There are a number of wonderful/rich/interesting texts that I had to leave out of my presentation this evening on Arthur in children's literature (has anyone read Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? Totally NOT a book for children, but a "children's book" that even includes illustrations, and though I'm not an avid Twain reader, I find it an insightful and funny novel. Or Thomas Berger's Arthur Rex, which is not entirely a children's book either, but which my parents nonetheless read to me when I was young, I suspect because my dad is such a great fan of Little Big Man); but the most fascinating information my research yielded is not quite literary in nature. I read an essay on the Arthurian-themed American youth group, first founded at the turn of the 20th century, which served as a model for the Boy Scouts (which was founded by an Englishman, something new to me). I tried to find more about these groups, which were actually fairly popular (claiming 130,000 members in 1922), but more eluded me. However, I thought I'd share what I did learn, because I'd never heard of these groups before, and because reading about them (even so briefly) raised so many questions regarding American (quite specifically!) psychology, history, politics, and religion, all nestled in the cradle of the seemingly incompatible concepts and values of Medieval knighthood.
The American minister William Byron Forbush wrote a book called The Boy Problem in 1901, suggesting that the behavioral difficulties so commonly experienced by adolescent boys might be caused by social pressure for male youths to rush into adulthood unprepared and thus keenly vulnerable to the moral dangers encountered during this stage of life . His solution to this problem was to found the Knights of King Arthur, a youth group capturing the spirit of chivalry and knightliness of the Arthurian legends (Forbush was greatly influenced by Tennyson's version of Malory, go figure). These groups were organized into castles, sponsored by local churches, with adult leader "Merlins" to advise them. The boys progressed through stages of knighthood: page to squire to knight. They went on quests (the performances of good deeds), and took Arthurian names (or, later, American heroes' names). There were groups for girls as well, the Queens of Avalon.
Anyhow, the essay I read focused on the "Americanization of knighthood" represented by these groups, on the subversion of Arthurian values for celebrated American ones-- meritocracy, namely. We talked briefly in one class about the relationship between nobility and ability in Malory, about the fact that in the proof of knightliness, highbornliness (new word?) is simultaneously revealed. For Forbush to turn this concept on its head, and not even in a consciously revolutionary way, is pretty radical to me. And yet another incarnation for the well-heeled legend.
P.s. Let's pretend this isn't my first post, though I imagine most of you have not failed to notice this is so?
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Hannah-
ReplyDeleteDefinitely interesting discussion... one of the main issues with children's literature is that it is so rarely "kiddie lit" in our minds... but isn't that what makes it great? Harry Potter is the children's book of our times, but if you've read it you know it's quite disturbing. Peter Pan is remarkably twisted, but it's also beloved. Maybe it's because kids deal with the heinousness of the adult world (that being their transition into adulthood, hopefully gradual but not always) long before we expect them to that the good children's literature is so focused on it.
Arthurian literature is life’s entire trauma played out in a kingdom with Knights and Magic to make it seem distant enough to digest (that might be for the adults though, not the children.)
When Arthur came to America (I cam across a few articles about this too- it's really interesting!) the authors expounded upon the individualism aspect (Americanized him), but I don't think they fundamentally changed him. I don't think you can- especially when it comes to children's lit Arthur. The inherent tragedy of the tale still tells as a victory no matter which side of the Atlantic it's on...
I hope that made some sense.
...
PS. I love pretending!
I feel like I made this comment already, but apparently not, so here goes: With respect to the illustrations in the original edition of Twain's _Connecticut Yankee_, while their style may recall (to some extent) Tenniel's illustrations of the Alice books, their manner is more adult, in the manner of humorous and satirical magazines of the day and, especially, in the vein of political cartoons. (Indeed, some of the illustrations emphasize some of the social and political commentary of Twain's text, as well as his implicit literary criticism--I believe it is Merlin whose appearance is modeled after Tennyson...)
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