Sir Thomas Malory's Tales of King Arthur

by Thomas Malory, Michael Senior

An edited and abridged version of Malory's epic. The spelling and punctuation has been modernized, and lengthy descriptions of things like tournaments have been omitted.

Genres: Arthurian, Classics, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mythology, Literature

351 pages, hard cover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

From French sources, Sir Thomas Malory, English writer in floruit in 1470, adapted Le Morte d'Arthur , a collection of romances, which William Caxton published in 1485.

From original tales such as the Vulgate Cycle , Sir Thomas Malory, an imprisoned knight in the fifteenth century, meanwhile compiled and translated the tales, which we know as the legend of king.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...

Reviews

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

«Then spake Igraine and said, "I am a woman and I may not fight; but rather than I should be dishonoured, there should some good man take my quarrel. But," thus she said,"Merlin knoweth well, and you, sir Ulphuns, how king Uther came to me into the castle of Tintagel in the likeness of my lord that was dead three hours before, and there begat a child that night upon me, and after the thirteenth day king Uther wedded me. And by his commandment, when the child was born, it was delivered unto Merlin and fostered by him. And so I saw the child never after, neither knew not what was his name; for I knew him never yet".
[...]
And therewith came in sir Ector, and bore witness how he fostered him by king Uther's commandment. And therewith king Arthur took his mother, queen Igraine, in his arms and kissed her, and each wept upon the other. Then the king let make a feast that lasted eight days».

[Adrian Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of the actual tales of King Arthur that were translated from the French and Latin scripts by the immortal Sir Thomas Mallory in the 15th century, and have here been edited and given updated English to make them more palatable to modern readers. The text is not without some difficulties, as you cannot take something that has come down through that much time, with the changes in cultures and values, and have it make sense to the general reader without some explanation of terms and usage of language. The editor has accomplished this beautifully by the use of small side notes on the pages, where we are given to understand that the word "truage" actually means "tribute," and the word "gastful" means "fearful," among many others. There are other words that are not defined, such as "comen" and "or-ever," but are easily understood by their usage in the script.
Here we get the real tales of the Knights of the Round Table and their ladies, including the often neglected Tristan, whom much literature is completely ignorant of. Here are the origins of all the stories and myths that have been handed down over the centuries. Here you meet the true people, the human beings that may or may not have actually existed, but whose exploits have entertained and enlightened generations. Here is King Arthur, the Lady Guenevere, the good Sir Lancelot, the sorcerer Merlin, the vengeful Mordred, and all the others that have peopled our wonder and imaginations. Here are the originals, and a real treat for any and all who love them.

[ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

it took a while for me to finish this book, because after feeling the sheer adrenaline and wonderment within the first few tales at finally reading authentic versions of epic lore, i got bored of the repetitive framework. the plot lines are at the equivalent of a country song, where there’s a truck there’s a horse, where there’s a girl there’s a dame, where there’s beer there’s mass, and where there’s a man and his sorrows there’s lancelot crying over arthur. i tired quickly of the blatant sexism, where women only serve as damsels, selfish scheming witches or props to burn. i did love, however, the bromance and homosexuality of these knights, a refreshing salve to misogyny. all and all, i do not regret the read, just be prepaired for the same storyline tale after tale, with a few changes in the names of the dames and the timing of the swooning #arthurandlancelot4ever

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read, and enjoyed, the full version of Malory's Morte d'Arthur, and this abridged version has a lot going for it, especially the gorgeous illustrations. The language is still archaic, despite the abridgement, so if that's not something through which you wish to wade, I would recommend a modernised retelling; however, if that doesn't worry you, this is a nice volume for your library.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult read, but worthwhile if you're interested in Arthurian legends. It's lengthy, in archaic English and this version is highly biased towards Christianity, adapted from folk tales that were probably pagan. It's also a glimpse into British ideals of nobility and chivalry, I think.

[Jonny Bland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this abridged introduction to Sir Malorys ‘Le morte d’Arthur’ overall. Some of the books/chapters were more interesting than others and the quest for the (San)Grail which I had been looking forward to was overly long and a bit disappointing. However there’s a lot of fun here with well written characters displaying their chivalrous actions.

The story of the round table starting out heroically with good intentions and falling apart gradually over time due to corruption of individuals is absolutely timeless even though it was first published in 1485(!)

I did struggle with some of the medieval language but it’s given me a good basic knowledge of the plot and perhaps next time I’ll read the full work.

[Callum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wit ye well that I will be reading a lot more about this mythology as well as the history around it's origins and interpretations.

This was a lot more fun, gripping and accessible than I thought it would be. As Senior explains in the introduction, Malory's prose and writing style does not feel so medieval to the modern reader. There is a lot more to the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the table round than I thought. There is political unrest, personal feuds and great battle sequences.

There was a lot of repetition of basic plot lines, and some of it got quite boring and felt a bit unrelated, but that was only a few bits between some really great stuff.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough old english read, but I still liked it to learn about all the knights from Monty Python & the Holy Grail that I did not know much about. Interesting ideas about Knights and their links to Roman history/France. One thing was cool to have been to some of the places like Winchester, London and Glastonbury that were in the story. Now I only need to go to Cornwall to cover them all.

[Adam]

Abandoned this after 30 or so pages, realizing I was just not up for the work involved in trodding through the outdated language and extent of even this abridged version. Instead, I'm turning to a recent rewriting of the Arthur legends by John Steinbeck, as well as a read-aloud with my 10 year old of the Howard Pyle classic version. I'll leave this one for the scholars!

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this is a very abridged version of Malory's Works, my copy is lushly illustrated with stunning contemporary manuscript images of knights and ladies. It was worth the £6 I paid just for the imagery.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of swooning and smoting.

[Nick Boldrini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stories, but still long winded with overly long, repetitious speeches - and this was the edited version! First time i have read the full "traditional" Arthurian stories though

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ritarit seikkailevat ja ovat kunniakkaita.