Malory

About the Book

The most important part of a work like Le Morte D’Arthur, which, for the purposes of this summary, will be referred to as the work called Malory, referring to Caxton’s original Le Morte D’Arthur, is the historical quality of the legend and the second most important part of this work is the literary quality of the legend.  If a compared analysis of historical and literary qualities were ever drawn to conclusion of the actual chivalric code of the text, would mankind have found the mythical places of Tintagel and Caerleon?  Would a new historical era have been unearthed through the archeology of examining a library text?  

As such, for this kind of theoretical and rhetorical analysis, the story of King Arthur and his death should begin with itself as it has presented itself to the modern era since Elizabethan times, as a legend.   It is probably for the highly moral and ethical qualities of the themes of the chivalric code that the Arthurian legend survives with modern literature so well today as iconographical of what a true fantasy and what a true legend should be about: high-minded ideals and ideals which relate to humanity realistically and regardless of what part of the actual rhetoric of the story has to do with fantastic icons; there would at all times and nevertheless remain to be a purpose under heaven for all chivalric reasons of this legend, to peoples of all times.   However, the problem relates to so many readers of the legend that the obvious historical connections remain unserved and the obvious literary duress of the prose becomes more archaic over time.  

The translation and the version presented in Malory as it is revised into modern prose, treats the original work as a legend with historical merits that reach into our own progressive modern era.  The structure of this version serves itself as such in the following:  the entire work from Caxton’s original, is divided into three volumes.  These three volumes are titled with a specific intent to divide the legend into historical issues of the chivalric code and to help date the period between the Dark and Middle Ages to which these legends refer themselves.  The three volumes of legends, the first of which is the story of the text in question here, comprise the compilations of the most famously historical issues of the Court of King Arthur, the legendary Pendragon reign, and the demise of the chivalric order over the predominating issues of truage in the warring Empires of ancient Europe after Christ.

The method of editorial in the new work by David-Charlemagne, is to divide the entire original Caxton version into three volumes and to title each volume by its principal legend cycle.  The first seven books of the original Caxton manuscript concerns the problem of the appearance of the Questing Beast into the realm since Uther Pendragon’s reign and about at the time of the legendary Arthur’s birth.  The appearance of the Questing Beast is relevant concerning the lost histories and successions of the Pendragon reign.  In one place, Arthur relinquishes his reign to Constantine, his cousin.  In another place, Arthur’s reign is given to Mordred, his illegitimate son, born of the Pendragon dynasties.  Various knights of the Round Table, such as Galahad, Launcelot, Gawain, Tristram, Gareth, Gaheris and Kay might also figure somewhere to finding their contest in achieving their immortality with the Pendragon reign.  

About the Author

Patrizia David-Charlemagne is a new author to publication but probably not to the world of writing since she has been writing stories and novels most of her life. A memorable book that is no longer anywhere in existence is “A Fish Likes to Swim in a Big Pool of Water”. Later works have included the author’s own versions of the classics like Ulysses and The Bostonians, principally concerned with the problems of modern life and teenagers growing up in urban areas. This book, a translation and version of Caxton’s Le Morte D’Arthur, by Malory, is David-Charlemagne’s first work in print and is supposed to help readers enjoy this classic and beloved work in its original form and in modern prose.