Description
Donald Barthelme The King (Hardback) American Literature Series. Further DetailsTitle: The King Condition: New Author: Donald Barthelme Format: Hardback ISBN-10: 1564784134 EAN: 9781564784131 ISBN: 9781564784131 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press Genre: Films & TV Release Date: 04/01/2006 Description: In The King, a retelling of Le Morte D'Arthur, Donald Barthelme moves the chivalrous Knights of the Round Table to the cruelty of the Second World War. Dunkirk has fallen, Europe is at the breaking point, Ezra Pound and Lord Haw-Haw are poisoning the radio waves, Mordred has fled to Nazi Germany, and King Arthur and his worshipful Knights are deep in the fighting. When the Holy Grail presents itself--which is, in this version, the atomic bomb, "a superweapon if you will, with which we can chastise and thwart the enemy"--they must decide whether to hew to their knightly ways or adopt a modern ruthlessness. Barthelme makes brilliant comic use of anachronism to show that war is center stage in the theater of human absurdity and cruelty. But Arthur, in deciding to decline the power of the Grail, announces his unwillingness to go along: "It's not the way we wage war. The essence of our calling is right behavior, and this false Grail is not a knightly weapon." Language: English Country/Region of Manufacture: US Item Height: 211mm Item Length: 142mm Item Width: 15mm Item Weight: 454g Series: American Literature Series Release Year: 2006 Missing Information?Please contact us if any details are missing and where possible we will add the information to our listing.