Glass Island—Arthur and I, Three Thousand Years

Author: Feng Xiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: The stories in this little book are drawn from the Arthurian legends and my personal experiences. The Arthurian legends are treasures of medieval European literature and are as widely circulated in the West as the Bible and Shakespeare. To this day, adaptations and recreations in various trendy and popular artistic forms continue to emerge, from Hollywood films and Broadway musicals to comic books and puppet shows. This little book tells nine stories, covering the main characters and mythological themes of the Arthurian legends: King Arthur and the "Earth Mother" Guinevere, the Lady of the Lake Nimue and the "Seer" Merlin, Sir Lancelot and the two Elains, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Agravain and the Golden-Faired, the Holy Grail and the Fisher King, as well as the tragic division and fatal duel of the Knights of the Round Table for the sake of honor. In terms of its application and exploration of Western literary classics, Celtic/Greek mythology, historical, and religious texts, it can also be considered a secondary introduction to the Arthurian legends in China. However, I had no intention of writing a serious academic work. The main theme of the stories actually speaks of the "new new humanity" society we live in, which is increasingly globalized, McDonaldized, or "Mafia-ized," and faces daily vanity, fantasy, pollution, and corruption: from internet sorcery and genetic modification to love potion heresy.