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Subject Area: King Arthur & Merlin
Dean, Christopher1992 0-7734-9532-0 388 pages
This study traces the manner of Merlin's presentation in English fiction from the twelfth century to the present day. 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 detailed bibliography, which gives a comprehensive checklist of the works in English in which Merlin appears down to 1989, is itself a valuable contribution to scholarship on this subject.
McDonald, William C.
1991 0-7734-9448-0 308 pages
An examination of the coherent relation between the Arthur and Tristan tales in the dense embroidery of the Arthurian metastory, and in particular in medieval German letters. The Arthurian world occupies an important position in the Tristan stories: a general pattern is attested even if one has difficulty in deciding the full literary implications of the integration of the two cultures. Since the Tristan poems in the German cultural area are best appreciated when placed alongside French versions, this study refers to the latter where appropriate. This is an attempt to appreciate by "close reading" how the milieus of Arthur and Tristan relate to one another in German medieval poetry.
Phelan, Walter S.
1992 0-7734-9568-1 428 pages
This intertextual study examines the motif of gift-giving or handsel, explores the Christmas Hero, and the rich culture of medieval crafts and entertainments, especially the drama and the carol. This neo-historical account of the energies of yule contains a diversity of contexts outside the Middle Ages, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to Murder in the Cathedral. The book's innovative method involves semantic collation, a careful sifting through and alignment of the semes of two texts in a literary diptych, and concludes with a thesaurus of the vocabulary which follows the structure of the pentangle. Through the study of the concepts of Earth, Craft, Virtue, Christmas Joy, and Wound, the pentangle thesaurus brings some balance to the interpretation of the poem by correlating the elements of Creation and Incarnation. It concludes with speculations on the Gawain-poet's relationship to mysticism traditions, especially those indigenous to the North and Midlands in the late fourteenth century. With illustrations.
Gollnick, James
1991 0-88946-396-4 144 pages
Original papers from the Kalamazoo Symposium on Merlin, including such essays as: "Merlin as Psychological Symbol: A Jungian Perspective" by James Gollnick, "Merlin in the Indo-European Tradition" by Zacharias P. Thundy, "Merlin in the Medieval Alchemical Tradition" by Peter Goodrich, "Merlin in the Vulgate and Post Vulgate" by Aileen MacDonald, "Merlin and the Divine Machinery of Dryden's King Arthur" by Brad Walton, "T.H. White's Merlyn: A Flawed Prophet" by Martin Kellman, "The Figure of Merlin in the Middle English Chronicles" by Caroline D. Eckhardt, and "The Metamorphosis of Merlin: An Examination of the Protagonist of `The Crystal Cave' and `The Hollow Hills'" by Christopher Dean.
Hall, Clifton D.
1993 0-7734-9203-8 632 pages
Provides complete and systematic access to its language. Based on the Ranke edition, the concordance sets principal forms in generous context (about two and a half verses), in order of text occurrence. High frequency and function forms are given in single-verse context, in the alphabetical order of their following words, a system that discloses patterns and associations that would otherwise be lost in sheer numbers. A reverse-sort index is included for morphological study, as are a name list (including variant spellings), a ranking word-frequency list and cross references to compound words. Oversize.
Esselstrom, Michael J.
1995 0-7734-1243-3 248 pages
This study examines the differing treatments of similar points of the Arthurian legends by the authors cited, including the treatment of Merlin, war, and feminism.
Rich, Janet Bubar
2012 0-7734-2663-9 272 pages
Rich discusses Guinevere as a mythical character who embodies a set of mythical traditions that span several centuries. Often depicted differently her legacy has yet to be fully recognized because she is overshadowed by Arthur. This book seeks to correct that problem and fill in a gap in the scholarship by providing an extensive study of the ways she has been represented from medieval times until today. Rich draws on notable scholarship like C.G. Jung’s individuation process, and Joseph Campbell’s hero journey, as she strives to uncover an authentic account of Guinevere’s story. This work explores her struggles, honors her otherworldly origins, and imagines her in an androgynous world that allows her to be her own person, marry for love, care for the earth, and tend to soul; not one into which she tries to fit, but one that she helps to shape.
MacDonald, Aileen
1990 0-88946-317-4 260 pages
A consideration of Merlin's Christlike-Antichristlike duality and of a the progression of Merlin's role in three cycles - that of Robert de Boron, the Vulgate, and the Post Vulgate - which substantiates that the three are related, each growing out of its predecessor.
Dean, Christopher
1993 0-7734-9302-6 68 pages
Part of a series of lectures given by a major Arthurian scholar at the inaugural seminar of the Arthurian Institute at St. David's College, Lampeter, Wales, in July 1992. These are done in informal style, with much humor, omitting all footnotes and bibliographical references. The lectures start with Malory and proceed through the major incarnations of the Lady through the twentieth century.
Donahue, Dennis Patrick
1991 0-7734-9768-4 341 pages
This work will be of interest to students of both Early Middle English poetry and oral-formulaic composition. This study examines the nature of the repeated formulas and themes in the Brut. Argues that Lawman made artistic use of formulas, themes, and imagery in revising his Anglo-Norman source and creating darker portraits of Vortiger, Uther, and, especially, King Arthur.
Spivack, Charlotte
1992 0-7734-9594-0 225 pages
In all essays, the dynamic of the rival magicians is demonstrated to be as forceful in the society of the late twentieth century as it was in their medieval and renaissance beginnings. Essays include Acceptance and Assertion in Merlin and Faust, Good Wizard/Bad Wizard: Merlin and Faust Archetypes in Contemporary Children's Literature, Cinematic Representations, Yeats's Merlin-Faust Design in The Countess Cathleen, more.
Kellman, Martin
1988 0-88946-231-3 256 pages
Boyle, Louis J.
2009 0-7734-4814-4 200 pages
Explores the complexities of unstable signification in the Arthurian work of T H White and his source, Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte Darthur". This study demonstrates that the unstable signification so important to Malory's Arthurian world informs White's handling of his own version of the story.