In a sense Time is the hero and chief victim of T. H. White's version of the Arthurian legends—Time with his scythe bent out of shape, his beard knotted and his hoary locks adorned by a dunce-cap. If in this guise he resembles old Merlin spinning round as he disappears, or scratching his head while trying to discover whether something has already happened or is about to happen—why, that is precisely how Mr. White means it to be….
In twisting the forelock of Time T. H. White is only following in the footsteps of Sir Thomas Malory, who clothed Arthur's sixth-century Welshmen in Norman armor. Taking the same liberties consciously, Mr. White introduces with malice after-thought the contemporary problems of communism, fascism, militarism and pacifism—to name only the biggest—into medieval England. He is within his rights. In their totality, after all, the Arthurian legends constitute "the Matter of Britain," in which these same problems in various forms have been repeatedly thrown up throughout history. Like all myth, the legends of Arthur are timeless, and Mr. White contrives, not only to say this but to get the maximum of fun out of demonstrating it. The difficulty, if there is one, lies with the changing character of his audience as the "Matter" develops toward its tragic end. "I have tried," he tells us, "to look at it through the innocent eyes of young people"—but by the end of this volume the young can surely no longer be so innocent, for they have been asked to reflect upon the tragedies of Arthur's incest with his half-sister and Lancelot's adultery with Guinevere. But Mr. White's instincts are right; in practice, if not in theory, he knows that the young are no longer so innocent, and he does not try to be as saintly and priggish as his Galahad.
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