But I've always thought of the Arthurian canon as a sort of medieval fandom, with different authors rewriting the story to suit themselves, or inventing new knights if they didn't like any of the existing ones
Oh, absolutely! It's a fandom complete with Gary Stus! :D It's difficult to argue one way or another about things which you'd expect to be basics - like, say, Mordred's parentage. In Malory Arthur is his father and in Geoffrey of Monmouth it's King Lot... What is canon? The challenge is to create a story with an inner coherence; it's clear that you can't ever get it all 'correct', because no single source can lay claim to being the ultimate version. I guess lots of people stick with Malory because his Morte is pretty complete in its scope. Pity he's so tough on poor Gawain. (But, okay, that's my own preference speaking *g*...) In any case, the variety of versions forms a wonderful playground!
I couldn't contain my curiosity and have ordered the first season of Merlin on Amazon... As for Kaamelott, English subtitling may be a problem. Do you read French? I'm quite certain that seasons one to three have only French subtitles (alas!). Four has (sometimes wonky) English ones. Five - I can check for you.
As for Gawain, I've adored him for years now, but it's only at the end of last year that I got the feeling that I had my story together. I'm having great fun writing and drawing it. I hope you'll enjoy it!
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Date: 2009-11-12 10:02 pm (UTC)Oh, absolutely! It's a fandom complete with Gary Stus! :D It's difficult to argue one way or another about things which you'd expect to be basics - like, say, Mordred's parentage. In Malory Arthur is his father and in Geoffrey of Monmouth it's King Lot... What is canon? The challenge is to create a story with an inner coherence; it's clear that you can't ever get it all 'correct', because no single source can lay claim to being the ultimate version. I guess lots of people stick with Malory because his Morte is pretty complete in its scope. Pity he's so tough on poor Gawain. (But, okay, that's my own preference speaking *g*...) In any case, the variety of versions forms a wonderful playground!
I couldn't contain my curiosity and have ordered the first season of Merlin on Amazon... As for Kaamelott, English subtitling may be a problem. Do you read French? I'm quite certain that seasons one to three have only French subtitles (alas!). Four has (sometimes wonky) English ones. Five - I can check for you.
As for Gawain, I've adored him for years now, but it's only at the end of last year that I got the feeling that I had my story together. I'm having great fun writing and drawing it. I hope you'll enjoy it!