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tamarabrouwer's review against another edition
I'm not rating this book, because I wouldn't know how to. If it would've been a novel it would receive 1-2 stars. If only for the horrible amount of enumerations. What a drag that was. The light of most of this book was Morgan Le Fey. She makes things interesting. As were the last 4 chapters.
If it would've been a non fiction, I would've rated it higher.
But it isn't that easily categorised, and so I'll say this about my reading experience:
I'm glad I've read this source material. I think it will be very useful while reading other Arthurian tales/novels.
I also enjoyed recognising many things from fairy tales growing up. And it doesn't surprise me that this work ended up being the inspiration for so many wonderful stories. Because although the writing style is extremely tedious and sleep inducing, it's content certainly isn't.
If it would've been a non fiction, I would've rated it higher.
But it isn't that easily categorised, and so I'll say this about my reading experience:
I'm glad I've read this source material. I think it will be very useful while reading other Arthurian tales/novels.
I also enjoyed recognising many things from fairy tales growing up. And it doesn't surprise me that this work ended up being the inspiration for so many wonderful stories. Because although the writing style is extremely tedious and sleep inducing, it's content certainly isn't.
lingthebells's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
maebhhowell's review against another edition
4.0
Taken me so long to finish but the ending was genuinely brilliant and really quite tragic. Will definitely have to read again in order to comprehend the scale and breadth of all the different stories though.
zbutterf's review against another edition
4.0
Le Morte d'Arthur feels like an English amalgamation of 1001 Arabian Nights and the Iliad, with a bit of the Bible thrown in. The first two thirds is repetitive and boring, the last third makes the read worth it. Advice to future readers: if at first you don't succeed, skip to Book XI.
andreablythe's review against another edition
I know Le Mort d'Arthur is supposed to be a great classic and the definitive Arthur, but damn it, I'm 377 pages in and I can't do it anymore. It is just too much of the same flipping story over and over and over and over again. And not just the same story (knight jousts with knight), but almost the same exact wording with each battle.
The only thing to have sparked my interest in about 200 pages was this line: "The King Arthur overtook her [a false lady and sorceress], and with the same sword he smite off her head, and the Lady of the Lake took up her head and hung it up by the hair to her saddle-bow." THAT is pretty damn awesome, but it's also just one line out of all those 200 pages, and it made me long for a Lady of the Lake story, not more and more of these knights smacking each other around and talking about how knightly and courtly they are because they are big strong men who can politely knock another guy off a horse.
I am so wonderfully wroth at this book that I'm about to come at all of these damn knights like thunder and smote them down with their own damn lances. (PS. If I never see the words "wroth", "smote", or "came together like thunder" again, it will be too soon.) Seriously, don't these guys have anything better to do than run around the forests or hang out a bridges and joust with each other? Isn't there farming or something to be done? Anything? Please? I mean, I'll read about the wheat in the fields at this point.
Did I also mention that it's over 900 pages? Well, it is, and apparently this is the SHORT version. The other version is in like three volumes or something. Since it's getting the point that I'm starting to hate Arthur and his knights, I need to just put in the towel and read something — anything — else for a while.
Right now, I'm really looking forward to rereading Simon Armitag's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, because I need something to remind me why I used to love Arthurian stories so much.
The only thing to have sparked my interest in about 200 pages was this line: "The King Arthur overtook her [a false lady and sorceress], and with the same sword he smite off her head, and the Lady of the Lake took up her head and hung it up by the hair to her saddle-bow." THAT is pretty damn awesome, but it's also just one line out of all those 200 pages, and it made me long for a Lady of the Lake story, not more and more of these knights smacking each other around and talking about how knightly and courtly they are because they are big strong men who can politely knock another guy off a horse.
I am so wonderfully wroth at this book that I'm about to come at all of these damn knights like thunder and smote them down with their own damn lances. (PS. If I never see the words "wroth", "smote", or "came together like thunder" again, it will be too soon.) Seriously, don't these guys have anything better to do than run around the forests or hang out a bridges and joust with each other? Isn't there farming or something to be done? Anything? Please? I mean, I'll read about the wheat in the fields at this point.
Did I also mention that it's over 900 pages? Well, it is, and apparently this is the SHORT version. The other version is in like three volumes or something. Since it's getting the point that I'm starting to hate Arthur and his knights, I need to just put in the towel and read something — anything — else for a while.
Right now, I'm really looking forward to rereading Simon Armitag's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, because I need something to remind me why I used to love Arthurian stories so much.
j__tram's review against another edition
3.0
Whether or not I would recommend Le Morte Darthur to someone really depends on what the individual is looking for in an Arthurian story. If you're in it for knights in shining armor whisking damsels away from mortal peril, well...there's some of that. If you're looking for memorable characterizations of King Arthur and Merlin and Queen Guinevere and Lancelot, there's some of that, too. But mostly, Le Morte Darthur is a novel of its time--so, not really a novel at all, but a collection of stories meant to signify to the Christian world what it means to be a good, faithful servant of God.
Oddly enough, Le Morte Darthur doesn't actually discuss Arthur all that much. Sure, it chronicles his beginnings as a young boy with the predestined ability to pull a sword out of a stone. It describes the wrath of his sister, Morgan le Fay, and how she would contribute to his demise. But the book is less about King Arthur and more about the company he keeps--namely, the Knights of the Round Table and their epic adventures. But if you're searching for non-stop Chuck-Norris action, keep looking. The translation, though presented in modern English, is dense and line breaks just don't exist. At all. Furthermore, most of each chapter consists of nothing but knights smiting each other down pretty hard, with the occasional appearance of a casual beheading. And lots and lots of blood. In between, there are loads of biblical references and stories of knights converting other knights to Christianity. See the theme I'm getting at here? Before the creation of the fictional novel in the 18th-century, every publication like this one had behind it an author with an agenda--Malory's, one might argue, is to portray the chivalric romance popular of the time with religious undertones galore to emphasize the dichotomy between love of a woman and love of God. Indeed, love is what drives Tristram and Lancelot to madness--and what ultimately drives Arthur to his death. I'm sure that gave readers quite a bit to think about.
A few other reviewers have addressed the misogyny in this book. If one were to read Malory from a feminist framework, then naturally there is much to explore--women are often portrayed as lusty damsels or a means by which the devil can trick a knight into sin lest the knight "escape by God's grace." Not to mention, poor Lady Guinevere really does get the short end of the stick in this narrative. But again, Le Morte Darthur is a product of its time. Women were not only seen as the weaker sex, but in the Christian context, as the symbol of temptation--the ultimate downfall of a faithful knight of the Table Round. It's not awesome, but it's historically accurate and relevant, especially if we use this view of women as a comparison to how women are presented in contemporary mainstream literature and media.
Don't get bogged down by all that, though. For all its dense descriptions of (usually unnecessary) fighting, there's a lot to be said for what Le Morte Darthur has to offer. It really did set the tone for a lot of Arthurian legend that came after it, and a lot of recognizable themes and character dynamics can be traced back to it, such as the ill-fated romance between Lancelot and Guinevere, or the holiness of Sir Galahad. There is also bonus stuff including Sir Percivale making BFFs with a lion, and Sir Tristram disguising himself as "Sir Tramtrist" to confuse people (...it works). Mostly, this is a book that really showcases what people in the high Middle Ages viewed as good, as evil, as virtuous, as honorable, as just...it really amplifies the qualities expected of not only knights, but of Christian people of Europe at the time. All in all, Le Morte Darthur is a treasure--certainly not for the light reader, but for the historian or for anyone who really wants to delve into the values of the Christian High Middle Ages.
Oddly enough, Le Morte Darthur doesn't actually discuss Arthur all that much. Sure, it chronicles his beginnings as a young boy with the predestined ability to pull a sword out of a stone. It describes the wrath of his sister, Morgan le Fay, and how she would contribute to his demise. But the book is less about King Arthur and more about the company he keeps--namely, the Knights of the Round Table and their epic adventures. But if you're searching for non-stop Chuck-Norris action, keep looking. The translation, though presented in modern English, is dense and line breaks just don't exist. At all. Furthermore, most of each chapter consists of nothing but knights smiting each other down pretty hard, with the occasional appearance of a casual beheading. And lots and lots of blood. In between, there are loads of biblical references and stories of knights converting other knights to Christianity. See the theme I'm getting at here? Before the creation of the fictional novel in the 18th-century, every publication like this one had behind it an author with an agenda--Malory's, one might argue, is to portray the chivalric romance popular of the time with religious undertones galore to emphasize the dichotomy between love of a woman and love of God. Indeed, love is what drives Tristram and Lancelot to madness--and what ultimately drives Arthur to his death. I'm sure that gave readers quite a bit to think about.
A few other reviewers have addressed the misogyny in this book. If one were to read Malory from a feminist framework, then naturally there is much to explore--women are often portrayed as lusty damsels or a means by which the devil can trick a knight into sin lest the knight "escape by God's grace." Not to mention, poor Lady Guinevere really does get the short end of the stick in this narrative. But again, Le Morte Darthur is a product of its time. Women were not only seen as the weaker sex, but in the Christian context, as the symbol of temptation--the ultimate downfall of a faithful knight of the Table Round. It's not awesome, but it's historically accurate and relevant, especially if we use this view of women as a comparison to how women are presented in contemporary mainstream literature and media.
Don't get bogged down by all that, though. For all its dense descriptions of (usually unnecessary) fighting, there's a lot to be said for what Le Morte Darthur has to offer. It really did set the tone for a lot of Arthurian legend that came after it, and a lot of recognizable themes and character dynamics can be traced back to it, such as the ill-fated romance between Lancelot and Guinevere, or the holiness of Sir Galahad. There is also bonus stuff including Sir Percivale making BFFs with a lion, and Sir Tristram disguising himself as "Sir Tramtrist" to confuse people (...it works). Mostly, this is a book that really showcases what people in the high Middle Ages viewed as good, as evil, as virtuous, as honorable, as just...it really amplifies the qualities expected of not only knights, but of Christian people of Europe at the time. All in all, Le Morte Darthur is a treasure--certainly not for the light reader, but for the historian or for anyone who really wants to delve into the values of the Christian High Middle Ages.
italo_carlvino's review against another edition
4.0
To be clear I read some of the beginning and the Death of Author. I plan to read the whole thing at some point, but I am a little busy at the moment. I loved reading the Death of Author. It reads like a tragic story to be sure. I definitely want to read the whole book.