The King

More Donald Barthelme to be listed soon…
First British Edition.
In this brilliantly innovative and imaginative novel, completed just before Donald Barthelme’s death in 1989, King Arthur is rediscovered… doing battle with the Nazis during the darkest period of World War II.
From Rome Ezra Pound is broadcasting poisonous thoughts about the Jews; From Berlin Lord Haw-Haw announces the news that Guinevere is sleeping with Lancelot. Arthur, the brilliant strategist, grows tired of battle. The grail to end all wars appears to be a bomb. Add a missing queen (masquerading as a sergeant in the ranks): a rueful Lancelot performing prodigies of valour; and a pilgrim named Walter the Penniless spreading rumours about the death of chivalry, and you have a tunny, moving darkly witty tale that is, in the words of the New York Times Book Review, ‘quintessential Barthelme’.
‘One of the most innovative and inventive writers of the post-war era.’ – The Independent
He’s a writer’s writer, someone who explores the potentials and limitations of modern fiction… He is also a reader’s writer, a fount of storytelling, filled with invention and excitement,’ – Malcolm Bradbury, Sunday Times