T. H. White's The once and future king

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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 24, 2024 | History

T. H. White's The once and future king

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The Once and Future King defies classification. Is it for children, or for adults? Is it fantasy or a psychological novel? In its great range, it encompasses poetry and farce, comedy and tragedy - and sudden flights of schoolboy humour.

White's 'footnote to Malory' (his own phrase) resulted in the last major retelling of the story based on Malory's Morte Darthur, and in this book Elisabeth Brewer explores the literary context of White's finest work as well as considering his aims and achievement in writing it.

White's story of Arthur begins with his 'enfances', set in an imaginary medieval England, but it is far removed from the conventional historical novel. White was writing in wartime England, increasingly absorbed by a need to find an antidote to war; through the medium of the Arthurian story he found his own voice, his unique contribution to keeping alive the flame of civilisation.

Malory's chivalric virtues are rejected in favour of White's own 20th-century values; the love affair of Lancelot and Guenever is interpreted in terms of modern psychology.

The books which eventually made up The Once and Future King of 1958 appeared in distinctly different editions. In discussing these, Elisabeth Brewer looks at some of the ways in which White drew on his own experience - family, childhood, Cambridge, and friendships - at a deep psychological level, while also incorporating into his story material inspired by his antiquarian pursuits and (with particular reference to the theme of education) by his years as a schoolmaster.

She completes her study with an account of White's use of historical material, and the relationship of The Once and Future King to the Morte Darthur.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
236

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Edition Availability
Cover of: T. H. White's The once and future king
T. H. White's The once and future king
1993, D.S. Brewer, Boydell & Brewer
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-230) and index.

Published in
Cambridge [England], Rochester, N.Y
Series
Arthurian studies, 30

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
823/.912
Library of Congress
PR6045.H2 O534 1993, PR6045.H2O534 1993

The Physical Object

Pagination
236 p. ;
Number of pages
236

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL1403593M
ISBN 10
0859913937
LCCN
93011658
OCLC/WorldCat
28498687
Library Thing
918474
Goodreads
38199

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History

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July 24, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
September 9, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 2, 2021 Edited by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten person
July 31, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 10, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page