10.03.2008

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table

I've been trying to find a good King Arthur to use in the Brit Lit class I teach. I tried this one this year, and while it has plenty of classic Arthur stories, it's not written in a particularly informative, interesting, or entertaining way. Green has a few mildly understated (and therefore funny) lines--most of which involve people being surprisingly decapitated--but overall it's a pretty dry retelling of what could and should be exciting material. Arthur stories have inspired and entertained for literally centuries, but if they were always told as dully as Green tells these tales I think they'd be about as familiar as Cuchulain tales--known to small groups, but generally ignored.

I'm definitely interested still in finding a good version of the stories, so if you know of one, include it in the comments. Next up (well, in a month or two) is TH White's The Once and Future King, which I hear good things about. I'll let you know how it turns out. Click to buy, but I'm not recommending it really.

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