First published as a complete tetralogy in 1958, T.H. White's The Once and Future King is the definitive modern retelling of the Arthurian legend—a sweeping epic that has enchanted readers for generations and inspired the beloved Disney film "The Sword in the Stone" and the Broadway musical "Camelot." This magnificent work comprises four interconnected novels: The Sword in the Stone, following young Arthur's magical education under the eccentric wizard Merlyn, who lives backwards through time; The Queen of Air and Darkness, which introduces the tragic seeds of Arthur's downfall through his half-sister Morgause and her sons; The Ill-Made Knight, exploring the tortured love triangle between Arthur, Guinevere, and the greatest knight Lancelot; and The Candle in the Wind, charting the final collapse of Arthur's idealistic kingdom. White's genius lies in his ability to weave together comedy and tragedy, whimsy and profundity, medieval romance and modern sensibility. His Merlyn is at once a bumbling professor and a profound philosopher; his Arthur grows from a naive boy nicknamed "Wart" into a visionary king who attempts to transform might into right; his Lancelot is an ugly, conflicted man whose greatest virtue and greatest sin are inseparable. Throughout, White meditates on war, power, civilization, love, and the eternal struggle between good and evil. Written largely in the shadow of World War II, the novel carries an urgency about the human capacity for destruction and the fragile hope that wisdom and compassion might prevail. A masterwork of imagination and one of the greatest fantasy novels ever written, The Once and Future King remains as moving, funny, and thought-provoking as when it first captured the hearts of readers more than half a century ago.
