The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur (Howard Pyle)

The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur is the fourth and final book of an Arthurian quadrilogy by American author and illustrator Howard Pyle (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Written in 1910, this volume covers:

• The story of Sir Geraint 
• How he overcame the knight of the Sparrow-Hawk, married Enid, and how they had a difficult relationship
• The story of Sir Galahad
• How he was made a knight, achieved the grail (with Bors and Percival), and was taken up from this world
• The Passing of Arthur
• How the saga of Launcelot and Guinevere divided the realm; how the queen was framed and Launcelot rescured her; how Arthur and Gawaine pursued Launcelot to France; how Mordred siezed power; how they all met their end

So ends Pyle's version of the Arthurian saga. It was heartbreaking to see the end of that age, but also a poignant reminder of reality: things fall apart. Overall, I enjoyed the work for what it was. Pyle did scale down the Guinevere/Launcelot angle, claiming they weren't lovers but still inappropriately focused on each other. And the theology therein can be terrible (very works-based and mistakenly thinks humans can be pure on their own), but it was a solid story otherwise.

Stepping back to look at the whole series: Pyle's Arthur is more enjoyable than I expected. It is repetitive, certainly, but it gets better towards the end, and fleshes out the Medieval versions in satisfying ways. I wish the theology was better.

Rating: A