White’s tale, though based on Mallory, needs to be praised for its originality. The Once and Future King is a must for anyone who considers themselves a fan of Arthurian legend. Almost borderline (dirtiest word in writing), dare I say it, plagiarism.

White ONLY as having done a Mallory redux, with a lot of copying and pasting from Le Morte, rather than a tribute / homage to Mallory. I always wonder, had I read Le Morte d’Arthur first, would I NOT have fallen in love with The Once and Future King to the degree that I did? Because one could talk oneself into seeing T.H.

The beautiful, poignant relationship between the young Arthur and his mentor Merlin, who allows Arthur to seeing the world of “Gramarye” (England) through a magical lens, the comedic exploits of King Pellinore, and the vivid descriptiveness of the fantastical Britain, are all features of The Once and Future King that left me spellbound, and will always resonate with me, for as long as I live. White essentially based his novel, published in 1958, on the ancient work of imprisoned medieval knight Thomas Malory, written in 1485.īut the humorous, clever play on words in the novel, essentially turning The Once and Future King into a brilliant, mock-serious, outright comedic (yet still somber, haunting, completely epic) Arthurian retelling, with White’s totally unique and original spin and material, while SIMULTANEOUSLY making it almost a dark satire parodying Le Morte d’arthur is simple gob-smacking genius. Although, of course, I knew from the get-go, T.H.

White’s seminal masterpiece, I delved into Le Morte d’Arthur, the version of Arthurian folklore composed in the fifteenth century, that still remains so widely-read, about half a millennia later. Thus, post- The Once and Future King, T.H. Well, what do I say about the book that comes in as my #5 favorite book of all time? I did not read Le Morte d’Arthur until University, when I was writing a paper about it. Building blocks, so to speak.įor me, one of those building blocks is a book published in the 1950s, the same decade as such defining fantasy works as The Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia were also released. In March 2022 on we were exploring books that made us as readers and/or as creatives, and helped define who were are.

The once and future king book series