The Return of King Arthur: Finishing the Quest for Wholeness, Inner Strength, and Self-Knowledge by Diana Durham (review)

Abstract

82ARTHURIANA reasons, but one would be loathe to dismiss entirely the pattern of72 so beautifully reconstructed by Sulpiz Boisserreé and nicely reproduced on p. 88. Krista Sue-Lo Twu initiates the essays on English literature which occupy just over half of the volume, a generous proportion that gratifies this reviewer. Her essay, ' The Awntyrs ofArthure at the Terne Wathelyne: Reliquary for Romance' may well be the most careful and subtle reading ofthe romance in print. Although I am not quite convinced that the author of Awntyrs was the consummate artist Twu postulates, nor that the quest to find (or impose) unity in the text is a particularly useful or necessary task, the arguments presented are subtle and scrupulous and must be considered seriously by any future student of the romance. Dinah Hazell in 'The Blinding of Guenevere: Thomas Chester as Social Critic' also carefully reconsiders a romance that tends to be given short shrift in the scholarly literature. The shortness ofthe shrift may indeed be the appropriate length, but Hazell presents impressive arguments for the seriousness of Chester, and both scholars seem to signal a welcome turn to a reconsideration of these neglected works. In 'Malory's Morte Darthur. a Politically Neutral Adaptation of the Arthurian Story,' Edward Donald Kennedy does exactly what the title says he will do. With his usual scholarly scrupulosity, he reexamines possible political references in the text (including the few remaining after P.J.C. Field's ruthless pruning) and finds precisely zero undoubted political references with the inevitable conclusion that there is no clue however subtle in the text to Malory's own politics. It is to his credit that Kennedy is even willing to reject his own earlier contribution to the literatute arguing for the intrusion ofcontemporary affairs into the text ofthe Morte. Kennedy's conclusions are compelling, but sadly make it more difficult than ever to discern anything of the author in the opacity of the text. In 'King, Crusader, Knight: the Composite Arthur of the Middle English Prose Brut,' Tamar Drukker reviews the text to discern a pattern ofpromoting Arthur as the ideal Crusader-King with little concern for the actuality of kingship in action. Finally, Janina P. Traxler makes the leap into the twentieth century in 'Pendragon, Merlin and Logos: the Undoing of Babel in ThatHideous Strength.' While Lewis's novel cannot be considered a neglected text, Traxler's discussion ofit serves as a lively conclusion to the volume and indicates the continuing centrality ofArthur and Arthurian issues in modern literatute. Anthologies are always uneven affairs, but Arthurian scholars in French, German, and English will find something ofvalue in this collection. It should be read by all interested in Arthur, but, as is becoming a fairly consistent caveat, possessed only by those wealthy enough to invest in the Brewer catalogue. DONALD L. HOFFMAN Chicago, Illinois diana Durham, The Return ofKingArthur: Finishing the Questfor Wholeness, Inner Strength, and Self-Knowledge. New York: Jeremy P. Tarchcr/Penguin, 2004. Pp. x, 316. isbn: 1-58542-297-5. $25.95. As the title suggests, this book belongs in the genre of self-improvement manual rather than academic criticism. Like many recent books employing the Arthurian REVIEWS83 and Holy Grail legends for popular purposes, it allegorizes selected aspects of the legends as signs ofpsychic, social, and environmental health. While billed asJungian, it uses that mode ofanalysis no more exclusively than Arthurian legend, but combines it with other shafts to the author's the bow ofthought such as the Bible, the Kabala, Joseph Campbell, and the writings of assorted mystics and New Age philosophers. Although its goals are laudable, as an interpretation ofArthurian 'myth it must be treated with sceptisicm. Ironically for a book about empowering self and society from within, Durham's analysis does not illuminate the legends ofArthur and the Grail by closely analyzing specific texts from medieval cultural perspectives, but imposes New Age psychological commonplaces upon the texts from without. In the process, it often honors longstanding interpretations ofArthurian characters and symbols, but sometimes strains or even falsifies them. For example, Durham rightly (if somewhat reductively) observes that Merlin represents the workings of the subconscious mind and King Arthur the charismatic, enlightened leader...