Notes on the author, his work, time

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, in 1902. He studied at Stanford University for a short time. After that he just roamed around and wrote a lot of books and a few best-sellers. During the Second World War he was a reporter. John Steinbeck won the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature, but he died in 1968 before he could realize his destiny. The author of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men left unfinished his version of Sir Thomas Malory's compilation of the legends about King Arthur and his noble knights. It was this work that Steinbeck described in 1957 as "destined to be the largest and I hope the most important work I have ever undertaken."

Edition published by

Ballantine Books. Date of first publication from this publisher: November 1977.
Number of pages: 349 on paperback. It isn’t a part of matching novels. This book is based on the Winchester Manuscripts of Thomas Malory and other sources.

Genre:

Novel
The Arthurian Legends are recreated in this book by John Steinbeck.

Structure of work

1. Division into: Parts
2. Introduction:
   • Social setting: Social class/position of the main characters
     There are a lot main characters in this book. There is a king (Arthur) in this story and a king is from a high social class. Most main characters in this book are knights. Knights were also from a high class. They speak in formal language.
   • Geographical setting:
     The story takes place in England
   • Historical setting:
     This story begins and ends in the 5th or 6th century.
3. Initial incident: In the beginning is described how Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, was born and became king of England.
4. Climax: Each part has his own climax because it is a collection of book. But I think the main climax is when Arthur becomes king and rules over England.
5. The way the story is told:
   The story is told by an all-knowing narrator.
6. Type(s) of language used:
   Formal language.

Account for the title

The title refers to King Arthur and his Knights. They have a lot of adventures which are told in this book.

Theme(s) of the work

Heroism, honor and magic are themes in this book. Heroism because almost every knight in this book wants to be brave and proove himself. Therefore they go on quest and joust with other knights. A lot of times they want to proove themselves for the King to show that they honor him. In this book there is also magic, used by enchantresses and Merlin, that plays an important role in this book.

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