Books this year: a book diary

This book (or “these books” - it’s two separate, though related, cycles of poems) is among the most difficult I’ve ever read. To begin with, it’s about the Arthurian legends, or the Matter of Britain, as Williams puts it - a subject about which I know very little. It’s full of Williams’ theology of co-inherence and substitution, which I have a fair grasp on, but it’s expressed differently here than in Descent Into Hell or Descent of the Dove. Also, the poems were written by Williams, who’s just difficult, period.

The first cycle, Taliessin Through Logres, is by far the more difficult. It’s composed of 24 poems, which deal -so far as I can tell, and I know I’m missing a lot - with Lancelot becoming a beast after wounding King Pelles, his fathering Galahad, Galahad’s later arrival at Camelot, and his eventual recovery of the Grail from Carbonek and subsequent redemption of his father.

The second cycle is more narrative, and is mostly concerned with Taliessin - his pagan upbringing, journey to Byzantium and conversion to Christianity, and life as Arthur’s court poet. It’s more narrative, but it is by no means a complete narrative, and there are plenty of those wonderful, strange, mind-boggling digressions that one either loves or hates about Williams.

I really have nothing else to say. Someday, when I have the time and inclination, I’ll read it again, slower, taking lots of notes. And then, maybe, I’ll be able to take it off the shelf and read it just for the joy of reading it. Someday.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Books Chris has read, 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.