1470), detailed with White’s own extensive knowledge of jousting, falconry, and hunting. The Sword in the Stone draws largely on Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (ca. For today, I’m going to write on the first two parts.

A fifth part, The Book of Merlyn (1977), was written in 1941 but wasn’t published until long after White’s death in 1964. The first three were all published as standalone novels, the fourth only as part of the unified four-book collection. The Once and Future King is really four books The Sword in the Stone (1938), The Witch in the Wood, later retitled The Queen of Air and Darkness (1939), The Ill-Made Knight (1940), and The Candle in the Wind (1958). Note: To convey the latter point, I’ll be quoting the book generously. Having finished the first two parts of the novel, I am happy to find that not only do I still love the book, I’m impressed more than ever by its power and White’s artistry.

Nonetheless, spurred again by watching Camelot recently, I was determined to read the book.

There’s been more than one greatly admired book I’ve revisited only to find out that whatever affection I held for it had flown. To say I approached The Once and Future King last month with some trepidation is an understatement. I know I reread the book once during college or grad school, but that was over thirty years ago and my memories are dim. More than any other Arthurian book or movie, White’s book forms my image of Arthur’s doomed noble reign. I absolutely loved the book and used it as the basis for my AP English exam essay instead of any of the books I’d read in class (I aced the test). The story of Arthur’s education and effort to create a better world and his ultimate failure and downfall broke my heart. The tale of Arthur Pendragon, by turns both comic and tragic, told in a thoroughly anachronistic and post-modern way, reached me as few other books had. White’s The Once and Future King when I was seventeen, fresh from seeing the movie Camelot (1967) for the first time (the musical Camelot, by Lerner and Lowe was based on parts of White’s novel).

I think they should be done because you ought to do them. I don’t think things ought to be done because you are able to do them. I have been thinking,” said Arthur, “about Might and Right.

The once and future king arthur