originally published 5/2/2019
Literary scholar Sørina Higgins talks about how the legend of King Arthur has served the English people in various political and social contexts. Due to its variety of sources, the Arthurian legend is particularly pliable and therefore easily adaptable for different political and social purposes, whether that be establishing ruling legitimacy — as in the Tudor era — or critiquing assumptions about class and gender — as in the Victorian period. For The Inklings, especially Charles Williams and J. R. R. Tolkien, Arthuriana material was a way of combating the destructive and reductive patterns of their late modern context. This interview was originally published on Volume 143 of the Journal.
23 minutes
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