{"product_id":"merlin-9781501705694","title":"Merlin","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eMerlin, 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 \u003ci\u003eHistory of the Kings of Britain\u003c\/i\u003e (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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKnight 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 wh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKnight 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.\u003c\/p\u003e * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cb\u003eChapter 1: British Myrddin-Merlin: Wisdom\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Myrddin-Merlin\u003cbr\u003e The Earliest Materials\u003cbr\u003e Natural Wisdom: Myrddin of Cumbria\u003cbr\u003e Prophetic Wisdom: Myrddin of Wales\u003cbr\u003e Wisdom at Court: Geoffrey of Monmouth's \u003ci\u003eHistoria Regum Britanniae\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Twelfth-Century Natural Wisdom: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s \u003ci\u003eVita Merlini\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 2: Medieval Merlin: Advice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e From Prophecy to Advice: Wace\u003cbr\u003e Christian Advice: Robert de Boron\u003cbr\u003e Grand Vizier: The Vulgate \u003ci\u003eMerlin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Darkening Advice: The Post-Vulgate \u003ci\u003eMerlin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Advising a Nation: from Layamon to Malory\u003cb\u003eChapter 3: English Merlin: Cleverness\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Prophecy and Advice in Decline\u003cbr\u003e Renaissance Cleverness\u003cbr\u003e Cleverness High and Low: The Seventeenth Century\u003cbr\u003e Cleverness High and Low: The Eighteenth Century\u003cbr\u003e The Dangers of Cleverness: The Romantics\u003cbr\u003e The Dangers of Cleverness: The Victorians\u003cb\u003eChapter 4: International Merlin: Education\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Continental Merlin: From Cleverness Back to Wisdom\u003cbr\u003e Toward Education: America\u003cbr\u003e Toward Education: Britain\u003cbr\u003e Education and the Novel: White, Lewis, and Cooper\u003cbr\u003e Education and the Novel: Historicism, Juveniles, and Fantasy\u003cbr\u003e Merlin on Screen\u003cbr\u003e International Merlin\u003ci\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003e Primary Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Secondary Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409322582359,"sku":"9781501705694","price":16.14,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/merlin-9781501705694","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}