AXLER@Upenn-1100@sri-unix.UUCP (07/20/83)
From: AXLER@Upenn-1100 (David M. Axler - MSCF Applications Mgr.)
In the last decade there have been a lot of re-tellings of the Arthurian
legends. They're an interesting lot, in that they reveal a great deal more
about the perspectives of the authors (and the authors' views of both modern-
day and medieval society) than they do about King Arthur. In fact, what they
really are is nothing more than revisionist histories of Arthur's reign.
For instance, take Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon." Her
viewpoint character is Morgaine (= Morgan le Fay), a priestess of the old
faith at Avalon (=Glastonbury). This book is really about the conflicts
between the old faith -- mostly Wicca, with a bit of Druidic stuff added,
as far as I can tell -- and the new, as represented by Gwynhwyfar, Arthur's
fervently Christian life. It's a good, if not excellent book, but its impact
depends on the reader already knowing the traditional telling of the Arthuria
tales for its impact.
Or, look at Thomas Berger's ("Little Big Man" & many others) "Arthur
Rex". Here, you've got a cross between Malory and James Dickey's "Deliverance"
with the knights spending most of their time complaining that everyone thinks
they're buggering each other. Lots of jolly male humor, etc.
My favorite translation of "Sir Gawaine & the Green Knight," by the way,
is the one by Tolkien.
The "Dark is Rising" series is by Susan Cooper, and is very good.
It's available in Dell Yearling editions at kid's bookstores.
A major reason why we don't see a lot of Arthurian stuff in pre-Tudor
times is that most of it was transmitted orally, rather than in writing. This
is, at its root, folk legend we're dealing with, and that's something that
didn't get written down too often until the last 150 years or so.
Another key version of the Arthur story is that of Tennyson, which tends
to be ignored these days because poetry (especially in his flow'ry style) is
out of fashion of late.
Anderson's "The High Crusade" is only tangentially Arthurian, at best. It
takes a few characters who could have lived in Arthur's day and, in essence,
does a reverse-Twain on them by bringing them into a high-tech environment.
I would, however, note his "A Midsummer Tempest", which is set in the world
of Shakespeare's "MidSummer's Night's Dream" and "The Tempest", and in which
all of the characters (except the fools, of course) actually speak in (readable)
iambic pentameter!
Dave Axler
(axler.upenn@udel-relay)