"The Ill-Made Knight" (who is none other, of course, than Sir Lancelot, "best knight in all the world"—and how he worked to earn that title!) is drawn in chunks from Malory, from [John] Milton's "History of England," from one Thomas Bulfinch perhaps (though Mr. White who claims falconry as his favorite sport and medievalism as his specialty is obviously a student of sources) and, whether he likes it or not, from [Lord Tennyson's "Idylls of the King"]. Mr. White most shows his awareness of the inextricability of the sentimental Victorian from the Arthurian cycle when he scoffs at this or that poetic legend and re-creates it in a broader tone.
"The Ill-Made Knight" (which was preceded by two other novels of medieval England, "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Witch in the Wood") is devoted to the prolonged chivalric love affair of Guinever, herein called Jenny and sometimes Gwen, with the scrupulous but gettable young French Knight of the Round Table, Sir Lancelot, he of the ugly face and the noble nature. King Arthur is here, of course—a pleasant, Babbitt-like fellow, who had the quite original idea of gathering all the likely young men of the kingdom at his Round Table and diverting their cock-fighting instincts to the rescuing of damsels in distress, the quest of the Holy Grail, et cetera….
This is a free excerpt of 221 words. There are 443 words (approx.
1 page at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our White, T(erence) H(anbury) 1906–1964: Critical Essay by Florence Haxton Bullock Access Pass.
