Summer Reading Goals, Year 3 - "The Sword in the Stone" and "Far From the Madding Crowd"

For the first goal on my list - reread an old favorite - I chose T.H. White's "Magical story of Young King Arthur" The Sword in the Stone. In this story, the young Arthur has no idea or aspirations to ever be King of England, and is merely an adopted boy with the unflattering nickname of the Wart, living in a lord's household and growing up alongside the lord's privileged son Kay.

I think one of the biggest differences between the book and the well-known 1963 Disney adaptation is that in the book, Kay is not an utterly mean-spirited dolt just there to make the Wart miserable. He and the Wart fight, like all teenagers, but overall they are friends and brothers. And while Kay's father, Sir Ector, had plans for his son to become a knight and for the Wart to be just his squire, it is really just due to bloodline and not because he loves the boy any less.

The Disney movie keeps several of the same adventures and lessons shared between the Wart and his whimsical teacher Merlin (spelled Merlyn in the book), but leaves out many of the best and most fun adventures. One of my favorite subplots in the book surrounds the bumbling King Pellinore and his constant hunt for the Questing Beast. One day Pellinore and his faithful hound decide they are fed up with questing and spend a few months relaxing at the castle where Wart lives. Soon after, however (spoilers!!) it is discovered that because nobody is hunting him, the Questing Beast has fallen into depression and is wasting away in the forest.  King Pellinore finds the Beast half-buried in the snow, and his tender heart is instantly broken.

         -  The spectacle which they came across was one for which they were not prepared. In the    

           middle of a dead gorse bush King Pellinore was sitting, with tears streaming down his face.

           In  his lap there was an enormous snake's head, which he was patting. At the other end of the 

           snake's head there was a long, lean yellow body with spots on it. At the end of the body there 

           were some lion's legs which ended in the feet of a hart.

 "There, there," King Pellinore was saying. "I didn't mean to leave you altogether. It was only because I wanted to sleep in a feather bed, just for a bit. I was coming back, honestly I was. Oh, please don't die, Beast."

..."But how did you - how did you find it?" faltered Sir Grummore. 

"I happened on it. And small thanks to you," said King Pellinore. "Running about like a lot of nincompoops and smacking each other with swords. I happened on it in this gorse bush here, with snow all over its poor back and tears in its eyes and nobody to care for it in the whole wide world. It's what comes of not leading a regular life. Before, it was alright. He and I got up at the same time, and quested for regular hours, and went to bed at half-past ten. ...We must just carry him home and put him in front of the kitchen fire. Send somebody on to make some bread and milk. When we get home, the first thing will be to give it a nourishing meal, and then, if it's all right in the morning, I'll give it a couple hours' start and then hey-ho for the old life once again. What about that, Glatistant, hey? You'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road, what?" -

It is a scene that is sweet, and darling, and absolutely silly. Which is pretty much the whole book. There are a few odd interludes with some weird mythology after Merlyn has turned the Wart into various animals (he gets turned into a snake and a badger, which Disney cut out), but overall it is a silly and enjoyable romp through the forests of medieval England.

The second goal I have completed is to read a classic that I've never read before. A co-worker went to see the new film adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd and asked if I had ever read it. I had not, nor had read anything by Mr. Hardy, so decided to give this one a go.

Far From the Madding Crowd was published in 1874 as Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major success. It is the sweepingly romantic tale of independent and strong-willed Bathsheba Everdene and her various suitors.  Bathsheba inherits her uncle's farm after his untimely death and is determined to run it on her own, despite the many challenges presented to her as a woman in that time and profession. Kind shepherd Gabriel Oak, who had known and loved her before, joins Bathsheba's staff and quietly helps her through many struggles. Bathsheba knows of Gabriel's love for her but is too proud to return it. Instead, she finds herself avoiding the romantic advances of William Boldwood, an older farmer who is dangerously smitten with her, and Sergeant Troy, a handsome young soldier with a dashing exterior and a cruel, selfish heart.

 Hardy's prose is sweeping and his verbal imagery full of incredible detail. Take this passage, which describes a hillside being pummeled by a "desolating wind:"

-  To-night these trees sheltered the southern slope from the keenest blasts, which smote the wood and floundered through it with a sound as of grumbling, or gushed over its crowning boughs in a weakened moan. The dry leaves in the ditch simmered and boiled in the same breezes, a tongue of air occasionally ferreting out a few, and sending them spinning across the grass. -

I had never before thought of dry leaves swirled by wind as "simmering and boiling," but because of his words, I can picture it perfectly.

Madding Crowd apparently appeared first as a magazine serial and then was edited and re-formatted for publication as a novel. Hardy was still alive when the first film adaptation was made in 1915 (there have been four), and according to a 2007 poll it is considered in the Top 10 of greatest love stories of all time.

To me, the book has achieved such high status because Bathsheba Everdene is a very imperfect hero, and therefore a relatable one. She is vain and afraid of failure. She lets her heart lead her instead of her head, and finds herself in an almost inescapable mess because of it. She keeps looking for something better without realizing the best is right in front of her. She lets pride cloud her way and vanity control her, and almost loses herself. But, like all good love stories, she finds her light in the end.

Two reading goals down and three to go! It's early July, so I'm doing pretty well. What have you read so far this summer?