Le Morte D'Arthur in Classics and the Western Canon

Dec 02, 2007 Jaclyn rated it liked it

At long last hath I enchieved the goodliest quest of 937 pages of Ye Olde English!

937 pages of damosels and knights smiting everych other and breaking their spears all to-brast, and tourneys and "justing" and villainous kings who traitorly slew... oops, there I go again. I'm just! so! happy! I've been reading this book since February (it's now November) and inasmuch as I thought I was prepared because of that one Christmas that Mr. Murray wrote the family Christmas letter in Ye Olde English... r At long last hath I enchieved the goodliest quest of 937 pages of Ye Olde English!

937 pages of damosels and knights smiting everych other and breaking their spears all to-brast, and tourneys and "justing" and villainous kings who traitorly slew... oops, there I go again. I'm just! so! happy! I've been reading this book since February (it's now November) and inasmuch as I thought I was prepared because of that one Christmas that Mr. Murray wrote the family Christmas letter in Ye Olde English... really, he did... I had no way of comprehending what I was getting myself into. It got to be a point of pride that I had to get through this book, even though it took me about 500 pages or so to really get the rhythm of it. Of course that means I should probably re-read the first 500 pages, since I don't remember much of what happened, but that's just not an option right now. At any rate, it's been a fun, what, nine months or so of reading, or at least trying to read, a little bit whenever I could, until I really hit my stride at around page 600 and knocked off 300 pages in a week. And I was wood wroth out of measure that it took me that long to figure out what was going on. By the end, I had gotten a good handle on it and was able to fully appreciate the tragedy of the story.

I do have a complaint, and a recommendation to anyone who wants to enchieve this goodly quest.

Complaint: the quest for the Holy Grail took about 50 pages, and it was, like, the freakin' easiest quest in the book. And could have been a lot easier if anyone paid attention to what was going on around them half the time - maybe they would have realized that they knew where the frakking thing was all along. Sigh. Maybe if a woman had been involved... I have to think that if Dame Elaine had been consulted, she would have smacked Launcelot, Galahad, Percivale and Bors upside the head and said something along the lines of, "Do I have to do EVERYTHING around here?"

Recommendation: I typically read two books at once - a big fat hardcover at home and a paperback on the way to work. As it happens, the paperback that I have been reading the last week or so on the subway is Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. Reading the parody of Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur alongside the original actually has been very helpful - Twain kindly defines some of the Ye Olde English words for you and cracks you up with his take on the discomforts of wearing armor and the silly simplicity of most of the people in Ye Olde England. He definitely captures the head-shaking aspect of certain parts of the book - and I'm glad that he gave a shoutout to La Cote Male Taile, whose story was one of the few that I remembered from the first half of Malory's version - who could forget that shrew that the poor guy had to put up with? Reading Mark Twain alongside Sir Thomas actually clarifies Sir Thomas quite a bit and makes the original a little easier to read.

Happy questing! ...more

30 likes · Like · see review