Here we start with young Arthur, raised in obscurity by a minor provincial knight and then taught by great Merlyn, who uses rather unconventional methods (such as changing into animals to learn the ways of nature and society). It varies from one version to another, but the basics stay similar.

The blow is softened by White’s warm irony and the underlying certainty that it’s a worthy goal to try to build something good, even if only for a time, and to be a good man. White’s perspective is darker, through tragic story of a noble ruler he speaks of ultimate frailty of human endeavours. codification of chivalric tales of King Arthur and his knights. Written just before and during the Second World War by an author who graduated from Cambridge, having written his thesis on Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur”, famous XV cent. Readers already familiar with the story can fully appreciate this particular interpretation. But White’s retelling of the legend is the pinnacle of Arthurian fantasy. Start with some basic one-volume version of the story, see a movie or two, follow up with “The Winter King” by Cornwell, if you like history novels with warlords and battles, or “The Mists of Avalon”, if you are into feminist deconstruction of history and literature. I wouldn’t recommend it as a first encounter with Arturian fantasy. There is humour and songs, just as in animated version, but it’s also slow paced, written in very demanding language and very long. They tell the story of king Arthur, from childhood to (spoiler alert) hist death in battle with Mordred.

There is also “The Book of Merlyn”, published posthumously, book that I prefer to pretend do not exist. But it’s just 10% of shiny stuff taken from the top of the novel that inspired it – the first part of “The Once and Future King” tetralogy by Terence Hanbury White.Ī tetralogy consist of “The Sword in the Stone”, “The Queen of Air and Darkness”, “The Ill-Made Kinght” and “The Candle in the Wind”. It’s a nice watch, it’s deeper than most Disney movies even. Have you seen „The Sword in the Stone”? Nice Disney classic, „n ot much plot but great for little kids.” as an imdb reviewer noticed.

King arthur the once and future king