a few minutes before?
However, it is important to point out that I am not emphasizing these points as weaknesses or flaws but rather simply book traits or artifacts. The writer, Green remains within confines of the legends and his purpose was not to provide answers to these issues but to document and categorize them. To go into great detail about what actually happens is the task of the latter day Arthurian novelists and in a way affects the more ancient versions of the tale’s storyline, which is meant not to be open. Like all the best stories of Arthur, this one also does not lose the mystery element of the legends and as any other tale, it is an enjoyable one to read.
The Puffin Classic edition features various biographies of the author, character guide, teachers’ resource kit with activities that revolve around the book, teacher’s introduction to the text by David Almond.
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