Le Morte D'Arthur Volume 1: v. 1
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Product Description
Le Morte D'Arthur is Sir Thomas Malory's richly evocative and enthralling version of the Arthurian legend. Recounting Arthur's birth, his ascendancy to the throne after claiming Excalibur, his ill-fated marriage to Guenever, the treachery of Morgan le Fay and the exploits of the Knights of the Round Table, it magically weaves together adventure, battle, love and enchantment. Le Morte D'Arthur looks back to an idealized Medieval world and is full of wistful, elegiac regret for a vanished age of chivalry. Edited and published by William Caxton in 1485, Malory's prose romance drew on French and English verse sources to give an epic unity to the Arthur myth, and remains the most magnificent re-telling of the story in English.
About the Author
No one knows for sure who the author of Le Morte D'Arthur was, but the generally accepted theory is that of American scholar G.L. Kitteredge, who argued it was Sir Thomas Malory, born in the first quarter of the fifteenth century, and who spent the greatest part of his last twenty years in prison. Another possibility is a Thomas Malory of Studley and Hutton in Yorkshire, or an author living north of Warwickshire. It is generally accepted that the author was a member of the gentry and a Lancastrain.
John Lawlor was Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Keele. He is the author of The Tragic Sense in Shakespeare, Piers Plowman: An Essay in Criticism and Chaucer. Janet Cowen is a senior lecturer in English at King's College, University of London.
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Then Ulfius was glad, and rode on more than a pace till that he came to King Uther Pendragon, and told him he had met with Merlin. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Then Ulfius was glad, and rode on more than a pace till that he came to King Uther Pendragon, and told him he had met with Merlin. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Review for the Penguin edition (ed.) Lawlor & Cowen, vols 1 & 2
Amazon have rather irritatingly conflated the reviews for the various editions of Malory's Morte D'Arthur regardless of whether they are abridged or in full. This review is for the two-volume Penguin edition which is the complete text.
We don't really know who 'Malory' was, but this is a wonderful English compilation of the myths and legends surrounding Arthur, Camelot and the knights of the Round Table, drawn primarily from the French (Breton and Celtic). Volume 1 feels slightly fragmented as it jumps around between the knights and inserts the Lady of the Lake and her maidens such as Nimue with no explanation. So you certainly shouldn't approach this expecting something like a novel with backstory and extensive exposition: here we're thrust into a chivalric world replete with magic and just need to accept the values of that world.
Volume 2 is perhaps more integrated as it tightens the focus especially on knights such as Lancelot, Galahad and Gawain. It is here that we get the quest for the Holy Grail (Sangreal) and a tight focus on Galahad. We also have the sexual triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere which becomes marvellously fraught with emotion and tension. The break-up of the Round Table and the final death of Arthur is movingly conveyed with a sense of the elegiac passing of a lost world.
So the first volume is a scene-setter, in some ways, for what has come to epitomise the central story of Arthur, with a much tighter and more integrated volume two. I love Malory's re-telling, nevertheless, and am very happy to lose myself in this dark and, ultimately, tragic chivalric romance.
Amazon have rather irritatingly conflated the reviews for the various editions of Malory's Morte D'Arthur regardless of whether they are abridged or in full. This review is for the two-volume Penguin edition which is the complete text.
We don't really know who 'Malory' was, but this is a wonderful English compilation of the myths and legends surrounding Arthur, Camelot and the knights of the Round Table, drawn primarily from the French (Breton and Celtic). Volume 1 feels slightly fragmented as it jumps around between the knights and inserts the Lady of the Lake and her maidens such as Nimue with no explanation. So you certainly shouldn't approach this expecting something like a novel with backstory and extensive exposition: here we're thrust into a chivalric world replete with magic and just need to accept the values of that world.
Volume 2 is perhaps more integrated as it tightens the focus especially on knights such as Lancelot, Galahad and Gawain. It is here that we get the quest for the Holy Grail (Sangreal) and a tight focus on Galahad. We also have the sexual triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere which becomes marvellously fraught with emotion and tension. The break-up of the Round Table and the final death of Arthur is movingly conveyed with a sense of the elegiac passing of a lost world.
So the first volume is a scene-setter, in some ways, for what has come to epitomise the central story of Arthur, with a much tighter and more integrated volume two. I love Malory's re-telling, nevertheless, and am very happy to lose myself in this dark and, ultimately, tragic chivalric romance.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Classic literature at its finest
28 Dec 2004
Format:Paperback
I typically am not a fan of classic literature. There are a few books, however, that I have really enjoyed. This is one of them.
As one would expect it's a high reading level. However, it's definitely worth it. Malory does an excellent job at telling the stories of King Arthur, and develops his characters very well.
I enjoy medieval-themed stories and I recommend this to anyone who likes this genre and has a high school education (for the high level of reading).
As one would expect it's a high reading level. However, it's definitely worth it. Malory does an excellent job at telling the stories of King Arthur, and develops his characters very well.
I enjoy medieval-themed stories and I recommend this to anyone who likes this genre and has a high school education (for the high level of reading).
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Best version of this great masterpiece available
15 July 1999
Format:Paperback
I own well-over ten copies of Le Morte d'Arthur, and have read more than that number, and I can say with little doubt that the Penguin version is the very best available to anyone who wishes to read this classic. All Arthurian scholars should keep a copy of this two-volume set. I would also recommend this to anyone who has never read any of the Arthurian romances. This is the right starting place!
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
You need it if you are going to read Vol II
8 July 2007
Format:Paperback
I purchased this book because my husband owns vol II and wanted to read vol I first. If you love epics, masonry, legends, and the like this is the book for you.
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