New and fresh assessments of Malory's Morte Darthur.
The essays here are devoted to that seminal Arthurian work, Sir Thomas
Malory's Le Morte Darthur. Developments of papers first given at the
'Malory at 550: Old and New' conference, they emphasise here the second
part of its remit. Accordingly, several contributors focus new attention
on Malory's style, using his stock phrases, metaphors, characterization,
or manipulation of sources to argue for a deeper appreciation of his
merits as an author. If, as others illustrate, Malory is a much better
artist than his twentieth-century reputation allowed, then there is a
renewed need to re-assess the vexed question of the possible originality
of his 'Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkeney'. Similarly fresh approaches
underlie those essays re-examining Malory's attitude to time and the
sacred in 'The Sankgreal', the manner in which the ghosts of Lot and his
sons highlight potential failures in the Round Table Oath, or the
pleasures and pitfalls of Arthurian hospitality. The remaining
contributions argue for new approaches to Malory's narrative gaps,
Launcelot's status as a victim of sexual violence, and the importance of
rejecting Victorian moral attitudes towards Gwenyvere and Isode,
moralizing that still informs much recent scholarship addressing
Malory's female characters.
Contributors: Joyce Coleman, Elizabeth Edwards, Kristina Hildebrand,
Cathy Hume, David F. Johnson, Megan Leitch, Andrew Lynch, Molly A.
Martin, Cory James Rushton, + Fiona Tolhurst, Michael W. Twomey
