The Once and Future King

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Wart, a young boy, initially has no idea who he really is. This is
Merlin's doing, as he travels backwards in time, having left the young
lad with a kindly keeper to ensure his safety and responsible
upbringing. In other words, to make sure he is a decent kid, not a
spoiled brat, so he will become a sympathetic ruler. The rest of the
Arthurian legend evolves from there.

Don't buy into the hype........2007-08-17

Coming into reading this book I was under the false impression that it was going to be an enjoyable read. That went out the window rather quickly. I might have liked this book, had I been born in England 60 years ago and had an intricate knowledge of obscure old English references concerning their medieval period and items contained within. However, I have to say that I read through a few chapters of White's novel where I was left with no sense of what had just happened.
He goes into intricate explanations of scenery, events, and items that last for pages. This in itself is not bad, however, White seems to have been going through the Old English Book of archaic terms while he was doing this. Not a fun read, you might as well break out your dictionary and thesaurus because that's the only way you're going to understand what White is describing.

A reading assignment I actually enjoyed........2007-06-14

My class in school was assigned to read this book. I am a particularly slow reader, so I was discouraged when I saw how long it was and the hard to understand language they used, but the more i read, the more interested I got. Although it is not one of my favorites, i really enjoyed reading this and i love the author's style of writing. You get to know the characters so much and the plot never gets too boring. New "mini stories" pop up in every chapter and it's always a pleasant suprise.

A Good Novel But Not Great.......2007-04-24

King Arthur and his famous Knights of the Round Table are among the most famous characters of any mythology. This novel, entitled "The Once And Future King, is the re-telling of the legend published some four decades ago and written by a man who was fascinated by the medieval time period. This novel is a good novel, but it lacks greatness and is at times lacking.

The novel's plot is well known. It starts with a young boy called Wart who pulls the sword from the stone and becomes the King of England. He marries Guinevere, sets up the famous Round Table, and creates an ideal society in the form of Camelot. But in the end this perfect could not last forever and eventually Camelot falls. Pretty much the basics of the Arthurian legend are retold here.

The main problem of the novel is in its characterization. King Arthur is the protagonist of the novel, but yet he seems to be lacking in the wisdom we have come to associate with the legendary king. But he is a three-decisional character and he does suffers one tragic flaw: he is too trusting and this will lead to the fall of Camelot. The same lacking of characterization can be found in the other two characters of the novel: Guinevere and the brave knight Lancelot. White doesn't seem to be able to handle their characterization very well. This is especially true of the romance between them. The highlights in terms of characters are the bumbling knight King Pellinore and, of course, the sorcerer Merlyn. It is through Merlyn that Arthur learns many of the lessons and also that we get the social commentary of the novel. Yet the weak characterization of the main characters hurts the overall effect of the novel.

White is at his best doing the descriptions rather then dialogue and it is this that makes the novel worth reading. There is an area where White doesn't keep this together as well. The novel's ending seems to be too awkwardly written and White seems to rush past many of the novels' revelations. It would have been nice if some of these had been closed since they do leave a few too many loose threads hanging at the end.

In the final analysis, "The Once And Future King" is a novel of great intentions done written with mixed results. White managed to take the classic legend of old and infuse it with some freshness. Despite its lack of proper characterization and some loose threads at the end, the novel is still a good re-telling of the King Arthur story. If you are interested in the King Arthur legend this is a good choice to read.

A retelling of the Arthurian legend, NOT !.......2007-04-18

A retelling of the Arthurian legend,based largely on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. NOT ! Certainly not in the simple sense of retelling a story you've heard. White bit off all of it, chewed up all of it and digested all of it. He added, only the good Lord knows what, and cooked up an un-imaginable work of art. The book is full of passages of un-common beauty, full of poetry and pathos. He paints portraits of his characters, so full of color and detail and life that they are sitting right there next to you. You love or hate them, right there and then.
This is written on the occasion of my 30th reading of this book. I read it about twice a year. It goes on cruises with me. I have bought about 15 copies as gifts to family and friends. All of my grandchildren have copies. The book is quirky. You have not ever read anything like it. I love the use of the anachronistic (?) language he uses. You must feel with his characters, or to be honest, I question the quality of your soul. And this is the most remarkable thing about the book - you need to read it with your soul. It is not a history book.It is more than a romance It is a book about real people, Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin and Lancelot, lots of others, their loves, their hurts, their victories and losses and finally, how in spite of all good intentions and undertakings and magic, it all falls apart. How the promises of a better and smarter world never get fufilled.

Average customer rating:

The Once and Future King
Terence Hanbury White
Manufacturer: The Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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The Once and Future King (Cliffs Notes)
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ASIN: 0441014062

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Great Duke Talent Search prep aid
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The Once and Future King (Cliffs Notes)
Daniel Moran
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764585509

Book Description

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

Based on medieval Arthurian legends, CliffsNotes on The Once and Future King is a twentieth-century version of young Arthur's quest for the sword Excalibur and his claim to the throne of England. Including many well-known and much-loved episodes with Merlyn, the sorcerer; Morgan La Fay, the witch; and knights jousting and hounds engaged in the hunt, White's novel adds to the lore surrounding the person of King Arthur.

This study guide covers all four volumes of The Once and Future King with special emphasis given to the most popular volume, The Sword in the Stone. Other features that help you study include

Character analyses of major players
Personal background of the author, T.H. White
A critical essay on Arthurian films
A review section that tests your knowledge
A Resource Center full of books, articles, and Web sites

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Download Description

Based on medieval Arthurian legends, The Once and Future King isa twentieth-century version of young Arthur's quest for the swordExcalibur and his claim to the throne of England. Including manywell-known and much-loved episodes with Merlyn, the sorcerer; Morgan LaFay, the witch; and knights jousting and hounds engaged in the hunt,White's novel adds to the lore surrounding the person of King Arthur.

CliffsNotes brings you this easy-to-understand study guide that coversall four volumes of The Once and Future King with specialemphasis given to the most popular volume, The Sword in theStone. The other three novellas are treated within critical essays.

Customer Reviews:

Great Duke Talent Search prep aid.......2007-03-17

This book has hlped my daughter make the connections for her prep work Duke.

Shipping Sham.......2002-08-10

Cliffnotes are Cliffnotes but who you buy them from is what counts. This seller charges more for shipping than the cost of the book. Shop around guys, highway robbery here!!

A great Help.......2000-08-13

I was sugested to read the book the once and future king. I did not know if I wanted to spend that much time on a book so I purchased the cliff's notes. After reading them I had to read the book and it was fabulas. The fact that I already knew what the book was about also helped me understand the book.

A Whole New Perspective.......2000-06-27

A few weeks ago I recieved my school reading list. I was happy that the Once and Future King was on it because I had already read it. I purchased the Cliff Notes. The refreshed my memory with out taking to much time. I also liked how they list the characters and what they did in the beginning of the book. That way if you forget you can always look it up. The comments that are contained also help widen my perspective on what the book means. I think that everyone who has read the book should purchase these cliff notes.

The Book of Merlyn: The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once and Future King

Average customer rating:

different than the once and future king, but equally enjoyable
It's Not What You Would Expect
Believing in Camelot
A real enchantress said,"Thanks for this wonderful book."
White out of his element

The Book of Merlyn: The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once and Future King
T. H. White
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Once and Future King
Le Morte D'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table (Signet Classics)
The Sword in the Stone
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ASIN: 029270769X

Book Description

"...a personal as well as historical story that crisscrosses the centuries on the question of war and peace."

—New York Times

This magical account of King Arthur's last night on earth spent weeks on the New York Times best-seller list following its publication in 1977.

Even in addressing the profound issues of war and peace, The Book of Merlyn retains the life and sparkle for which White is known. The tale brings Arthur full circle, an ending, White wrote, that "will turn my completed epic into a perfect fruit, 'rounded off and bright and done.'"

Customer Reviews:

different than the once and future king, but equally enjoyable.......2005-11-01

as i said in my title, this book is very different. if you're looking for an arthurian read with a plot, stay away. because this book has no plot. it is set just before arthur leaves for his fatal battle with mordred. merlyn and all of the animals he learned from as a boy have gathered together and are pondering different things, and the morals of the lessons merlyn teaches. arthur is taken on more journeys with the animals, with the ones of the geese and ants repeated (there are also additional ones). it really makes you think, and it delves deeper into the arthurian legend and its morals. this is a wonderful book, and should be read directly after the once and future king for the full effect.

It's Not What You Would Expect.......2004-12-07

I just want to start by saying, don't read this book if you are looking for a satisfactory conclusion to The Once and Future King. As a matter of fact, if you haven't read that yet then it's okay to read this, other than a bit of back story, the two are virtually separable. In The Book of Merlin, White displays his paranoia of the World Wars and his almost backward grasp on world politics by using the anthropomorphic characters from The Once and Future King and Merlin, who isn't so much a wizard in this book, but a raving anarchist. I'm not going to delve into the right and wrongs of the political spectrum represented, but a politically conscious reader would find most of what White has to say as absurd. Read this if you appreciate White, read this if you appreciate the political notions of a paranoid sadist, but by all means skip this and go read Mallory if you are interested in a good work concerning Arthur.

Believing in Camelot.......2004-05-07

White packs the politics and philosophy into Book of Merlyn, but if you believe that Might doesn't make Right, his foray into analyziing human conflict is welcome.

Still, there is plenty of moments in the Book of Merlyn that capture White's wonderful magical voice that permeates the Once and Future King.

It's a shame White never got it included with the full book.

A real enchantress said,"Thanks for this wonderful book.".......2003-10-28

Does life make any sense? Is there a meaning to our lives?
Arthur gets his last lessons from Merlyn.

Charlie Turek, magician, Order of Merlin

White out of his element.......2003-09-05

This is the "Lost Ending" to the classic "Once And Future King." Aside from the Disney movie and a quick passage in a high-school anthology, I am clueless to E. B. White. So that means I have undergone a great voyage of discovery!

White's strength is his characterization. Aged Arthur still sees adolescent at times, and Merlyn is the wise man who still has his share of foibles. The Nazi's were army ants, and even Archimedes and the Badger had warm personalities. As I read, the "charming: keeps coming to mind.

The problem with "The Book of Merlyn" is that White stopped retelling Mallory's Le Mort d'Arthur, and began running down his own political deer-trail.

Don't get me wrong: I think White's insights into humanity and into specific human is keen. There was an edge to the way he dealt with Lancelot, and his Merlyn is far more affectionate the C. S. Lewis's in "That Hideous Strength." But the problem with the book is that he got "off message," and got off of his element.

This book is but about Arthur or Merlyn, or the Round Table, but is really White's response to the events around World War II. He is , in effect, doing to Camelot what Nietzsche did to Zoroastrianism: use a good medium to expresses a bad idea.

To the point, White analyzes humanity in relation to other animals. Merlyn, Arthur and the councils of animals are unable to decide what and how to solve the human problem. They begin the discussion by try to name human. Is he Homo Ferox (Ferocious Man), Homo Stultus (Inefficient Man), or is he Homo Impoliticus (Impolitic Man)?

On the surface, the discussion between Arthur and the council of animals is great parody on the level of Gulliver. The Nazi as ants is brilliant, especially the part about "done" and "not done." On second glance, there are some problems. We can look to the animals for examples, but in reality, we are reading humanity into the animals. Then, we takes these mythical non-existent animals, and use them to criticize humans.

Sure, we can look to geese as being very sociable, but geese do not have agency and intelligence. That is, the do not know better but behave differently. It is all instinct. Their behavior is neither good nor bad, since that cannot choose to be bad. Congratulating the geese on behaving nicely would be like congratulating the sun for rising.

This logical error is called "Anthropomorphic Fallacy" where we read human behavior into inanimate or animal objects. Poet (and White is one par excellence) use this to great aesthetic affect. Btu it is the blackest of all rational errors. White's fantasy gets in the way of the point he is trying to make.

Secondly, White merely focuses on externals. The solution to peace is to remove all borders. In 1776, the United States had open borders between the states, but that did not prevent the civil war. In both the Civil War and World War II, the key issue was not borders. A closed border meant nothing to Hitler, since he would just driver a tank across it. But the key issue was freedom and how to use it. Hitler's nationalism was just a catalyst for more sinister ends.

White did hit the truth in Chapter 1. The issue is one of Original Sin or Original Virtue. Merlyn points out "To disbelieve in original sin, does not mean that you must believe in original virtue. It only means that you must not believe that people are utterly wicked."

Book Description

The Once and Future King defies classification. Is it for children, or for adults? Is it fantasy or a psychological novel? In its great range, it encompasses poetry and farce, comedy and tragedy -and sudden flights of schoolboy humour. White's `footnote to Malory' (his own phrase) resulted in the last major retelling of the story based on Malory's Morte Darthur, and Elisabeth Brewer explores the literary context of White's finest work as well as considering his aims and achievement in writing it. White's story of Arthur begins with his `enfances', set in an imaginary medieval England, but it is far removed from the conventional historical novel. White was writing in wartime England, a country increasingly absorbed by a need to find an antidote to war. Through the medium of the Arthurian story he found his own voice, his unique contribution to keeping alive the flame of civilisation. Malory's chivalric virtues are rejected in favour of White's own twentieth-century values; the love affair of Lancelot and Guenever is interpreted in terms of modern psychology. The books which eventually made up The Once and Future Kingof 1958 appeared in distinctly different editions. In discussing these,Elisabeth Brewer looks at some of the ways in which White drew on his own personal experience at a deep psychological level, while also incorporating into his story material inspired by his antiquarian pursuits and by his years as a schoolmaster. She completes her study with an account of White's use of historical material, and the relationship of The Once and Future King to the Morte Darthur. ELISABETH BREWER lectured in English at Homerton College, Cambridge. She is the author of books and articles on Chaucer and the Arthurian legends.

Customer Reviews:

The Definitive Study.......2003-01-22

Elisabeth Brewer is a Medieval scholar and a White specialist. This work is chronologically arranged, so that she gives in depth infomation "by the book." Her research is impressive and illuminating. As a high school teacher, I find the work invaluable as a source of my lecture information. Her book is as much a psychological study of the author as an explanation of the text.

Silver Fangs Tribebook: Once and Future Kings (Werewolf - the Apocalypse)

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Quality overview of the best of the Garou
This book is great!

Silver Fangs Tribebook: Once and Future Kings (Werewolf - the Apocalypse)
Christopher Howard
Manufacturer: White Wolf Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Werewolf | Gaming | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1565043316

Customer Reviews:

Quality overview of the best of the Garou.......1999-10-27

beginning with a comic form short story, The history of the tribe from prehistory to the current decade is then described in a series of letters between tribe scholars. I would have like more detail here, but what's here is good. I would also have like to see more detailed info on tribe protocols, but structure info, and global polical view are good. Apart from the two points mentioned, this is an essential book for any werewolf enthusiast. One of my three must have werewolf books!

This book is great!.......1999-01-14

This book is good, rich in the Silver Fangs history. It has all the information you'll ever need about Silver Fang Heirarchy, including camps, houses and lodges. It also lists Silver Fang fetishes, rites, gifts and merits & Flaws. This book is not a waste of money for those that want to play a Silver Fang correctly. If you can find it, buy it.

Average customer rating:

Spark Notes Once & Future King
T.H. White , and SparkNotes Editors
Manufacturer: SparkNotes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Once and Future King
The Once and Future King (Cliffs Notes)
Once and Future King, Pt. 1
Once and Future King, Pt. 2
The Book of Merlyn

ASIN: 1586634828

Book Description

Get your "A" in gear!

They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception SparkNotes™ has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education brand. Consumer demand has been so strong that the guides have expanded to over 150 titles. SparkNotes'™ motto is Smarter, Better, Faster because:

· They feature the most current ideas and themes, written by experts.
· They're easier to understand, because the same people who use them have also written them.
· The clear writing style and edited content enables students to read through the material quickly, saving valuable time.

And with everything covered--context; plot overview; character lists; themes, motifs, and symbols; summary and analysis, key facts; study questions and essay topics; and reviews and resources--you don't have to go anywhere else!

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The Once and Future King
Terence Hanbury White
Manufacturer: CML
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0441010636

Looking for Arthur: A Once and Future Travelogue

Average customer rating:

Esoteric training probably required, but has great humor too

Looking for Arthur: A Once and Future Travelogue
Richard Leviton
Manufacturer: Station Hill Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1886449139

Book Description

Fictional "spiritual autobiography," Arthurian fantasy, and compendium of instruction in mystical and magical practices, Looking For Arthur presents in a contemporary setting ("magical realism") the entire scope of materials surrounding the legend of King Arthur. By turns reverent and impious, earnest and witty, metaphysical and lighthearted, the book is set in present-day Glastonbury amidst a hub-bub of occultists, mystics, and tourists swarming about the ruins of this ancient site of Arthurian lore. We follow the narrator as he is inducted into the living myth of King Arthur, the energies of the sacred landscape, the "secret history" of the earth, and the role of angels, gnomes, and ascended masters in the redemption of human culture, and we experience a completely unexpected side to this once and future myth.

Customer Reviews:

Esoteric training probably required, but has great humor too.......1999-09-01

Richard Leviton must have been studying arcane systems and beliefs all his life to have written this. It mixes everything from the Arthurian myth traditions to Bhuddism with a lot of the Qabbala thrown in. It was not what I would call an easy read in some places, but the story line and the rollicking antics of Leviton's multi-angelic mentor Blaise made it worth it. Then too, there's that twist to the ending that kept me awake all night.

And what the heck is geomancy anyway? I would be extremely interested in hearing from other readers how they felt about this book, if they wish...

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