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| ALLAN MASSIE
ARTHUR THE KING
DANE TECHNICZNE (C1)
oprawa: miękka
liczba stron: 292
stan: dobry ++++
OPIS KSIĄŻKI:
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| | From its opening scene where knight after knight endeavours to draw a jewelled sword from a cleft in a stone in order to become the new King of Britain, Allan Massie's ARTHUR THE KING is a thrilling and original novel inspired by the Arthurian legend. In Massie's Camelot - set, incidentally, on the River Tweed - we are in the post-Roman era where kings are jockeying for position, for title, land and power. Massie draws on the familiar characters of the legend - Merlin, Guinevere, Morgan Le Fay as well as Arthur himself, the various Knights of the Round Table and the sword Excalibur. When we first meet Arthur he is a callow youth with a friend and servant by the name of Cal. We learn something of the origins of the magician Merlin (the son of a Roman centurion) and how he nurtures the child Arthur. His relationships with Morgan Le Fay and Guinevere are complex. The Arthur of Massie's novel is an increasingly troubled monarch, worn down by the affairs of state. He disapproves of his knights' yearning for battle; he thinks their quest for the Holy Grail is selfish. Massie's Arthur is the great statesman of his times. Many readers will see parallels with more recent history. ARTHUR THE KING shows Allan Massie at the top of his form as a historical novelist. Here is a familiar legend freshly minted. 14.99 In UK only [author photo] Allan Massie is the author of seventeen novels, including The Evening of the World, the beginning of an unconnected Dark Ages sequence, of which Arthur the King is the second. His Emperors Quintet (Augustus, Tiberius, Caesar, Antony, Nero's Heirs) has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He is also a prolific journalist, and has lived for the last twenty years in the Scottish borders. Jacket credits: Weidenfeld & Nicolson The Orion Publishing Group Orion House 5 Upper Saint Martin's Lane London, WC2H 9EA |
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