The Millennium King Arthur: The Commodification of the Arthurian Legend in the 20th Century David E. Pfanner This thesis is submitted in September 2008 for the Degree of Master of Philosophy The Australian National University Declaration of Authorship I hereby certify that the content of this thesis is my own work and that all sources used in its preparation have been acknowledged. Signature…………………………. Date …………………………. i Dedication This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my parents who would be astonished and delighted at this unusual undertaking by their son. ii Acknowledgements The author particularly acknowledges the stimulation and encouragement of his supervisor, Dr. Rachel Bloul. The thesis could not have been written without access to the superb facilities and staff of the Australian National University. In addition, the warm encouragement of many friends has been appreciated. Finally, my patient wife has been generously supportive throughout the drafting. iii Abstract The prophesy that King Arthur will return has come true. This legendary icon of Western civilization lives again in the popular culture novels of contemporary and futuristic literature. While the king’s personality has changed little since Malory, the monarch is now often found as a superhero in new world settings: he has become a Celtic space traveller among the stars, a modern politician fighting corruption, a WWII fighter pilot, a battler of aliens, and even returns as a teenage boy. Wherever he goes, King Arthur encounters a variety of personalised evil opponents from his medieval past as well as futuristic aliens and monsters. The authors and publishers of Arthurian popular culture have commodified the Arthurian legend, turning the king into an Americanised romantic superhero who overcomes his opponents but mostly fails to meet the reality of modern socio-economic challenges. The king has a limited understanding of what constitutes evil in the modern world so that despite his worthy character as a role model, his grasp of action required to overcome injustice constitutes a major shortcoming. The reasons for this are sought among the authors and publishers that produced these novels, and among the literary critics and the sociological literature focusing on the linkages between literature and society. iv Table of Contents Declaration of Authorship...............................................................................i Dedication.........................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements.......................................................................................iii Abstract...........................................................................................................iv Table of Contents.............................................................................................v Introduction......................................................................................................1 Core Legend..................................................................................................1 Popularity, Persistence and Evolution of the Legend............................4 Methodology................................................................................................6 Chapter 1. King Arthur, Literature and Society........................................15 Chapter 2. King Arthur Returns To Contemporary, Future, and Other Worlds.............................................................................................................24 Chapter 3. King Arthur Arrives In The Contemporary World...............35 Chapter 4. King Arthur Emerges In Future and Fantasy Worlds...........75 Chapter 5. Other Arthuriana......................................................................113 Chapter 6. The Identity, Character & Role of King Arthur :.................121 Chapter 7. King Arthur in Popular Culture.............................................127 Chapter 8. Women In The Worlds Of King Arthur................................136 Chapter 9. Authors and Publishers...........................................................141 Chapter 10. Values and The Americanisation of King Arthur..............154 Chapter 11. King Arthur As Hero And Superhero.................................158 Chapter 12. King Arthur Confronts Evil—Or Does He?........................167 Chapter 13. Summary and Conclusions...................................................178 Grailpower................................................................................................196 Bibliography.................................................................................................197 v Introduction King Arthur has left Avalon, is alive and is among us now. Future worlds and lands of fantasy will all witness the return of the king as prophesied. This thesis reviews Arthur’s current and future literary reincarnations and asks how he has weathered the centuries since he first came to our attention. The complexity and variety of stories surrounding Arthur’s legend cannot possibly be captured in a brief summary, yet an outline of the major elements of the legend is necessary prior to discussing current versions. Core Legend The legendary King Arthur was conceived in a plot engineered by the wizard Merlin whose price demanded the child be given to him for adoption. This was the beginning of a long relationship with Merlin as Arthur’s protector and advisor. The young Arthur first proved his status as King by withdrawing his famous sword Excalibur from an anvil embedded in a large boulder, a sword later claimed from the Lady of the Lake and ultimately returned to her as Arthur lay dying. A major threat to Arthur arose when the enchantress Morgan, his half- sister, seduced him with the resulting birth of their illegitimate son, Mordred. Merlin had warned Arthur that if Mordred lived he would become the king’s mortal nemesis. Nine months later, Arthur’s response was the premeditated mass murder of all newborn males in his realm by putting them out to sea. Only Mordred survived. The sin and guilt of incest and infanticide haunted King Arthur ever after. A second threat to Arthur’s early reign was the intense rivalry among competing petty monarchs who challenged Arthur’s hegemony. After 1 many bloody battles, Arthur defeated his rivals, subdued the invading Saxons and became the first overall king of a unified Britain. When Arthur married Guenevere, her father gave him a Round Table and 100 knights but she gave the king no heir. During a temporary peace in the conflict with the Saxons, the castle Camelot was built on a hill overlooking the Isle of Apples. Peace was never long lasting, and in some versions of the story, King Arthur went to war against the armies of Europe, defeated them and was crowned Emperor of Rome. Adding to the complexity of the plot, Queen Guenevere became romantically involved with Sir Lancelot du Lac, her favourite knight who was loved by Arthur as well. This tragic relationship with strong political overtones was never resolved. King Arthur could never escape the Queen’s infidelity with Lancelot, a situation endlessly embellished by numerous authors and scholars. The Knights of the Round Table, also concerned over the lack of an heir to the throne, urged Arthur to discipline or abandon Guenevere. They were sent on quests to discover the miraculous Holy Grail. The discoverer turned out to be Lancelot’s son, Galahad, from his marriage with Elaine. When King Arthur was away on the invasion of France, Mordred seized the throne of Britain and would have forced Guenevere to be his queen had she not escaped. Hearing of this, the king returned from abroad to battle Mordred’s forces. In hand-to-hand combat Mordred was killed by his father who himself was mortally wounded by Mordred. After Excalibur was returned to the lake of its origin, four Queens took Arthur by boat to the fabled land of Avalon. According to some chroniclers, Arthur was not killed, but will return again in time of need. Hic iacet Arthurus Rex quondam Resque futurus 2 The death of Arthur ended the tragedy of Camelot. Without a strong leader with vision and armies to combat the continued invasions of Saxons, the realm fell into tatters. Guinevere went into a convent where she died, while Lancelot became a hermit and, according to some accounts, went mad. It will be clear from even this brief summary that the character of King Arthur was a revered leader of men who excelled on the battlefield in numerous British and European campaigns. His vision of a unified Britain free of foreign invaders, his success in bringing this about however temporarily, and the magic of Camelot are all elements that have surrounded this heroic figure for generations. In the core legend King Arthur does not doubt his identity or role at court or on the battlefield. Whether or not King Arthur was a mythic warrior presiding over a utopian Camelot, or a failed indecisive King whose inevitable downfall was brought about by the sin of incest and infanticide is still being debated. Regardless of the ‘truth’ in the matter, the legend survives to be examined and re-examined by scholars in several disciplines. There are a number of significant issues appearing in contemporary reconstructions of the legend that are quite different from the core legend and which deserve brief mention. The major challenges confronting the king previously mainly arose in the form of rival kings, invading Saxons, the political instability and grief caused by the love affair between Guenevere and Lancelot. Note that these very real threats are human as opposed to the decidedly evil Morgan and Mordred together with non- human beings such as demons or aliens. The confrontation Arthur has with these opponents is not structured in terms of good versus evil as is often the case in later reconstructions. Finally, the Arthurian legend is based on a mythical reformulation of the Middle Ages with associated trappings of the court, Christian values and those of heroism, loyalty, 3 honour and chivalry. The early Arthuriad has a more complex social context embracing the action than is given by contemporary authors. Popularity, Persistence and Evolution of the Legend There has been an enormous increase in the popularity of Arthurian fiction in the post-war period, especially since the 1980s. (See Raymond H. Thompson’s Introduction to The Return From Avalon, 1985.) The focus of this thesis is on this limited period of about 25 years only. During this time, new versions of the Arthuriad have grown to meet the burgeoning demand for science fiction and particularly for fantasy. The current popularity of the legendary monarch is beyond dispute as he can be found in film, television productions, popular literature and even musical comedy. How do we account for this popularity when the king must compete with all manner of comparable heroes and superheroes such as The Phantom, Superman, Batman, Spiderman as well as larger than life characters in westerns, detective fiction, space opera and others? There is something about the Arthurian legend, drawn mainly from the Middle Ages, that resonates deep within us as it reflects universal themes of good vs. evil, heroism, honour, love, loyalty, shame and betrayal. The popularity of the Arthurian legend also results from the stature and character of the mythical figure that King Arthur has occupied in literature and public perception. The King of all Britain has been regarded as an ideal military leader and ruler over a nearly utopian society symbolized in the court of Camelot. It was Nennius who was responsible for shaping King Arthur as the patriotic British Christian warrior, the victor in the battle of Badon, and the defender of his nation. The circumstances surrounding Arthur’s ‘death’ adds to the mystery that includes belief in a secular saviour who will return in a time of need, a common feature in several reconstructions of the legend. 4