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Le Morte D'Arthur

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Sir Thomas Mallory was a great one to write the adventures of King Arthur and his knights - a knight himself, he led a life of intrigue and adventure, albeit not one that always lived up to the ideas of chivalry he penned at the heart of the Arthurian legends. Mallory did not invent Arthur; he is one of the principle medieval chroniclers, having time (he was in prison with nothing else to do, after all) to set down in prose stories he'd heard throughout his life. These were popular tales, not always told in the same way with the same details, as is true of most oral legends and transmitted stories, much to the later frustration of scholars and readers. The earliest printing of Mallory's stories had his authorship suppressed by Caxton, one of the better-known publishers of the time.

The earliest Arthurian legends date back as far as the late Roman times in Britain. Controversies abound, but many have settled on a late Roman or Romano-British general named Arturius - however, given the linguistic nature of the name (it is derivative of ruler or leader), it is impossible to know if this was in fact a name or a title, and the legends may be compilations of the acts of many leaders bearing the name. There was also a Welsh leader with the name/title Arddu, `Dark One', who is sometimes conflated into Arthurian legend. Arthur was celebrated in the pre-Norman times for the order and stability he represented; Arthur was celebrated in post-Norman times for his campaigns against Saxons. Arthur continues to be an intriguing character, today reminiscent of ancient mysteries as well as pagan and new age ideas as well.

In any event, Mallory doesn't attach specific dates to his tales. The book actually consists of many tales. The first is entitled `The Tale of King Arthur', which introduces the figures of Merlin, Gawain, Uwayne, Pellinore, Morgan le Fay (the Celtic war goddess Morgana, dressed up as Arthur's sister) and others, and includes the sword-in-the-stone event. While this text has been modernised by Keith Baines, there are certain crucial lines left in Mallory's English, including this most famous one:

Whoso pulleth oute this swerd of this stone and anvyld is rightwys kynge borne of all Brytaygne

Following this tale, Mallory includes many of the famous tales in Arthurian legend as stories more or less complete in themselves, but still linking to the other tales. `The Tale of Sir Lancelot du Lake' is a knight's tale indeed, with no fewer than twenty horseback duels back-to-back. `The Tale of Sir Gareth' is a similar spirited tale, less well known. `The Book of Sir Tristram of Lyoness' makes Tristram and Iseult, famous by other writers as well, into lovers, this time with a more happy ending than usual. The lesser known `Tale of Arthur and Lucius' describes battles and skirmishes with the emperor, but never really captured popular imagination.

Mallory saves the best for last, with three major tales - `The Tale of the Sangreal', the Holy Grail; `The Book of Sir Launcelot and Queen Gwynevere'; and finally, `Le Morte D'Arthur'. The tale of the Holy Grail continues into the present day in various fashions; here is contains strange glosses of the Old and New Testaments, as well as a good number of miracles, as one would expect from the Grail. The last tale, the death of Arthur, is probably the most famous, and the best written.

Even though an English knight, the courtly fashion was after a French design for many centuries after the Norman conquest, and this French influence in notable in the stories, from their titles to their plots and characterisations, including the places Mallory uses.

Keith Baines eliminates a lot of needless dialogue from his rendering here, but keeps the plot lines and sequence of action with integrity from earlier manuscripts and recited tales. His translation compares favourably with others, becoming a fairly standard text for good reason. Robert Graves (of `I Claudius' fame) provides an appreciative introduction to the text. Baines himself was a poet; however, this text, accepted somewhat reluctantly, is probably his best known work.

Arthur lives on into the modern world and beyond. Baines' edition gives it life to carry on.

Contained within the pages of this book, is the most notorious of all stories to emerge from the depths of the Dark Ages of European history. Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur is quite possibly the greatest work of English literature and the source of the Arthurian legends, as we know them today. This legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is an exquisite story of adventure, love, honor, and betrayal. Throughout the whole of Malory's story there is the underlying theme that a thing's making is ultimately it's undoing, be it kingdom, man, or quest. Not only is this theme evident in this story but in his own life as well. Le Morte d'Arthur is a truly legendary work of art, given new life in this splendid rendition by Keith Bains.

Keith Baines' re-typing of the classic Le Morte D'Arthur originally by Sir Thomas Malory entirely transforms the reading of this story from nearly unbearable (due to the old English words and spelling) and painful into an easy to read and awesome telling of the legend of King Arthur. The reason I bought this book is because I am taking a 3-credit course called Introduction to Arthurian Legend, and our first reading was this book but in old style English. I tried and tried to learn and adapt to the style and learn those old words that we don't use anymore, but I just came up frustrated with it and lacking understanding of what I was reading. In search of a modern language version that holds the integrity of the original story and structure, I found Keith Baines' rendition, and what a lifesaver it was. I was about to drop the whole class, but his book not only made the reading more understandable but so much more enjoyable to read. And not only that, the amount of reading is very noticeably reduced in length because all the ye's and thy's were cut out entirely. You can get all the information in 20 pages in this book that would've taken you 30+ pages in the original old-English version. I've taken a few exams, using this book instead of the original, and I have got 90% or more on each test, so it is an accurate retelling. One thing I did notice about Keith Baines' version compared to the older text is: In Book 4, Chapter 25 of the original text, there are FOUR sons that Sir Marhaus fights, but in Baines' rendition there are SIX sons. But that is the only detail that I have noticed that is different.

If you don't like Old English reading but want to read about the legend of King Arthur -- BUY this book, you will not be disappointed.

This book was terrible. By far one of the worst books I've ever read. The story is bland and he manages to make even the greatest tales of arthur boring.