The Works of Sir Thomas Malory: Volume II (Oxford English Texts) [Hardcover]

Thomas Malory (Author), Eugï¿1/2ne Vinaver (Editor), P. J. C. Field (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 1990 | ISBN-10: 0198123450 | ISBN-13: 978-0198123453 | Edition: 3

Sir Thomas Malory's Arthurian romances are a remarkable example of literary revival: the product and consumation of a movement initiated by early French writers, transforming the legacy of one nation into a seminal text for another. In the process, they effect the transition from the medieval to the modern conception of the novel - from early romance to a type of fiction able to carry its message to the modern world. Eugene Vinaver's edition, which first appeared in 1974, was the first to be based on the 15th century manuscript discovered in the Fellow's Library in Winchester College in 1934, which was closer to Malory's own text than Caxton's printing, the text on which all previous editions had been based.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 654 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition (October 11, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198123450
• ISBN-13: 978-0198123453
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,704,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Edition of the Morte Darthur, April 15, 2000

By 

Curtis Phillips (Sonoma, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Works of Sir Thomas Malory: Volume II (Oxford English Texts) (Hardcover)

This is the classic scholarly edition of Sir Thomas Malory's _Le Morte Darthur_, the tale of King Arthur and his knights. It is based upon the Winchester manuscript instead of Caxton's 1485 edition. It is Prof. Vinaver's contention that Malory did not translate his sources as a single work but rather treated each one as a separate tale. He therefore entitled his edition _Works_ rather than the more usual _Le Morte Darthur_. Readers should be warned that the spelling and grammer of this edition have not been modernized. Like most Middle English texts it is best to read it aloud. The unfamiliar spelling and structure can be easier for the ear to understand than the eye. After all spelling in this period (about 1469) was not standardized and scribes wrote as they spoke.