Dear supporter,
King Arthur's Death - the Alliterative Morte Arthure - has at last become real and is landing on doormats across the country and around the world. I am so grateful for your support along the way in enabling this translation to see the light of day; as I have said so oftern, it would not have been possible without your help. Yesterday, I finished writing in the last few "personally dedicated" copies (see photo below) so these will take a little longer to reach you, but be assured they are on their way and will be with you imminently. If not sooner.
I do hope you like the book and think it has been worth the wait. Some of the comments I have received already have been warm and generous. The writing of books like this is more a labour of love than a route to riches; for me, seeing the pleasure these translations have brought to you has made the work all worthwhile. Here are a few of the comments I have received in the last 24 hours:
"The clothes ..... aketon, jerkin of acre leather, jupon of Jerodine, a jazerant of mail, a bascinet, crest, circlet and aventail - The language is glorious and so rich!"
"What a fantastic book. The illustrations are perfect, the details, notes, capitals...a perfect companion to ‘Gawain’. I look forward to reading it, and the next!"
"Fantastic stuff once again. Just love it!"
"Beautifully put together, great work."
"The new book is a triumph!"
The team at Unbound has done such a wonderful job in delivering the finished work too - everyone has worked really hard to convey the sense of the book exactly as I would have wished. Robert Thornton, I'm sure, would never have imagined his hand-written transcription coming back to life 600 years later in this new translation - but here we are!
I see these romances as a reflection on a world we barely know; a code book to a vanished society. The more one looks, the richer the tapestry. This was a time of huge social change and the emergence of different sectors of society which looked askance at the "old order". King Arthur's Death is not alone in what it says about the distant fourteenth century; like many it is in fact what one academic has called a "fiction of audacity" - a challenge to the world without, a written indication of a need for change.
So it is that I am now working on number three in this series, William and the Werewolf (William of Palerne). This is different again to Gawain and Arthur but is no less subversive in its observations of a society undergoing substantial growing pains. A love story with a coded message for a creaking feudal society, it will open your eyes to social constructs in that far off time. If you've not yet supported it, it would be great to have you on board to help bring alive once more a distant age. And the illustrations will be taking a wholly new twist as well - but that's for the future. Do support William and the Werewolf if you can by pledging here.
In the meantime, once again, thank you for all your support. Wishing you a very happy Christmas and hoping that the coming year is a brighter and better one for all of us.
Kind regards
Michael Smith.
PS - below, a Dickensian trio indeed: Middle English past, present and - with William - a translation yet to come!
