The Autumn of the World - An Ecocritical Perspective on “The Fall of Arthur” - Daniel Kephart

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of The Fall of Arthur’s publication. The work is an unfinished masterpiece, a brief but intricate attempt by Tolkien to defragment the fractured world of Arthurian mythos. Blurring the lines between the natural and artificial worlds, Tolkien creates a cast of characters who seem to embody the rhythms of the natural world. Arthur becomes an embodiment of the natural world as it “dwindles in autumn days,” Gawain a splendid image of “the westering sun,” and Lancelot and his banner of lilies a sorrowful image of a figurative Spring that will never come (FA I.10, III.178, IV.156-7). In this paper, I examine how these vibrant natural images complicate Tolkien’s lone Arthurian narrative, romanticizing and estranging a pseudo-historical narrative while simultaneously dissolving the traditional barriers in romantic stories between the natural and the civilized worlds.