Customer Reviews

Arthur Rex

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I have ever read, and I have read it several times. As with all good Arthurian legends, this book is heroic and poignant. What sets it apart and makes it a great book is that it also manages to be satirically funny. The humor is not at the expense of the nobility of the characters, so Arthur Rex manages to be seemingly contradictory things in one package. I have given this book many times as a gift, and all said they loved it.

Out of print? What a shame.

After reading all the novels I can find on the Arthur saga, this is the only one I re-read again and again.

I don't even understand how good this book is... If you're into arthurian legend(or even if you're not), you will find nothing better.

An extraordinary achievement by an extraordinary American writer. In its way, as accomplished as The Little Big Man and Reinhart in Love, which are perhaps this author's greatest works. As different as those two are different from each other. A writer of scope and variance.

Nevertheless, Arthur Rex, while sticking to the traditional Arthurian material about 90%, manages to put just enough twist and spin on the stories to make them Berger's own. It is funny, satiric, bitter, realisitic, and even romantic. Berger manages to make it a peculiarly modern story. Everyone seems to feel trapped in roles they don't want to, or aren't suited to, play but feel that they must. At the end, before leaving for Armaggedon and his fate, Arthur meets with Guinnivere one last time, a meeting that earns its special poignancy from the cumulative effect of what has gone before. The heartfelt ending is hardearned. Guinnivere is bitter, and angry even, feels that she has been used, by Arthur, Lancelot, yes, but mostly by nature and God. Arthur realizes that she would probably been a better king than he. It is Arthur's response to Guinnivere and to his predicament which gives his tragedy its special feel. I don't know of a better telling of the Arthur story. However, be aware that Berger assumes mastery and ownership of the story through an act of adverse possession as audacious and complete as, say, Ezra Pound's in his translation of the Chinese poetry. This is not just a translation; it is a focused re-interpretation.

Berger's body of work is second to none in American Literature. Big statement, I know. Even his minor novels are original in perspective and sensibility. He deserves to be rescued with all haste and speed from the obscurity that seems about to be unfairly thrust upon him. It is a shame that his books are all going out of print. Read this book, The Little Big Man, the Reinhart saga (the masterpiece here is Reinhart in Love), Sneaky People, and Killing Time for starters. You will not regret it.