Terence Hanbury White was an odd English writer with a fancy for medieval stories. His main work, The Once and Future King, in its five parts, is one of the strangest novel cycles in the 20th century of Britain.
It is based on the Arthur legend and is written as a medieval fantasy work about the 8th century which makes it mildly anachronistic, to say the least. Merlyn the wizard is living his life backwards (a concept which also appears in the works of others) and so becomes younger all the time, while Arthur matures into an old king.
The books are hilarious with their constant puns. but at the same time also heartbreakingly tragic. White was a pacifist and an interested naturalist, and also displayed an ecocentric message in his work. Some fine fantasy parts are the chapters where Merlyn sends out Arthur to live among various kinds of animals to increase his wisdom, for example among the ants. Read more about this in the recent issue of the Swedish journal Natur i Norr!
2 Comments
February 23, 2009 at 9:17 pm
När han är en slags fågel är en av dom bitarna från den boken som faktiskt fastnade, att han var myra kommer jag däremot inte ihåg.
March 12, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Nej fågeldelen är ju en bättre historia faktiskt. Själv kom jag framförallt ihåg fiskarna.