The Arthurian Legend

[Flashy]

The Dark Tower story is easily his best work. It spans seven volumes...the first (The Gunslinger) written around '76, and the final book (The Dark Tower) released in 2004.

Elements of the reality he envisioned, often intertwined with our own, can be found in the vast majority of all his writing. King is my guilty pleasure reading...there's little he's published that I haven't read. His short stories (ever see Creepshow?) are some of my favorites...I've read them several times over.

yeah creepshow was freaky...the one where the doctor buried them in the tide pools was cool and they came back covered in seaweed

but one of them *REALLY* freaked me out...it was called "The Crate" it was the one with that monster found in the box from the arctic expedition. that was under the stairs in the science museum. it was like some freaky monster/baboon...that thing scared the living fuck out of me as i was young when i saw it, and had nightmares about it for years.

 

[chicagosam]

T.H.Whites's The Once And Future King got me started in my teens. There was an unpublished sequel The Book of Merlyn: The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once And Future King.

Of course, I have great fondness for the Lerner/Leowe musical Camelot. The movie is out in a restored version on DVD with Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave.

Marian Zimmer Bradley wrote a stunning novel called Avalon told from the view of Morgaine and the old religion. It was made into a TV miniseries. The novel is far richer.

Mary Stewart wrote a trilogy about Merlin: The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment. All worth reading.

I enjoyed the TV series Merlin this summer and hope the second season will be aired. It tends to play freely with the story—Uther Pendragon was never part of Arthiur's life according to the legends—but still enjoyable.

And, Excalibur, is definitely worth seeing. Wonderful.

 

[mattsrod7]

i must say first knight was one of my fav. arthur movies

 

[Pendlum]

The Dark Tower story is easily his best work. It spans seven volumes...the first (The Gunslinger) written around '76, and the final book (The Dark Tower) released in 2004.

Elements of the reality he envisioned, often intertwined with our own, can be found in the vast majority of all his writing. King is my guilty pleasure reading...there's little he's published that I haven't read. His short stories (ever see Creepshow?) are some of my favorites...I've read them several times over.

SPOILERS THE MAIN CHARACTER just kidding. Happy Reading Flashy. Careful what you look up in reference to it, might run into some serious spoilers.

.. SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE.

 

[cdarro]

Geoffrey Ashe has written some interesting books on the historical figure behind the Arthurian legends. Also John Morris and Baram Blackett. It's really not very difficult to find these things out for yourself with a little effort.

 

[HazelGod]

SPOILERS THE MAIN CHARACTER just kidding. Happy Reading Flashy. Careful what you look up in reference to it, might run into some serious spoilers.

.. SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE.

:biglaugh:

That was one of the biggest dick moves in recent memory!


But yes, I wouldn't go looking up anything about the story if you plan to read it.

 

[Viking_UK]

I've always been a fan of the Arthurian Legends.
We studied Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur in school as well as Tennyson's Lady of Shalott and Lancelot and Elaine. (I've never understood all the fuss about Tennyson. Some of his work just strikes me as doggerel, but what do I know?)
When we visited Cornwall, we went go to Tintagel - well worth going to - and also Dozmary Pool, which is one of the competitors for Excalibur's resting place.
Without Chretien de Troyes and Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Arthurian legends would probably have ended up as some obscure folktales, but they romanticised the stories and popularised them.
It's worth reading Y Mabinogion if you're interested in some of the older tales, although it can be heavy going in places. Some of the stories in it are about Arthur, but there's debate over whether or not they were later additions based on Goffrey of Monmouth's poems.
One of the oldest Gaelic songs allegedly dates from Arthurian times and tells of a quest to find a woman seen in a dream by the king which ends in blood and violence. It's called Am Bròn Binn (the Sweet Sorrow).

It's always funny to see Hollywood's take on mediaeval life. It was all so glamorous back then, wasn't it? But then I suppose that's the point of idylls and golden ages, isn't it?

 

[Flashy]

I've always been a fan of the Arthurian Legends.
We studied Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur in school as well as Tennyson's Lady of Shalott and Lancelot and Elaine. (I've never understood all the fuss about Tennyson. Some of his work just strikes me as doggerel, but what do I know?)
When we visited Cornwall, we went go to Tintagel - well worth going to - and also Dozmary Pool, which is one of the competitors for Excalibur's resting place.
Without Chretien de Troyes and Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Arthurian legends would probably have ended up as some obscure folktales, but they romanticised the stories and popularised them.
It's worth reading Y Mabinogion if you're interested in some of the older tales, although it can be heavy going in places. Some of the stories in it are about Arthur, but there's debate over whether or not they were later additions based on Goffrey of Monmouth's poems.
One of the oldest Gaelic songs allegedly dates from Arthurian times and tells of a quest to find a woman seen in a dream by the king which ends in blood and violence. It's called Am Bròn Binn (the Sweet Sorrow).

It's always funny to see Hollywood's take on mediaeval life. It was all so glamorous back then, wasn't it? But then I suppose that's the point of idylls and golden ages, isn't it?

exactly...lol. that was why i preferred excalibur. it was more real...

everyone was a bit dirty, unshaven, dishevelled...

it was like the line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
"who is that?"
"must be a king..."
"Why?"
"He hasn't got shit all over him"

LOL


when watching "First Knight" everything is gleaming and clean, hair coiffed perfectly, no dirt to be seen....

the Dark Ages were not a time of gleaming cleanliness :biggrin1:

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

If you like Arthurian legend then you should read the Mabinogion, the ancient welsh collection of myths and legends from which much of the later medieval literature drew inspiration.

 

[Flashy]

If you like Arthurian legend then you should read the Mabinogion, the ancient welsh collection of myths and legends from which much of the later medieval literature drew inspiration.

thanks, i will check those out...i was familiar with the name. but did not know much about it