Le Morte d'Arthur
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory's epic medieval tale of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Thomas Malory's "Le Morte Darthur", the epic tale of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. Sir Thomas Malory was a knight from Warwickshire, a respectable country gentleman and MP in the 1440s who later turned to a life of crime and spent various spells in prison. It was during Malory's final incarceration that he wrote "Le Morte Darthur", an epic work which was based primarily on French, but also some English, sources.
Malory died shortly after his release in 1470 and it was to be another fifteen years before "Le Morte Darthur" was published by William Caxton, to immediate popular acclaim. Although the book fell from favour in the seventeenth century, it was revived again in Victorian times and became an inspiration for the Pre-Raphaelite movement who were entranced by the chivalric and romantic world that Malory portrayed.
The Arthurian legend is one of the most enduring and popular in western literature and its characters - Sir Lancelot, Guinevere, Merlin and King Arthur himself, are as well-known today as they were then; and the book's themes - chivalry, betrayal, love and honour - remain as compelling.
With:
Helen Cooper
Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge
Helen Fulton
Professor of Medieval Literature and Head of Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York
Laura Ashe
CUF Lecturer and Tutorial Fellow at Worcester College at the University of Oxford
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
Last on
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
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READING LIST:
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Elizabeth Archibald (ed.), 鈥�The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend鈥櫶�(Cambridge University Press, 2009)
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Elizabeth Archibald and A. S. G. Edwards (eds), 鈥楢 Companion to Malory鈥櫶�(Boydell and Brewer, 1996)
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Richard Barber, 鈥楲egends of Arthur鈥� (Boydell Press, 2001)
W. R. J. Barron, 鈥�The Arthur of the English: the Arthurian legend in medieval English life and literature鈥� (Cardiff, 2001)
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Catherine Batt, 鈥楳alory鈥檚 Morte Darthur: Remaking Arthurian Traditions鈥� (Palgrave, 2001)
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Larry D. Benson, 鈥�Malory鈥檚 Morte Darthur鈥� (Harvard University Press, 1976)
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Helen Cooper (ed.), 鈥楳alory, Le Morte Darthur鈥櫶�(Oxford University Press, 2008)
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P. J. C. Field, 鈥楾he Life and Times of Sir Thomas Malory鈥櫶�(Boydell and Brewer, 1999)
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Laurie Finke and Martin Shichtman (eds), 鈥楰ing Arthur and the Myth of History鈥櫶�(University Press of Florida, 2004)
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Helen Fulton (ed.), 鈥楢 Companion to Arthurian Literature鈥櫶� (Wiley Blackwell, 2009)
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Christina Hardyment, 鈥楳alory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur's Chronicler鈥� (Harper Perennial, 2007)
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E.D. Kennedy, 鈥楰ing Arthur: A Casebook鈥� (Routledge, 2002)
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Alan Lupack, 鈥極xford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend鈥� (Oxford University Press, 2007)
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Sir Thomas Malory (ed. Janet Cowen), 鈥楲e Morte D鈥橝rthur鈥� (Penguin Classics, 1970)听
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Derek Pearsall, 鈥楢rthurian Romance: A Short Introduction鈥� (Blackwell, 2003)
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Martin Shichtman and James Carley (eds), 鈥楥ulture and the King: The Social Implications of the Arthurian Legend鈥� (State University of New York Press, 1994)
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Eugene Vinaver (ed.), 鈥楳alory: Works鈥� (Oxford University Press, 1977)
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Broadcasts
- Thu 10 Jan 2013 09:00大象传媒 Radio 4
- Thu 10 Jan 2013 21:30大象传媒 Radio 4
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