When I was in High School, my favorite teacher told me that T. H. White's "The Once and Future King" was his favorite book. Considering how well read the man was, and how much I respected his opinion, I knew I had to immediately find and read it.

I was not disappointed in the least!

I believe before White published "The Once and Future King", he wrote and published "The Sword in the Stone". After that success, he then made "The Sword in the Stone" the first of four parts of "The Once and Future King". "The Sword in the Stone" is about 200 pages long, and the other three parts are 100, 200 and 100 pages respectively. The characters and general idea of the story should be familiar to anyone. It is the legend of King Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table.

A child would look at this as if it were a fantasy tale. It is full of all the noble ideas and virtues that a parent likes his child to read about. An adult could get the same feeling that it is a fantasy tale, but will realize that it is so much more. White apparently wrote the book as anti-war propaganda hidden by the Arthurian Legends. It worked for me. Like all great works of literature designed to influence, they work best when the message is carefully hidden by an entertaining story. This is the kind of book that you can read again and again, finding new details, and thinking about new concepts it brings forth.

I can't imagine anyone whose life wouldn't be enriched by reading it.

White said he thought about various ideas presented in this book for almost twenty years before he wrote any of it. He believes there is a constant clash between Might and Right. There are constant discussions about how those who have the power can make the decision, so it is their responsibility to make sure they always try to follow what is 'right' instead. He also has strong feelings about man's place in nature. Most of the first story analyzes man and his governments by examining how various animals live together. There are many talks on the subject of war. Merlin speaks to Arthur about why wars take place, how they are won or lost, and what needs to be done afterwards to ensure they do not simply repeat later. There is a whole other book about nothing but the concept of war called "The Book of Merlyn" which is brief, and I believe was published shortly after White's death in a barely finished state.

The first story can be bought separately, and is my favorite piece. "The Sword in the Stone" involves a character named "Wart", which is a nickname for 'art', which is short for 'Arthur', as in King Arthur. He is educated by Merlin primarily by becoming transformed into dozens of animals and learning about their way of life. Most of the lessons seem to parallel various political structures throughout the world. Some of the animals become lessons about the futility of war for land. Each adventure is wonderful in it's own right, and when all the lessons tie together at the end it is a glorious surprise. Representative of the strength of White's writing is the fact that when it is over, and we are reminded who Wart really is, everyone I've asked forgot that he was supposed to grow up to be King Arthur.

His version of Merlin here is a strange combination of your traditional standard medieval wizard found in Mallory's "Morte D'Arthur" and a much more modern intellectual. Merlin describes himself as having the unusual condition of travelling backwards through time. An interesting anachronism in the first book is that this Merlin clearly aware of our present day. He makes references to what England will be in the 1950s. I also find it unusual how Merlin is aware of the fact that Arthur's legend will vary in the supposed time it takes place, and the content. If the story of King Arthur hadn't been told so many times, in so many different ways, the references to the disparity between the stories would really seem unusual.

The following three stories contain many of the various Arthurian legends one would read elsewhere, but I really found the character of Lancelot, and his stories, to be my favorites. They start just after Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, and end with his death. The story of Arthur actually takes a backseat for most of the stories as we read about the various adventures knights have, the search for the grail, and Merlin's eventual downfall.

There are true moments of passion, challenge, and excitement as we watch the inevitable fall of the Knights of the Round Table.



Recommended: Yes