Help support TMP


"King Arthur. Knowles vs Pyle?" Topic


5 Posts

All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.

Please remember that some of our members are children, and act appropriately.

For more information, see the TMP FAQ.


Back to the Books Plus Board


Areas of Interest

General

Featured Hobby News Article


Featured Link


Featured Showcase Article

3 Giant Succulents

Back to the plastic jungle…


Featured Workbench Article

Deep Dream: Manipulating Ellah

Using artificial intelligence on a portrait photo.


Featured Profile Article

Report from Bayou Wars 2006

The Editor heads for Vicksburg...


Current Poll


894 hits since 22 Sep 2020
©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?

USAFpilot22 Sep 2020 2:48 p.m. PST

I've seen the movies. Read Malory in school. Attempted to read T.H. White when younger. Read the Winter King trilogy. Now I just want to read a traditional King Arthur tale. Anyone read James Knowles or Howard Pyle versions and offer an opinion of each? Thanks

Looking for the perfect King Arthur story may be like looking the the perfect wargame,

Shagnasty Supporting Member of TMP22 Sep 2020 4:43 p.m. PST

I liked Pyle, especially for the illustrations. White is he only other one I've read and loved in the day. Tried the Winter King but couldn't get past the first chapter of the first book.

Personal logo Parzival Supporting Member of TMP22 Sep 2020 8:12 p.m. PST

Pyle is great.
I don't recall having read Knowles, so I can't compare.

Although not "traditional", Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy is exceptionally good for a combination of both realism and mythic/magical elements.
Her stand-alone The Last Enchantment, told from the viewpoint of Mordred, is excellent. (Her take on Mordred departs greatly from Mallory, et al.)

For the closest thing to a "historical" Arthur, Rosemary Sutcliff's The Lantern Bearers and The Sword at Sunset are probably the best ever written. Sutcliff also has a traditional Arthurian fantasy trilogy, but I haven't read that (and really need to add it to my list).

White's The Once and Future King is its own thing. Marvelous, and built with the tradition as the skeleton, but fully a modern novel with modern sensibilities, language, humor, and points of view, philosophy and even politics. (Well, modern in 1930's England). I love the excerpted The Sword in the Stone more, but The Once and Future King is still high on my list.

bogdanwaz23 Sep 2020 4:56 a.m. PST

John Steinbeck had worked on an Arthurian novel, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights. Sadly unfinished, the portions that survive are an excellent retelling that remain true to the traditions:

link

There's also Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger, the author of Little Big Man. Again a retelling but based in the Mallory tradition:

link

Ed Mohrmann Supporting Member of TMP25 Sep 2020 7:02 a.m. PST

Pyle, especially for the illustrations.

Sorry - only verified members can post on the forums.