(1906-1964)
The Once and Future King & The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of retellings concerning King Arthur, Guenever, Merlin, Lancelot, the Knights of the Round Table and the Kingdom of Camelot, but only a few of them attain literary quality and even less become classics. T.H. White's four-part masterpiece (or five-part, depending on what edition you have) definitely falls into the elite category.
With oddly chatty and anachronistic prose, which describes Sir Ector as drinking port and discussing Eton before explaining that he's only using these terms because "by mentioning the modern it is easier to give you the feel," White moves from comedy and satire to grandeur and tragedy, with each book getting successively darker as they follow Arthur's growth from childhood to old age. Likewise, White extensively draws upon quotes and ideas from other scholars and... Read More
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