Malory's Le Morte D' Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table

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Summary: Guinevere and Lancelot vs. Arthur
Review: Sir Thomas Malory's rendition of the Arthurian legend, Le Morte Darthur, is one of the most complete, clear, and enjoyable versions of the story. Malory combines aspects of Arthurian stories found in other works into one complete volume. Le Morte Darthur gives the reader a taste of the romance, as found in lais of Marie de France, as well as the battles and gallantry found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain. This edition, based on the Winchester Manuscript and edited by Helen Cooper, combines the battles and romances into a cohesive and enjoyable story which encompasses the stores of Merlin, the quest for the grail, the story of Tristan, and Lancelot and Guenivere.

Malory wrote his story in the late 15th century, and while it was in English, the spelling would be hardly distinguishable to the modern reader. Cooper has edited the text for clarity, but its character is left intact by Cooper's refusal to change words. Included in the book is a table of words that are not commonly used, or appear to mean something other than their intention. This takes some getting used to, but once they sink in, the reader will be appreciative because this language gives the book flair and one does not feel like he or she is reading a modern text. In other Arthurian literature that has been translated from Anglo-Norman, French, or English, much of the original writers craft has been lost, and poetry has become prose. In Cooper's edition of Le Morte Darthur Malory's original work is better represented, and provides a more enjoyable story.

Malory's combination of romance and battle, and the breadth of his story give the reader a lot of material to peruse. The story covers almost every area of the Arthurian legend, and Cooper has edited it in a style so as to keep the Old English feel. This makes Le Morte Darthur the most complete and enjoyable piece of Arthurian literature available.

Rating:
Summary: An Easily Understood Version of the Arthurian Legend
Review: Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur is one of the better known texts of the Arthurian legends. The text describes in great detail the history of the Arthurian world and expands on Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain by portraying many of the other characters in the Arthurian legends as well as King Arthur himself. One of the renditions of this tale is the Oxford Wold Classics edition of the Winchester Manuscript of Le Morte Darthur edited by Helen Cooper. This book is an excellent edition of the Malory's work and although the language may be a bit difficult to understand for the modern reader, Cooper does an excellent job of making the language and the ideas of the book understandable for all readers.
The book begins with a detailed and informative introduction, which not only presents the many themes that are present in the book, but also describes the biography of Sir Thomas Malory himself and the circumstances in which he wrote the book. For instance Cooper describes the life of Malory and his criminal record as well as presents the major themes of the book ,which include, knighthood, romance and chivalry. The introduction is very clear and provides a helpful overview of Malory's work and the history surrounding Le Morte Darthur.
In addition to an informative introduction the book also contains several other tools that allow the reader to gain a better sense of understanding of Malory's work. The book has a chronology of Arthurian material as well as a useful glossary of uncommon words that appear frequently in the text. In order to make the book even more understandable to the modern reader, the editor includes a list of unfamiliar words at the bottom of every page that occur on that particular page so the reader does not have to waste time looking in the back of the book for a meaning of a word. The explanatory notes at the end of the book as well as the index of characters also help broaden the reader's understanding of Malory's Le Morte Darthur and make the book even easier to comprehend.
Helen Cooper's edition of the Winchester Manuscript of Malory's Le Morte Darthur is a well rendered, informative book, which is easy to understand for any reader. The book contains many tools which allow the reader to expand their understanding of the Arthurian legend and the book is written is such a way that the modern reader will have an easy time understanding the text as well as the themes present in the literature.