The Once and Future King
by T. H. White
Summary
White retells the legend of King Arthur from his boyhood tutelage under the shapeshifting wizard Merlyn through the founding of the Round Table and the tragic betrayals that eventually bring Camelot down. Blending whimsical comedy in its early sections with a darkening meditation on power, war, and justice in its later ones, the novel reimagines Malory's medieval sources for a modern sensibility shaped by the author's own experience of the twentieth century's wars. The book became one of the most influential Arthurian retellings in English literature and later inspired both a Disney film and a Broadway musical.
Historical Context & Significance
No major British fiction prize existed in 1958, well before the Booker Prize began in 1969. White compiled the novel from four books written across the previous two decades, work that received wide popular admiration but no career defining literary award.