Merlin: Knowledge and Power through the Ages

by Stephen Knight

Overview

Stephen Knight traces the myth of Merlin from to the early Welsh figure of Myrddin, through centuries of literature and art, and to contemporary examples of literature, film, and television.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501732928
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	10/18/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stephen Knight is Distinguished Research Professor in English Literature at Cardiff University. He is the author of books including Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography, also from Cornell.

Table of Contents

IntroductionChapter 1: British Myrddin-Merlin: Wisdom
Myrddin-Merlin
The Earliest Materials
Natural Wisdom: Myrddin of Cumbria
Prophetic Wisdom: Myrddin of Wales
Wisdom at Court: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae
Twelfth-Century Natural Wisdom: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita MerliniChapter 2: Medieval Merlin: Advice
From Prophecy to Advice: Wace
Christian Advice: Robert de Boron
Grand Vizier: The Vulgate Merlin
Darkening Advice: The Post-Vulgate Merlin
Advising a Nation: from Layamon to MaloryChapter 3: English Merlin: Cleverness
Prophecy and Advice in Decline
Renaissance Cleverness
Cleverness High and Low: The Seventeenth Century
Cleverness High and Low: The Eighteenth Century
The Dangers of Cleverness: The Romantics
The Dangers of Cleverness: The VictoriansChapter 4: International Merlin: Education
Continental Merlin: From Cleverness Back to Wisdom
Toward Education: America
Toward Education: Britain
Education and the Novel: White, Lewis, and Cooper
Education and the Novel: Historicism, Juveniles, and Fantasy
Merlin on Screen
International MerlinNotes
Primary Bibliography
Secondary Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Richard F. Green

Merlin is a brilliant and wide-ranging cultural history that fulfills much the same role for the multifaceted Welsh wizard that Stephen Knight's earlier study does for Robin Hood. This is an indispensable volume for anyone interested in the origins and later development of the Arthurian tradition.

Alan Lupack

Merlin is probably the most familiar character in the Arthurian legends, as his frequent appearances in popular culture attest. Stephen Knight's wide-ranging, thorough, insightful, and comprehensive study of the figure of Merlin should become the standard resource on the well-known wizard. Knight shows real familiarity with the major traditions relating to the figure of Merlin and to Arthurian literature in general—which is no mean feat when covering such a large body of material.

Helen Cooper

The Celticist, medieval scholar, and cultural critic Stephen Knight is the ideal person to have written this book. His account of the earliest surviving traditions of Merlin is illuminated by his deep understanding of their Welsh context, his medieval Merlin embodies both prophecy and wisdom, his discussion of the Victorian Merlin resonates with his fine ear for poetry, and his report from the New Age front plays out between informative appraisal and a sympathy for fantasy and transformation.

Christopher A. Snyder

Stephen Knight's interpretations of the Arthurian sources and characters are provocative and stimulating. Knight displays much erudition herein and evaluates the literary material in new and interesting ways.

Editorial Reviews

Knight frames Merlin's career in terms of the different functions he performs in successive periods.... Knight ends his history with a brief but heartfelt warning that the dialectical relationship between knowledge and truth and the public institutions of power remains crucial to both the academy and to the health of the body politic.

Times Literary Supplement

Knight frames Merlin's career in terms of the different functions he performs in successive periods.... Knight ends his history with a brief but heartfelt warning that the dialectical relationship between knowledge and truth and the public institutions of power remains crucial to both the academy and to the health of the body politic.

-- "Times Literary Supplement"

From the Publisher

"The Celticist, medieval scholar, and cultural critic Stephen Knight is the ideal person to have written this book. His account of the earliest surviving traditions of Merlin is illuminated by his deep understanding of their Welsh context, his medieval Merlin embodies both prophecy and wisdom, his discussion of the Victorian Merlin resonates with his fine ear for poetry, and his report from the New Age front plays out between informative appraisal and a sympathy for fantasy and transformation."

Helen Cooper

"Stephen Knight's interpretations of the Arthurian sources and characters are provocative and stimulating. Knight displays much erudition herein and evaluates the literary material in new and interesting ways."

Christopher A. Snyder

"Merlin is probably the most familiar character in the Arthurian legends, as his frequent appearances in popular culture attest. Stephen Knight's wide-ranging, thorough, insightful, and comprehensive study of the figure of Merlin should become the standard resource on the well-known wizard. Knight shows real familiarity with the major traditions relating to the figure of Merlin and to Arthurian literature in general—which is no mean feat when covering such a large body of material."

Alan Lupack

"Merlin is a brilliant and wide-ranging cultural history that fulfills much the same role for the multifaceted Welsh wizard that Stephen Knight's earlier study does for Robin Hood. This is an indispensable volume for anyone interested in the origins and later development of the Arthurian tradition."

Richard F. Green