The Great Book of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table: A New Morte D'Arthur by John Matthews (review)

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• The Great Book of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table: A New Morte D'Arthur by John Matthews
• Alan Lupack

john matthews, The Great Book of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table: A New Morte D'Arthur. Foreword by Neil Gaiman. Illustrated by John Howe. New York: Harper Design, 2022. Pp. xxi, 406. isbn: 978–0–06–324312–5. $32.50.

The tales in John Matthews' The Great Book of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table are retellings (based on pre-existing translations) of thirty-two Arthurian tales not found in Malory's Morte. The collection, which Matthews calls 'A New Morte D'Arthur,' tells the story of Camelot from a perspective different from Malory's. Some of these tales Matthews has made available before, several of them more than once, in his earlier collections of Arthurian stories. It is helpful that he offers a section of 'Notes and Sources' that indicates what translations and editions he has consulted in preparing his retellings (though, it should be noted, this section does not always include all the translations and editions, and sometimes not the most recent ones).

In his comments on 'The Adventures of Eagle-Boy,' Matthews writes that this is the first time the story has been 'retold for a popular audience.' This statement is the key to his intentions: he is retelling tales for general readers, not a scholarly audience, much as the numerous retellings of Malory's Morte do. As a result, he changes his source texts to make his material more readable. Sometimes he merges two or more narratives into one. He tells us, for example, that 'The Tale of Palomides and the Questing Beast' combines elements from five different sources. He tells some tales in full; others he abbreviates, as when he retells only the first half of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet. He 'slightly' amends (p. 377) the ending of 'The Adventure of Meriadoc' and adds a coda to 'The Adventures of Melora and Orlando,' a story about Arthur's daughter Melora, to suggest that 'Merlin's part in the story was less negative than it appeared' (p. 382). He also occasionally assigns names to characters unnamed in his sources and adds authorial comments to his texts. All of this is fair game and often makes the stories even more appealing to his audience. The striking images by John Howe enhance the volume and the reader's experience.

Matthews tells the tales well, and the tales he has altered most can be the most enjoyable or interesting, as, for example, when he achieves the difficult task of blending the Elucidation with the better known story of Perceval and the Grail. And readers will find stories that are not easily accessed elsewhere, including several Irish Arthurian tales (Matthews is partial to Celtic material and motifs, especially fairy figures); a rendition of The Knight of the Parrot, a rare romance that depicts Arthur as a knight errant on a quest; and retellings of the Dutch romance Morien, the Occitan romance Jaufre, and others. [End Page 74]

Matthews claims to have woven the diverse material he presents into an 'epic' and a 'coherent narrative' which forms a new Morte D'Arthur 'not too far off the quality' of Malory's (pp. xx, 404). Here he overreaches. There is neither an overall unity nor a coherence to the book. The stories do not always fit together smoothly. Nor do they gain in resonance as we read through the book, as the parts of the Morte do. In the first 'Book,' for example, there are three stories about Merlin. Though each involves his prophetic ability and each is interesting and well told, his use of the Merlin figures of Celtic lore, of chronicle, and of romance does not suggest an attempt to develop a consistent character. And occasional references to Merlin in later stories have no connection to these earlier ones. The tales of the various knights do not echo and enhance the depiction of Gawain, the chief knight of the book, or of each other; nor do they explore the meaning of chivalry or put it into conflict...