Malory\u27s Library: The Sources of the Morte Darthur

The first book-length study of the sources of Sir Thomas Malory\u27s Morte Darthur since 1921 and the first comprehensive study since that of Vinaver\u27s three-volume edition, Malory\u27s Library collects the results of over one hundred years of scholarship, providing new discussions of the major sources of the eight tales recognised in the standard edition. It also, for the first time, explores possible minor sources of the Morte Darthur, evaluating the case for them to see what conclusions may be drawn of Malory\u27s life, work, and mental furnishings. In so doing, it clarifies the process by which Malory created his work. It shows that Malory carried an eclectic body of literature in his mind and worked at least partly from memory; and it illuminates his interest in characters of his own social class, the breadth of his enthusiasm for Arthurian literature, and the depth of his commitment to provide his countrymen with the hoole book of kyng Arthur and of his noble knyghtes of the Round Table