The King Arthur Trilogy [Paperback]

There are countless retellings and adaptations concerning the life and times of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and I'm not even close to having read all of them. Therefore, it's impossible for me to say that Rosemary Sutcliffe's version is the definitive Arthurian retelling. However, it's certainly one of the best. Told in Sutcliffe's graceful prose that is both epic and intimate when need-be, and the tricky subjects like incest, adultery and bloodshed are conveyed without being either too prudish or overly graphic.

Divided into three parts, this version of Sutcliffe's King Arthur combines all three novels into one - and as a bonus you get David Wyatt's beautiful cover art. However, since it seems to be currently unavailable, I've added links to the separate books, which will save me having to go and review them as well.

The first installment The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is thicker than the next two books combined, and Sutcliffe draws on a wide range of sources with which to build her own narrative. Going back to the circumstances of Arthur's birth as outlined in Geoffrey Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain, she gives us her account of his birth, fosterage, and eventual crowning when only just fifteen.

From Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur: The Winchester Manuscript (Oxford World's Classics) she brings in the love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guenever, Arthur's struggle to establish peace, and the forming of the Knights of the Round Table (for a much shorter rendering of the story up to this point, try the beautiful picture book Tales of King Arthur: King Arthur and the Round Table (Books of Wonder) by Hudson Talbott). From this point, Sutcliffe moves into several other stories concerning the Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (the most famous translation by Tolkien: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo) the Kitchen Knight (also one of my favourite picture books by Trina Schart Hyman: The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur) and perhaps the best rendering of the tale of Tristan and Iseult there is (it almost deserves to be its own book).

Merlin and Morgan le Fey drop out of the story surprisingly quickly, and most of it is concerned with knight's errands and love stories, most of which can be read out of order, for it is not a novel so much as a compilation of stories.

The Light beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail (Arthurian Trilogy, Vol 2) is perhaps the least enjoyable of three, based on the Knights' Quest for the Grail and heavy with religious symbolism and metaphor. Filled with inexplicable mysteries and miracles, temptation against earthly delights and feminine wiles, this book is based on the uncompleted French poem Perceval: The Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes, but Sutcliffe also adds in plenty of her own invention as she recounts the journeys of Bors, Galahad, Lancelot and Percival for the Cup of Christ.

Finally Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur ends the story with the destruction of Camelot, the sundering of the knights and the death of King Arthur, bought on by the forbidden love between Guenever and Lancelot, as well as Arthur's illegitimate son Mordred. It's hardly cheerful stuff, but by this stage Sutcliffe has put all the pieces into place, and lets the story unfold with tragic grandeur.

The amount of story that Sutcliffe is trying to get across means that characterization beyond broad brushstrokes is minimum, and often motivation is completely lost, but what she still manages to skillfully convey the depth of human emotion that is so prevalent in these legends: the longing for the divine, the pain of love, and the mindlessness of hate. Arthur is perfectly portrayed as a man who rises to status of beloved ruler not through physical prowess, but his strength of leadership and his ability to create peaceful resolutions. Yet I got the sense that Sutcliffe was more interested in Lancelot, what with his twisted face and passionate heart. There are probably more pages dedicated to him than any other character in the entire trilogy.

She also crafts the unforgettable images of Arthurian legend that seem to be known to everyone: the sword in the anvil in the churchyard, the white hand in the lake clutching Excalibur, the hall of the Round Table, the byre of Elaine floating down the river outside Camelot, Merlin sleeping under the Hawthorn tree...the list goes on, and all of it is encapsulated in her rendering of medieval Britain: the dark forests and cool lakes, standing stones and mysterious wells, castles and hermitages.

Sutcliffe has created a very "pure" vision of the Arthurian story, in comparison the revisionist treatments that many authors use on the legends today (usually by giving them a feminist slant). But here we have a sense of the original story, much like the retellings/compilations by Roger Lancelyn Green and Howard Pyle, in which the knights: "take oaths that always they would defend the right, that they would be the true servants and protectors of all women, and deal justly in all things with all men, that they would strive always for the good of the kingdom of Britain and the glory of the kingdom of Logres, and that they would keep faith with each other and with God."

I first read Sutcliff's trilogy in the early 1990s. I had read several versions of the Arthur legend, the best of which are the original Thomas Malory Le Morte d'Arthur, and T. H. White's Once and Future King, which is based on Malory, much more than is at first apparent to the casual reader.
Sutcliff borrows from Tennyson's Idylls of the King in a trilogy of poetic prose narratives spanning Arthur's life. She also tells the stories of several of his knights. I used to read the story of Tristan and Isolde aloud to seniors after the class had read White. Even though the book is written for 'young adults' (translate 13 year olds) high school seniors love it for its excellent narrative and lovely portraiture of the characters. Sutcliff tells the story of Camlann, for example, as well as anyone could.
The book is readable and engaging for any age. I have given it as a gift to many young people, both before and after they have read White. It is hard to find now, but well worth the search.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars