(Above: inked up block of a knight in battle - cameo of illustration in the book)
I updated you last month about funding for my latest translation, the magnificent Alliterative Morte Arthure (King Arthur's Death) of c.1400. The book is now very close to being fully funded, having reached 89% of its target, so I just need to raise the remaining 11% to make this book real. Could you help make it happen now we are so close?
The book will make a perfect companion on your shelf to my translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which you have already generously supported.
Wonderful characters
Like Gawain, the book is an alliterative masterpiece of the first order, written at a time when English was starting to flower as a rich and vibrant language in its own right. Within its lines, we meet a host of fully-formed characters with many different outlooks: an impulsive, warlike Gawain; the wonderfully patriotic Cador; the mysterious Sir Priamus; and a Mordred who, unusually, is more sympathetically treated than in other works.
And then, of course, there is Arthur himself: great yet conflicted - a soul like us all, living out our public reputations while internally compromised by what we see in ourselves. His two statement speeches at the end of this poem must rank as amongst the best in the Middle English canon - they are stunningly emotional, vivid, and extremely powerful in their content and regret. (Note; a cameo of the linocut used to illustrate this is shown at the end of this update)
Labour of love
As with Gawain, this book is a labour of love. I am also illustrating it with linocut prints. These will include around 20 hand-cut illuminated letters to grace the book in addition to 30 linocut illustrations to support the narrative (see some of the snapshots at the bottom of this update. The themes of the story - the conflict between chivalry and reality for example - are reflected in how I have approached the illustrations: a blend of the charm of mediaeval illumination with the harsh reality of life in the fourteenth century.
One last step to being fully funded
I can't believe the book is just 11% away from being fully funded and is so close to becoming reality. If you would like to support the book, and help it leap its last hurdle to reach 100% funding, I would be hugely grateful. And, of course, you will be rewarded by a special de luxe copy of the book, printed with your name in the back and, if you choose, perhaps one of my lovely original linocuts offered as pledge options.
Please do help this new, vibrant and powerful story be told anew. Please, if you can, pledge here.
Thank you
Michael Smith
Author, Translator, Printmaker
PS - I know some supporters have already generously pledged to support my new book; if this applies to you, can I first of all say thank you for your support and secondly also apologise for contacting you again.
Above: King Arthur laments the loss of his knights (Cameo)
Above: Mordred reflects on the results of his actions (Cameo)
Above: a knight contemplates the nature of battle (Cameo)