Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur (originally spelled Le Morte Darthur, ungrammatical Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table—along with their respective folklore. In order to tell a "complete" story of Arthur from his conception to his death, Malory compiled, rearranged, interpreted and modified material from various French and English sources. Today, this is one of the best-known works of Arthurian literature. Many authors since the 19th-century revival of the legend have used Malory as their principal source. )
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2009–2026years
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- If I have a comfy chair, nice music, and an afternoon to relax, probably Le Morte d'Arthur. Or if I'm looking to forget the world, Mists of Avalon.
For more historical diving, Oxford maintains a list of books and papers written on the matter.
- Big shout out to the Morte d'Arthur. I read it last year and at first found it hard to get into. There's tons of repetitive tournaments and jousting... the Marvel analogy is not wrong, it's a bit like a comic book. But gradually the characters get into your head, and the final conflict between Lancelot and Arthur really hits hard.
- I stumbled on "Le Morte d'Arthur" in college. It was one of the few books that having a few beers really helped with.
- Mallory's Morte d'Arthur.
Most of the Arthur "myth" is deliberately constructed fiction by specific authors, rather than folk myths.
- I'd put Le Morte D'Arthur as the first modernization of the myths, not another myth.
- Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory, Penguin Classics (1981 edition).
Extremely tortuous phraseology. But I finished it, with gritted teeth at 15.
I have long since abandoned the desire to finish every book I start. Life is too short.
