Le Mort D'Arthur

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

Has anyone here attempted to read (or listen to) Le Mort D'Arthur? If so did you finish it? If you have answered yes to both the previous questions then I hereby award you The Big Red Smiley Face Badge Of Awesome Patience...IN SPAAAAACE!
What I mean is that I picked up the book on Audible.com almost a year ago and so far I've only made it about half-way through book two.
Simply because I have to pause it every half hour to try and figure out what they've been saying this hole time because the entire book is in fifteenth century English. I thought about looking for a modern translation but thought it might ruin the experience.
And so I return to my two questions: Have you read or attempted to read Le Mort D'Arthur?

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I've read some passages but I've never NEEDED to read the entire thing...

I have read some pretty boring and heavy stuff though, avoid St. Augustines "The City of God" or anything by St. Thomas Aquinas if at all possible.
(I studied religious history in University, hence why I needed to wade through this stuff).

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

I've read some passages but I've never NEEDED to read the entire thing...

I have read some pretty boring and heavy stuff though, avoid St. Augustines "The City of God" or anything by St. Thomas Aquinas if at all possible.
(I studied religious history in University, hence why I needed to wade through this stuff).

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

I've never understood reading something in the original language for the "experience." Maybe that's because I've always found that content is the most important aspect of any work of media, if the content of the story isn't worth working through in modern English (that is to say, the only justifiable reason for reading it is that it's in older english), there's not a chance in hell I'd try to work through it in fifteenth century English (although admitedly it's not the worst, try reading Chaucer in middle English if you really want to be befuddled). My Brit Lit I teacher remarked once that he found reading stuff that was paraphrastic and complex to be rewarding, it's something you can say you did; but to me that seems to be missing the point of media entirely, I don't read things just so that I can say I read them, or experienced what they were like, I read things to become immersed in the story, or to learn something new. Content, not presentation. That said, my advice would be to just find one in modern English if you really want to read/listen to the story.

 

[Anachronism]

I have read some pretty boring and heavy stuff though

Have you read the Iliad? I have a horrible feeling that I'll need to read it in the original Greek at some point, and it was bad enough trying to wade through the English translation.

I mean, I can understand its significance as a great work of literature, and it's very rich thematically, but it's still not a particularly pleasant read.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I have read some pretty boring and heavy stuff though

Have you read the Iliad? I have a horrible feeling that I'll need to read it in the original Greek at some point, and it was bad enough trying to wade through the English translation.

I mean, I can understand its significance as a great work of literature, and it's very rich thematically, but it's still not a particularly pleasant read.

I've never had to read The Illiad but I've heard the horror stories...

At least you don't have to read Heroditus... or do you? He's almost unbearable!

Jean Jaques Rosseau is also one of the hardest reads I've ever had. Man has GREAT ideas but man can he not write worth a damn...

 

[Anachronism]

At least you don't have to read Heroditus... or do you? He's almost unbearable!

I had to read his stuff last year. He's a bit like Homer in a way, in that his writing style is horrible to read, but he does at least have some interesting stories to tell. That's my main problem with the Iliad, to be honest: I really like the story, but the writing is so formulaic and tedious that I can barely bring myself to read it.

I think I'm probably going to need to read the Odyssey pretty soon as well. The horror...

 

[Mullahgrrl]

Im thinking of making a raunchy spoof of some sort and call it 'Le Petit Mort D'Arthur'.

(Get it?)

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

Im thinking of making a raunchy spoof of some sort and call it 'Le Petit Mort D'Arthur'.

(Get it?)

The Little Death Of Arthur?

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

Great, now I feel like a biblophile because I read the whole damned thing.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

Im thinking of making a raunchy spoof of some sort and call it 'Le Petit Mort D'Arthur'.

(Get it?)

The Little Death Of Arthur?

I suppose it would be La petite Mort, its a tricky language.