Arthurian Novels: The Influence of the Man, the Myth, the Legend

Hello Everyone!

Nice to see you again! As I told you in the last post, I am changing this blog up a little. Instead of doing book reviews, I am going to be attempting to do some more “intellectual” posts dealing with themes that I can then transition onto the books I am reading or have read. There will also be some recommendations on the genre I am talking about in the post and some possible topics that you can come up with your own answers for in the comments! So, without further ado, here’s the first post.

So let’s talk about King Arthur. I know, I know. Why talk about some legends that don’t tie into anything I like to read? How can this tie into young adult novels?

I am glad you asked. I am going to explain my theories to you right now in this, probably, long winded post!

Okay, we all know the legends of King Arthur. A man, who is chosen by his lineage, draws a sword from the stone, becomes king, gets betrayed by his best friend and his wife, then being possibly killed and sent off to Avalon. Let’s break down the model here: a chosen one gets thrust into a situation he is not necessarily prepared for, has to deal with relationships, good and bad, and must come face to face with death. Sound familiar?

You can map this structure on some of your favorite novels. Harry Potter, Divergent, The Mortal Instruments. Almost any YA book series can be seen using this model. But that’s not the only thing that makes the Arthurian legend and novel important. Now, I am getting ahead of myself, so let’s go back to the beginning, shall we?

King Arthur.

It is no issue or even question that King Arthur is a legend, almost to mythic proportions. He is everywhere. In films, television shows, in most things we love. But people often argue about whether or not Arthur was a real person. My question to you is: does it matter? This possibly real man has influenced so much, so why should it matter if he were a real king or not. There is no evidence for or against it. The texts surrounding the era he could have lived is not documented enough to tell one way or another. But what we do know is the affect he had on literature, entertainment, and, in a way, society, throughout history.

So with that argument dealt with, let’s go onto more in depth look at the stories themselves and how they connect with literature and film today. There is the obvious connection of the repeated King Arthur films and television shows that have been created which directly pull from the King Arthur source texts. From Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), to King Arthur (2004), to King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword (2017), to the BBC show Merlin (2005). All of these draw from Le Morte D’Arthur, the Vulgate and post-Vulgate, the Suite d’Merlin, and all that’s in between. Yes, they put their spin on them. Monty Python, doing as they always do, and turning it into a comedy. Merlin turning it into more of a story of the magician rather than focusing solely on the king. But these have also had varying degrees of success. And obviously there is an audience for this literature.

Even your favorite show on now, eh hem, Game of Thrones, is heavily influenced by the King Arthur texts. Since George R.R. Martin took influence from J.R.R. Tolkien, he inadvertently got remnants of Arthur. Fun fact, Tolkien was an Arthur scholar, more precisely, a Medievalist, who studied and even translated many Arthurian stories from Middle English to the English we speak today. So a lot of what he wrote about, yes, even the dragons and orcs, can be drawn from the source material of the legends, which is super cool. And I know, you want to argue that Martin was one of the firsts to have a gruesome death scene. Watch, if you are going to read Le Morte D’Arthur for Palomide’s death scene. It’s pretty freaking gross if you ask me. So, yeah, high fantasy as we know it today would not be the same if we did not take Arthur into account.

So let’s turn to the more written texts.

Young Adult literature is not exempt from the direct connections to King Arthur. Meg Cabot’s Avalon High comes to mind first. (Note: Disney Channel also made this into a movie, so check it out if you want.) Though there are not as many now that have that direct correlation to the Arthurian legends, they still exist, and if you look hard enough (ie, do a google search) you can find a lot of them. K.M.  Shea has an entire series entitled, King Arthur and Her Knights that explores King Arthur as a female instead of a male. (I have not read this series, so I cannot qualify the quality of the work, but it sounds super interesting.) Here is actually a link with eighty-four (that’s right 84) young adult novels that tie directly into King Arthur: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/36275.YA_Books_With_Arthurian_Legend

But as I mentioned in the beginning of this post, the narrative structure can be mapped onto so many more books. Even if we are not solely looking at King Arthur himself, if we happen to look at his knights Perceval or Lancelot, this opens up so many more, particularly the questing nature of the story. So whatever you are reading, see if it can be mapped onto any of the legends you are familiar with. And if you’re not familiar, I can direct you to a few that I have read myself. Basically anything written by Chretien de Troyes will be a good place to start. (Make sure you read the prose translation, the poetic translation does nothing and it takes away from the story itself.)

If you will remember, I also made a big claim about Arthur influencing society. I stand by this claim. Though it is less prominent now, there was the chivalric code that ran rampant throughout the Medieval era until semi-recently. This code kept men, who were used to a time of war, in line so they could act in a socially acceptable way. Instead of fighting and killing one another, they would joust or have tournaments to pass the time. This can still be seen today, but instead of men on horseback, we prefer sports. What is the first thing a parent suggests for their son to do to “stay off the streets?” Pick up football, or soccer, or basketball. Some sort of physical activity that keeps them occupied on something else. So while the romantic concepts of chivalry may not be as prevalent in society (men having to save women no matter the woman’s say in the matter) the realistic one still does.

So yes, I would say that Arthur has influenced society in a way that can still be seen today.

If you could not tell, I very much enjoy Arthurian legends. They are fascinating and so much more than knights running around saving maids and jousting (though they do that a lot). They are stories with desire and hidden meanings that, if you look just under the surface, you can see too.

I hope you enjoyed this post topic! It seems a bit scatter-brained because this is my first like it. I will try to be more organized in the future, but bear with me!

Have a great day, and I’ll see you next time!

XOXO 

Dana