Well, obviously it’s enduringly popular, else  I wouldn’t be penning all these posts… 😉

However, on Friday I did reflect on whether the period spanning the 1970s and 1980s (and either side) had been a Golden Age of Arthurian and Arthurian-influenced Fantasy.  It certainly enjoyed a hey-day of intense popularity, but as I also pointed out, that has happened at least once before, over a similar 20-odd year period in mid-19th century Britain.

Something that occurred to me, although by way of reflection rather than exhaustive scholarly research, is that both were periods of prosperity and considerable social optimism–even certainty. The 20th century hey-day, for example, followed on from the Kennedy era in the US, when the White House was sometimes referred to as “Camelot.”

And although the Arthurian trend in literature may have reached saturation point anyway by then, it is interesting that it tapered off markedly after the 1987 financial crash, which also coincided with other social and environmental trends that have seen the world enter a period of far greater uncertainty.

Similarly, Tennyson’s  Idylls of the King spanned the years between 1859 and 1885, when the British empire, with all its attendant notions of a civilizing mission and the Pax Britannica, was at its height — and again, the rate of publication of Arthurian-related material appeared to slow after the major economic slump of the 1880s.

So I can’t help speculating that the whole idea of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which is bound up with ideas of chivalry and justice, the rule of law and civil society, and a belief in making a better world, enjoys greater popularity when the times appear to reflect those values. And wanes, like all Arthur strove for, when the times grow more uncertain.

Of course, all my speculation could be just so much hot air — but I would be fascinated, if anyone ever did the research, to see if my speculations stacked up.