/lit/ - Literature

what have you already read?

thomas malory of course

>>11504944
Read The Once and Future King. I'm still reading it but so far it's been fantastic

>>11505049
Eh, I find White's interpretation hasn't aged well due to how steeped it is in the culture of the 40s and 50s. The heavy handed political allusions made me roll my eyes.

It's more fun to read Le Morte d'Arthur yourself, and make your own Once and Future King.

>>11505288
Agreed. Malory is pretty comfy, and many of the middle english passages roll off the tongue quite well.

>>11504944
Mabinogion

>>11505288
Well so far I haven't noticed anything political. I find the prose really heartwarming for some reason.

Unironically game of thrones.
Tickled my night in shining armoire itch.

>>11505978
It gets a bit political in the second book. The third (the best) one is pretty much devoid of that. The fourth and fifth however are pretty heavy handed with politics, but if that annoys you know that they are quite short.

>>11504944
Anyone read Tennyson’s Idylls of the King? I had to read a few in class but never read the whole book.

>>11506246
Very well, thanks in advance. I'll begin the second part today

>>11504944
The warlord chronicles. Its set in the 5th century though so instead of knights in shining plate you have clashing shieldwalls.

Whats this boards stance on Lawheads Pendragon series.

Also, Lawheads Pendragon series.

>>11504944
Joseph Campbell, Romance of The Grail

and The Death Of Arthur obvs

>>11504944
The Mists of Avalon is bretty gud.

There's only 3 books that are really worth reading. Le Morte d'Arthur, The Once and Future King and The Mists of Avalon.

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

Test

>>11504944
You should read Le Morte Darthur, Sir Gawain and the Greek Knight, and Chretien de Troyes' Percival and Lancelot stories.

Anyone read Pearl? I got it along with Le Morte d'Arthur lately, both Simon Armitage translations. How are his translations by the way?

>>11509641
I read Marie Boroff's translation of Pearl recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. I know I've read the Armitage translation once upon a time, but I honestly don't remember it. The text's circular nature and emboitement help to make it accessible, so I'm sure either translation is good.

Any version of Le Morte is going to feel encyclopedic and boring. It wasn't meant to be read as a novel. Keep that in mind when you reach repetitive stretches that seem meaningless.

>>11509707
I take it back, I haven't read any of Armitage's translations. Now I don't know who translated the Pearl I read years ago.

>>11509641
>>11509707
I also read Boroff's Pearl and loved it. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of my favorite stories too. I'd also add Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parcival, which is a great Grail story that doesn't include Arthur all that much.

>>11504944
Check out A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by grrm. It is three short stories so far out of a planned seven or so if the glacier doesn't die.

>Dunk rode slowly along the fence. The viewing stand was crowded with knights. "M'lords," he called to them, "do none of you remember Ser Arlan of Pennytree? I was his squire. We served many of you. Ate at your tables and slept in your halls." He saw Manfred Dondarrion seated in the highest tier. "Ser Arlan took a wound in your lord father's service." The knight said something to the lady beside him paying no head. Dunk was forced to move on. "Lord Lannister, Ser Arlan unhorsed you once in tourney." The Grey Lion examined his gloved hands, studiedly refusing to raise his eyes. "He was a good man, and he taught me how to be a knight. Not only sword and lance, but honor. A knight defends the innocent, he said. That's all I did. I need one more knight to fight beside me. One, that's all. Lord Caron? Lord Swann?" Lord Swann laughed softly as Lord Caron whispered in his ear.
>Dunk reined up before Ser Otho Bracken, lowering his voice. "Ser Otho, all know you for a great champion. Join us, I beg you. In the names of the old gods and the new. My cause is just."
>"That may be," said the Brute of Bracken, who had at least the grace to reply, "but it is your cause, not mine. I know you not, boy."
>Heartsick, Dunk wheeled Thunder and raced back and forth before the tiers of pale, cold men. Despair made him shout. "ARE THERE NO TRUE KNIGHTS AMONG YOU?"
>Only silence answered.
>Across the field, Prince Aerion laughed. "The dragon is not mocked," he called out.
>Then came a voice. "I will take Ser Duncan's side.

Depends on if you want to be entertained or know the actual history of Arthurian legends.

>1. The History of the Kings of Britain - Geoffrey of Monmouth

Oldest surviving text about King Arthur, and an attempt by Monmouth to put King Arthur into the actual history of Britain.

>2. The Mabinogion - Unknown

Pre-Christian Celtic ural stories, probably the most important source of Anglo-French paganism, mythology, and tradition alive today, and the most important source for both France and Britain.

>3. Tristan and Iseult by Beroul

Dirty version but the Gottfried version is 500 pages long and way too expansive, is often skipped in other works but is definitely an essential read considering the massive influence on medieval culture's perception of romance.

>4. Arthurian Romances - Chrétien de Troyes
Everything by de Troyes in a single 500 pages book by a writer considered one of the grandfathers of the modern novel and one of the best writers of medieval literature.
His sources are unknown and sometimes a little dubious, but de Troyes was so popular that almost all of his works have survived and have become essential medieval canon.

I just want to have fun tier:

>1. Le Morte d'Arthur - Thomas Malory

A compilation of works from de Troyes and other sources with a few sources that were forgotten until Malory added them back in, it's essentially Arthurian Romances again with a few additions.
If you've read the rest then this is kind of a meaningless version, but some swear by it because of how it's written.

2. The Once and Future King - T.H White

The 'Disney' book, more of a fantasy novel than the actual thing, but it's worth reading if you want to be entertained.

>>11511419
It also can't be overstated how important Tristan and Isolde has been for art in general, especially for the romantics, It's also Arthurian considering Tristan is a knight of the round table but is often not included.

>>11507599
>warlord chronicles
These books are very underrated.

>>11504944
>foreword by Christopher Paolini

>>11512653
>2004