The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur

The Arthurian lore, from which The Bright Sword draws, refers to medieval and chivalric literature featuring the legendary King Arthur. It is unclear if Arthur was based on a real figure, with historians speculating that Arthur could have been a British general fighting the Saxons in the sixth century CE or could be a composite of a Roman general, a Welsh leader, and a Saxon chieftain. What is clearer is that the fictionalized Arthur exists in the fifth or sixth century of post-Roman Britain, a time of great flux. The stories about Arthur were only written down at least 300 years after this period. This gives the lore an anachronistic quality since it transplants medieval chivalric and heraldic motifs onto a sixth-century milieu. For instance, there were no castles or knights in the sixth century, but these are important elements of later Arthurian tales.

The earliest recorded reference to Arthur is from Welsh sources, such as the 12th-century Welsh romance Culhwch and Olwen, in which legendary King Arthur aids his cousin Culhwch in performing the perilous tasks that will win him Olwen. Medieval writers, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth (in the 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae) and Chrétien de Troyes (in several 12th-century chivalric romances in French) add elements like the Holy Grail, as well as a young Arthur pulling the divine sword Excalibur from a stone to prove his worthiness to rule Britain. In the 20th century, one of the most famous retellings was The Once and Future King (1958) by T. H. White. White’s telling is known for focusing on Arthur’s childhood and reviving the British (pre-Roman) origins of the Arthurian legend through its focus on animistic magic. However, White’s Merlin is a sympathetic figure, whereas Grossman’s Merlin is a sexual predator.

As these examples show, throughout its long history, the Arthurian lore has collected numerous characters, such as Galahad and Nimue. Furthermore, from Chretien to White to Grossman, the depictions of characters differ across the tales. For instance, Morgan le Faye, the enchantress who is also Arthur’s sister, is depicted as a benevolent deity in early versions of the story but later becomes a more ambiguous figure. The many versions and depictions suggest that there is no single canonical Arthurian tale. Instead, every telling adds new elements to the story, as The Bright Sword attempts to do.