Magneto, Prof X read The Once and Future King

Magneto sits in a plastic prison, reads The Once and Future King, is beaten and has mind-control fluid dripped into his neck... then later, Professor X is teaching T.H. White to a class of young mutants.

So, X-men 2 and the fact my brother read it is the reason why I eventually came around to reading TH White's The Once and Future King. It is written in a similar style to C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which is mainly to say that children have a bit of the toff about them, "oh by drats, if he weren't so beastly!" There's also a fair lack of description in this type of writing - I guess to read more like folklore than anything else... this book assumes you know the general story of King Arthur already, and mainly works to add a few stories in, fill out a few details, and give colour to Lady Guenevere who is mainly portrayed as a pouty lump of contradictions (female). So, yes, it took me a long time to read (small words, long pages, sleep) and for the most part was annoying although a few bits are powerful and rewarding enough.

Another problem I have is that the definitive story of King Arthur, to me, is courtesy of a tape I had as a kid, which included many wonderful stories, including the lady in the lake (where is she TH?), the bit where he fights the giant, ends up being tricked into fighting and almost killing his friend, has his magic scabbard stolen and then is stabbed by Mildred, son of Morgan le Faye, then finally has to make a young man throw excalibur back to the lady in the lake (mind you, i don't think i heard much of lancelot at this time). But anyway, that story was ace.

I guess the emphasis of Once and Future King (and the reason it is being read in X-Men) is the realisation of Arthur that he has attempted to build a culture of Right over Might upon the foundations of Might is Right. This is the focus, at least of the first story, and of the last when Camelot's light is waning. The majority of the rest of the book focuses on the love affair between Lancelot and Guenevere - once again, it's reasonably unimpressive when so much attention is given to two people, both of whom come across as idiots. Maybe I just don't like dull people who attempt to overemphasize their discretions... Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, Les Mis (although this wasn't adultery, just two very boring people in love).

At any rate, it is read, which is good.

So good i read it twice

Having seen the BBC series and the movie, it was difficult to realise that I was reading Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe unnecessarily, since I'd read it. It wasn't until some kind of "Gosh, by jove" statement from one of the kids that I realised I'd come across this before.

Since so many comparisons are drawn between Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, I found it hard to be too sympathetic towards this book. It's nowhere near the poetic masterpiece written by Tolkien - although I suppose it's not intended to be... but I always remember something about Tolkien being ridiculed by his writing/reading friends for his ideas as he was writing.

This book is very English... very proper English, so it's easy to get annoyed at the characters. Some of the morals also seem a little dated, and it's hard to accept that the gender roles allocated to the children are only a fault of the time and not of the author - afterall, many of the females in LOTR are happy to get their hands dirty.

Having said this, perhaps the most resonating passage in this book is the folklore concerning the stone table - although it is a bit awkwardly phrased. But I like the parallels with the Christ story, and that since Aslan is goodness, he's not something you can get rid of - still a bit trixsy and deceitful one might say though.