Download or read book A Study of Merlin in English Literature from the Middle Ages to the Present Day written by Christopher Dean and published by Lewiston, N.Y. ; Queenston, Ont. : E. Mellen Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study traces the manner of Merlin's presentation in English fiction from the 12th century to the late-20th century. Unlike the speculative works that deal with Merlin's pre-historic origins, this study is based throughout entirely on the concrete evidence of verifiable texts. A fundamental thesis of the study is that the way Merlin is presented is largely determined by the mood and spirit of the times in which the different authors wrote. Attempts have been made, therefore, to make this link as consistently as possible. A bibliography, which gives a comprehensive checklist of the works in English in which Merlin appears down to 1989 is also included.
Download or read book The Arthur of the English written by W R J Barron and published by University of Wales Press. This book was released on 2020-11-15 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first comprehensive treatment of Arthurian literature in the English language up until the end of the Middle Ages is now available for the first time in paperback. English people think of Arthur as their own – stamped on the landscape in scores of place-names, echoed in the names of princes even today. Yet some would say the English were the historical Arthur’s bitterest enemies and usurpers of his heritage. The process by which Arthurian legends have become an important part of England’s cultural heritage is traced in this book. Previous studies have concentrated on the handful of chivalric romances, which have given the impression that Arthur is a hero of romantic escapism. This study seeks to provide a more comprehensive and insightful look at the English Arthurian legends and how they evolved. It focuses primarily upon the literary aspects of Arthurian legend, but it also makes some important political and social observations.
Download or read book Studies in the Legend of Merlin written by Michael John Raleigh and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Merlin written by Peter Goodrich and published by Garland Science. This book was released on 2003-07-10 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with all aspects of the Merlin legend, from its origins to its expression in medieval and modern literature, film, and popular culture. Following an extended introduction and a full bibliography, the volume offers nearly twenty essays-some newly commissioned for this volume others selected from the most important scholarly and critical studies of Merlin and his role. Two of the reprinted essays are translated into English for the first time.
Download or read book Merlin written by Peter H. Goodrich and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-06-01 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with all aspects of the Merlin legend, from its origins to its expression in medieval and modern literature, film, and popular culture. Following an extended introduction and a full bibliography, the volume offers nearly twenty essays--some newly commissioned for this volume, others selected from the most important scholarly and critical studies of Merlin and his role. Two of the reprinted essays are translated into English for the first time.
Download or read book Merlin written by Peter H. Goodrich and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-06 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Merlin written by Stephen Knight and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend, has been a source of enduring fascination for centuries. In this authoritative, entertaining, and generously illustrated book, Stephen Knight traces the myth of Merlin back to its earliest roots in the early Welsh figure of Myrddin. He then follows Merlin as he is imagined and reimagined through centuries of literature and art, beginning with Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose immensely popular History of the Kings of Britain (1138) transmitted the story of Merlin to Europe at large. He covers French and German as well as Anglophone elements of the myth and brings the story up to the present with discussions of a globalized Merlin who finds his way into popular literature, film, television, and New Age philosophy. Knight argues that Merlin in all his guises represents a conflict basic to Western societies-the clash between knowledge and power. While the Merlin story varies over time, the underlying structural tension remains the same whether it takes the form of bard versus lord, magician versus monarch, scientist versus capitalist, or academic versus politician. As Knight sees it, Merlin embodies the contentious duality inherent to organized societies. In tracing the applied meanings of knowledge in a range of social contexts, Knight reveals the four main stages of the Merlin myth: Wisdom (early Celtic British), Advice (medieval European), Cleverness (early modern English), and Education (worldwide since the nineteenth century). If a wizard can be captured within the pages of a book, Knight has accomplished the feat.
Download or read book The Book of Merlin written by John Matthews and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merlin remains the most famous and familiar image of the magician we possess. In this new book, Arthurian expert John Matthews examines the many guises of Merlin.
Download or read book Scotland s Merlin written by Tim Clarkson and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2016-05-19 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who was Merlin? Is the famous wizard of Arthurian legend based on a real person? In this book, Merlin's origins are traced back to the story of Lailoken, a mysterious 'wild man' who is said to have lived in the Scottish Lowlands in the sixth century AD. The book considers the question of whether Lailoken belongs to myth or reality. It looks at the historical background of his story and discusses key characters such as Saint Kentigern of Glasgow and King Rhydderch of Dumbarton, as well as important events such as the Battle of Arfderydd. Lailoken's reappearance in medieval Welsh literature as the fabled prophet Myrddin is also examined. Myrddin himself was eventually transformed into Merlin the wizard, King Arthur's friend and mentor. This is the Merlin we recognise today, not only in art and literature but also on screen. His earlier forms are less familiar, more remote, but can still be found among the lore and legend of the Dark Ages. Behind them we catch fleeting glimpses of an original figure who perhaps really did exist: a solitary fugitive, tormented by his experience of war, who roamed the hills and forests of southern Scotland long ago.
Download or read book The Legacy of Courtly Literature written by Deborah Nelson-Campbell and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-17 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating volume examines the enduring influence of courtly tradition and courtly love, particularly in contemporary popular culture. The ten chapters explore topics including the impact of the medieval troubadour in modern love songs, the legacy of figures such as Tristan, Iseult, Lancelot, Guinevere, and Merlin in modern film and literature, and more generally, how courtly and chivalric conceptions of love have shaped the Western world’s conception of love, loyalty, honor, and adultery throughout history and to this day.
Download or read book The Medieval Hero on Screen written by Martha W. Driver and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2004-07-15 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few figures have captured Hollywood's and the public's imagination as completely as have medieval heroes. Cast as chivalric knight, warrior princess, "alpha male in tights," or an amalgamation, and as likely to appear in Hong Kong action flicks and spaghetti westerns as films set in the Middle Ages, the medieval hero on film serves many purposes. This collection of essays about the medieval hero on screen, contributed by scholars from a variety of disciplines, draws upon a wide range of movies and medieval texts. The essays are grouped into five sections, each with an introduction by the editors: an exploration of historic authenticity; heroic children and the lessons they convey to young viewers; medieval female heroes; the place of the hero's weapon in pop culture; and teaching the medieval movie in the classroom. Thirty-two film stills illustrate the work, and each essay includes notes, a filmography, and a bibliography. There is a foreword by Jonathan Rosenbaum, and an index is included. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Download or read book In Search of the Holy Grail written by Veronica Ortenberg and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book surveys the influence of the middle ages, and of medieval attitudes and values, on later periods and on the modern world. Many artistic, political and literary movements have drawn inspiration and sought their roots in the thousand years between 500 and 1500 AD. Medieval Christianity, and its rich legacy, has been the essential background to European culture as a whole.Gothic architecture and chivalry were two keys to Romanticism, while nationalists, including the Nazis, looked back to the middle ages to find emerging signs of national character. In literature few myths have been as durable or popular as those of King Arthur, stretching from the Dark Ages to Hollywood. In Search of the Holy Grail is a vivid account of how later ages learnt about and interpreted the middle ages.
Download or read book Playing Merlin written by Keith Russo and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twenty-first century is the age of new media for old stories. Just as film, television, and print have adapted medieval literature into movies like Excalibur and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, video games have produced new versions of Arthurian tales whose mysterious origins blur the distinction between history and myth. Many academics are concerned with the authenticity of the various representations of the Middle Ages and the "historical" Arthur and Merlin and label any postmedieval adaptation as an "anachronistic" medievalism. However, electronic texts have provided a different focus: studying the multiplicity of rewritings of those names through the many different texts, genres, and media. The discourse of the innumerable different versions for the last millennium can be deemed as "playing" with the texts, according to Jean-François Lyotard's game theory. Not only should this thread of study be acknowledged but encouraged. The reinvention of an older story into a new form is the essence of medieval literary authorship: borrowing from one's sources to innovate a fresh version of the established story. Just as modern writers of every genre have adapted the most famous medieval characters, medieval writers played with their sources to produce their own myths. Interestingly, the writers of each new version of the Arthurian legend have chosen Merlin as their avatar: he functions in each text as historian, author, and prophet. Merlin embodies the author's struggle between myth and history, the relationship among the past, present, and future, and the process of reinventing old stories for the modern moment's needs. Just as a player uses digital representation to interact with a game, popular and academic Arthurian authors have always been playing as Merlin. Beginning with Geoffrey of Monmouth's three works, The Historia Regum Britanniae, Prophetiae Merlini, and the Vita Merlini, and continuing through medieval texts, like the Roman de Brut, the Prose Merlin, and the Morte Darthur, this study demonstrates that there was never an authentic Merlin, but rather a series of representations of fables that masquerade as history. The final chapter explores medievalism(s) of print, film, and game to demonstrate that the way in which those technologies reinvent Merlin and Arthur's kingdom are similar to their medieval authors' negotiations of authority and innovation.
Download or read book Merlin Through the Ages written by John Matthews and published by Blandford Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "These words appear in a classic medieval French story of the life Merlin, spoken to Sir Gawain, and recorded as the great seer's last call. This Cri de Merlin still echoes in our ears down the ages and across borders and generations, typifying the fascination which the figure of Merlin still exerts in Western culture." "Although Merlin and the Arthurian legends are chiefly British and Celtic in basis, such is his importance that the stories have had a great influence across the English, French and German traditions as well as in the Celtic languages." "In Merlin through the Ages, noted experts Bob Stewart and John Matthews have brought together an astonishingly wide range of accounts and depictions of Merlin, from the very earliest records, through the medieval and Victorian reinterpretations to the modern depictions in stories and electronic media. The figure of Merlin remains a strong and influential one throughout, from the ancient Celtic myths to the allegorical characterization as Obi Wan Kenobi in the 'Star Wars' movies." "Through the editors present such a valuable and wide-ranging array of texts, this is not primarily a scholarly collection. Instead, it is an overview of the Merlin literature for the general reader as well as for the historian, researcher, Arthurian enthusiast and modern seeker after an older knowledge."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Merlin written by Geoffrey Ashe and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merlin, seer and wonder-worker at King Arthur's court, makes his debut in the highly inventive 'History of the Kings of Britain', written during the 1130s by an author known to posterity as Geoffrey of Monmouth. One of the most influential books of the Middle Ages, it planted Arthur himself in European minds. As for Merlin, he seems to be wholly a creation of Geoffrey's active brain. Or was he? This new book by the leading Arthurian scholar of today offers a succession of surprises. The Merlin of legend was born to be a magician. He was 'immaculately' conceived and was able to interpret dreams and utter prophecies. Even his fate was imbued with magic. Like Arthur, he acquired immortality and sleeps on Bardsey Island, in a subterranean chamber with nine companions. Geoffrey Ashe reveals the man behind the myth, establishing beyond doubt the historicity of a Welsh prophet called Myrddin Emrys. Despite his 'supernatural' status it is Merlin, of all the great characters in the Arthurian world, who has the strongest claims to having existed.
Download or read book Prose Merlin written by John Conlee and published by Medieval Institute Publications. This book was released on 1998-09-01 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its contextualizing introduction, notes, and gloss, this edition makes the Prose Merlin available to any student of Arthurian legend, no matter their level of proficiency in Middle English. Written in the latter half of the fifteenth century, the Prose Merlin is the first work of Arthurian literature written in English prose. The highly original poem, though based upon the French Vulgate cycle tradition of Arthurian legends, is full of episodes, motifs, and characters found nowhere else in the entire Arthurian corpus. Beginning with the story surrounding Merlin's birth, and charting the course of his fantastical life until his ambiguous death, Prose Merlin is an enchanting text for any class studying Arthuriana.
Download or read book Bristol Merlin Revealing Secrets Medi written by Leah Tether and published by . This book was released on 2022-04-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seven manuscript fragments of the Old French Suite Vulgate du Merlin discovered in a set of early-printed books in the Bristol Central Library hit global headlines in 2019: this is a comprehensive study with accompanying transliteration of these fascinating Arthurian fragments.
