The Story of the Champions of the Round Table

Pyle, Howard, 1853-1911Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.2
Word count
670K words
Chapters
67

Tags

English Originals Folk Literature Magical AdventureArthurian LegendLegendary LivesHeroismHeroic EnsembleKnightly AdventureIllustrated GuideAncient Style

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Story of the Champions of the Round Table by Howard PyleAuthor: Pyle, Howard, 1853-1911,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jan 1, 2004

Editor's review

Howard Pyle was both a writer and an illustrator, and this book recounts the stories of the heroes among the Knights of the Round Table, one of his series drawing on the medieval Arthurian legends. Pyle was skilled at retelling old legends as narratives suited to young readers, with polished language and vivid scenes; knightly honor, courage, and adventure form the book's main thread. The Project Gutenberg edition is an English-language public-domain e-book with brief editorial information; its value lies mainly in the text itself: it serves as a sample of how the Arthurian legend was retold in Anglo-American children's literature, and it also works as an entry point to classic English stories. For researchers, it can be compared with Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and Pyle's other Round Table collections; for general readers, it is best treated as a leisurely paced collection of classical stories rather than a modern fantasy novel.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read chapter by chapter according to each knight's story, pausing after each adventure to sort out the character relationships.
  2. As you read, refer to the basic outline of the Arthurian legend to understand how Pyle selects and adapts the source material.
  3. For parent-child reading, tell a Chinese summary first, then read selected English passages aloud to lower the barrier to understanding.
  4. Don't feel compelled to finish it in one sitting; treat it as a classical story collection to revisit.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67

FAQ

What age is this book suitable for? Pyle's Round Table stories were originally adapted for young readers, but the English original is still difficult for non-native children. Choose according to the child's English level: start with a Chinese summary or translation, then try the English original, with a parent available to explain.
Does the Project Gutenberg edition include the original illustrations? Whether illustrations are included in a Project Gutenberg e-book varies by edition and cannot be determined from the catalog information alone. If you particularly value Pyle's illustrations, consult other editions clearly marked as containing them, or first check the file description on the book's Project Gutenberg page.
Can I read it without having read the Arthurian legends? Yes. The book centers on individual knightly stories with relatively independent plots and does not require prior reading. That said, knowing the basic relationships among Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and others will make the reading smoother.

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About the author

Pyle, Howard, 1853-1911 Author

Howard Pyle (1853-1911) was an American illustrator and author. Public information about the details of his life is limited, yet he earned lasting renown through his widely circulated works. The library holds nineteen of his works, centering on medieval chivalric legends, outlaw-hero tales, and adventure stories for young readers. Representative titles include The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, The Story of the Champions of the Round Table, The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions, Otto of the Silver Hand, Pepper & Salt, Twilight Land, and Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates. Pyle often retold old legends in an elegant yet lively style, emphasizing characterization and an atmosphere of adventure, with illustrations and text complementing each other to make classic stories more accessible to young readers. His works have had a lasting influence on later Anglo-American children's literature and illustration art.