SOURCE: Brewer, D. S. Introduction to The Morte Darthur: Parts Seven and Eight, by Sir Thomas Malory, edited by D. S. Brewer, pp. 1-36. London: Edward Arnold Ltd., 1968.

In the following excerpt, Brewer traces the history of Arthurian legend, in addition to providing an overview of the structure, sources, and thematic concerns addressed in Malory's text.

I

Malory's series of stories has delighted five centuries of readers, whether or not their own lives have been as exciting as his book. The Arthurian tales, that mixture of myth, adventure, love-story, enchantment, tragedy, live in his work as the essence of medieval romance, yet always with a contemporary relevance. This combination of romantic remoteness with contemporary relevance was true even in his own day. He wrote in the middle of the fifteenth century, a period of sagging confidence, and bewildering change, when England's empire had been almost entirely lost. He...