Merlinated: Arthurian Legend Beyond the BBC

Tags

Angel Coulby, arthurian legends, Arthurian romance, bbc merlin, bernard cromwell, Bradley James, California Polytechnic, Colin Morgan, Cromwell's Warlord series, Debora B. Schwartz, Emilia Fox, Guinevere, Katie McGrath, King Arthur and His Noble Knights, Knights of the Roundtable, M.K. Hume, Mary Stewart, medieval bestiary, medieval literature, merlin, Merlin Trilogy, Mists of Avalon, Modern Arthurian Legend, Monty Python's Holy Grail, Pendragon Cycle, Steinbeck, Steve Lawhead, the camelot project, the Gawain Poet, The Idylls of the King, The Once and Future King, The Sword in the Stone, Tolkien

Young Merlin (Colin Morgan) with Prince Arthur (Bradley James)

If Fall TV has disappointed, cast your gaze upon the BBC’s Merlin, available now at Hulu.com, free for the full five seasons.  Great scripts, gorgeous actors and all the beauty that the BBC brings in recreating the period, plus some very kicka$$ medieval chicks!

Katie McGrath as Morgana

Angel Coulby as Guinevere

Emilia Fox as Morgana’s Half-sister, Morgause

 

 

But don’t spend all of your time in front of the screen when there are more Modern Arthurian Legends to explore.  Dr. Debora B. Schwartz,

Associate Professor English Department, College of Liberal Arts · California Polytechnic State University recommends these texts:

• Lacy, Ashe and Mancoff, The Arthurian Handbook, 2nd ed. (Garland)
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Idylls of the King (Penguin Classics)
• T. H. White, The Once and Future King (Ace)
• John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (Noonday)
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon (Del Rey)

The full reading schedule is available on her very detailed course page.  You’ll notice she’s sprinkled in viewings of several films, including The Sword in the Stone and Monty Python’s Holy Grail. 

 

And if you are dying for something more authentic, consider working through her

Medieval Arthurian Legends syllabus, which looks at the older texts such as Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances, or the Medieval Literature course, which adds in the writings of the Gawain-Poet (try the Tolkien version) and other classics.  There are extensive links to background resources at both sites.

 

If you visit none of the others, do click through:

The Camelot Project

and

The Medieval Bestiary

 

And do not close the door on all things Arthurian until you’ve read all of Bernard Cromwell’s thrilling Warlord series.

 

 

====> BUT WAIT!  If it’s more Merlin you want, try these enchanted reads:

Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy
M.K. Hume’s Merlin series
Steve Lawhead’s Merlin (Part of the Pendragon Cycle)
T.A. Barron’s Lost Years of Merlin Series (YA)
Priya Ardis’ My Merlin series (YA)
Jane Yolen’s Young Merlin series (YA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the Land of Fairy Tales

Tags

Deathless Press, Enchanted Conversations, fairy tale genre, Fairy Tale Papers, fairy tale poetry, Goblin Fruit, Journal of Mythic Arts, New Fairy Tales, Papaveria, Red Rose Review, SurLaLune, Terri Windling, The Crafty Poet, The Fairy Tale Review, Tolkien, Unsettling Wonder, Women's Poetry List-Serv

There’s an old Jewish folk saying that counsels one not to ask questions of fairy tales. Tolkien was of a similar opinion.

On the other hand, Terri Windling, in the introduction to Snow White, Blood Red, tells us that “the fairy tale journey may look like an outward trek across plains and mountains, through castles and forests, but the actual movement is inward, into the lands of the soul.”

It is perhaps a bit of both questioning and not questioning that makes the genre so enchanting and durable.  Modern writers continue to add to the pool of story. And poets, in specific, seem to favor the form.

For a sampling of such fairy tale-themed poetry, visit The Journal of Mythic Arts.  Besides poems by such names as Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood, they have a helpful reading list (with links to the actual collections) in the right sidebar.

And for some beauties from Anne Sexton’s Transformations collection go to AllPoetry [you have to click through to the others in the bottom right sidebar]. Also check out her often-taught Snow White poem.

Then read Plath’s Cinderella, and Fairy Tale Logic by A.E. Stallings. You might like Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s The Mermaid in the Hospital as well.

Then there is the MUST-READ, always lovely, Goblin Fruit, an online magazine with much to offer. [I gave you a few of the more “wicked” poems from their archives in the Halloween post].

You’ll also want to visit Rose Red Review (the sideways girl for is their logo). Some of the ladies from the Women’s Poetry List-Serv have been published here, including Diane Lockward, who just came out with The Crafty Poet, which you absolutely want a copy of. Buy a few, give as a gift.

Other magazines with fairy tale poetry include: The Fairy Tale Review, Unsettling Wonder, Enchanted Conversation, and New Fairy Tales.

For fairy tale chapbooks, check out Papaveria and Deathless Press.  And if you’re on twitter, be sure to follow @SurLaLuneHeidi and @FairytalePapers for good feeds about the genre.