The Betrayal of Arthur

by Sara Douglass

A prophecy of a golden age, a magic sword and a chosen one ...
This is the legend of King Arthur ... or is it?

From the manuscripts of a twelfth-century English cleric to a New York bestseller, tales of King Arthur and his court permeate our world. But where did the stories start and how much is true? Were Guinevere and Lancelot traitors? Was Merlin a wise man or magician? And was King Arthur a great and glorious king or a tragic man doomed from conception?

Sara Douglass, a leading writer of fantasy, pierces the heat of this legend. A scholar and academic in medieval history, she explores the fascination, manipulation and permutations of this captivating myth that has intrigued the western world for centuries.

The Betrayal of Arthur is an enchanting exploration of Arthurian legend, twentieth-century sensibilities and the medieval mind.

Genres: Nonfiction, Arthurian, History

Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Douglass was born in Penola, South Australia. She attended Annesley College, in Wayville, a suburb of Adelaide. She studied for her BA while working as a Registered Nurse, and later completed her PhD in early modern English History. She became a lecturer in medieval history at La Trobe University, Bendigo. While there she completed her first novel, BattleAxe, which launched her as a popular fantasy author in Australia, and later as an international success.

Until the mid-2000s, Douglass hosted a bulletin board on her website, with the aim of encouraging creative thinking and constructive criticism of others' work. She maintained an online blog about the restoration project of her house and garden entitled Notes from Nonsuch in Tasmania.

In 2008, Douglass was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She underwent treatment, but in late 2010 the cancer returned. She died on 27 September 2011, aged 54.

She also wrote under her real name Sara Warneke.

Reviews

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and fascinating, this books is a really succinct and (somewhat) in depth discussion of the origins of Arthur: both the legend and the historical figure. I highly enjoyed it, the writing is very accessible (and often humorous) and the author's love and research for this topic shows.

There are chapters dedicated to each character and how they are represented and changed over time, there's discussions of the different influential works to the Arthurian legend, as well as how the legend has changed and why. Context is everything, and the author more than delivered.

The author is very careful to differentiate between the history and myth of the Arthur figure/legend, and it was so fascinating to watch her examine & dissect the two from each other.

It was occasionally repetitious, but this served for me to help remember key facts and dates more than anything else.

I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in history, especially to do with English or the Dark Ages, or even if you just have a general interest in literature or Arthurian myth.

[Melissa Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but not what I was expecting. Not sure what the expectations I had were, but this wasn't it.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully interesting book that examines history and characters of the Arthurian legend. Written in a very accessible style, Douglass carefully outlines the origins of the legend, especially examining where the various elements came from. The various character analysis are most interesting, concluding that Merlin and Arthur are actually, given what they are commonly understood to be able to do and their role in the legend, rather dismal failures. This fascinating book will interest those with knowledge of the Arthurian legend and an inquisitive mind.

[Arthurianmaiden · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the headcanons and ideas are fun to read, the author clearly does everything in her power to cite sources or look into more than three or four modern novels. She often uses words like "often" or "always" taking the information from four novels over more than four hundred. Fun but hardly accurate.