From library

A scholarly book on the story of Merlin as presented in literature from early mediaeval times onward. This was reasonably accessible although it helped if you had an idea of the basics of the myth (I love, and was attracted by the discussion of, T.H. White's "The Once and Future King"). It took us through various time periods and countries, up to the modern day, which is where it got a bit weird, comparing the death of David Kelly in the forest to a Merlin like scene. Not sure about that, but up to that point a very interesting, if niche-market, read. ( )

Reviewed In PLANET Magazine (Spring 2010) under the heading 'Spells of Power'.

Much of the modern discussion about the legendary hero known as Arthur has focused on the consideration of whether he was an actual Romano-Celtic chieftain who united resistance to the Saxon invaders, though significant surviving material in which he features is clearly fictional. And Merlin? Even he has been seen as having his origins as an historical bard and Nikolai Tolstoy has tried to prove that he was a sixth century remnant druid and has identified the actual cave in which he lived. Stephen Knight dismisses such pursuits as “a re-formation of knowledge in the service of individual identity.” His purpose, rather, is to show how the mythic figure of Merlin is “appropriated” for various purposes in different historical periods and, in particular, how Foucauld’s categories ‘knowledge/power’ can themselves be appropriated (he rejects Foucauld’s assertion that they are necessarily interwoven) to illustrate this process.

If these categories supply Knight with his main conceptual approach, each of the four long chapters into which the book is divided are themselves provided with sub-themes ‘wisdom’, ‘advice’, ‘cleverness’ and ‘education’ to define the development of the mythic figure though time. Although Merlin is inextricably linked to stories about Arthur, they were not brought together until the twelfth century when Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his History of the Kings of Britain. In fact Merlin had an independent existence in Welsh literature and legend as related by Geoffrey in his Latin poem the ‘Life of Merlin’. Starting with the surviving material in the Black Book of Carmarthen Knight surveys the development of Merlin who, as Myrddin, came to be regarded as one of the cynfeirdd (earliest poets) alongside Taliesin and Aneirin. As with Taliesin, however, much of the prophetic verse ascribed to him must be later than his legendary sixth century setting.

After Geoffrey of Monmouth, Merlin becomes an international figure as the Arthurian romances are developed in French and German, based initially on Geoffrey’s Latin History, but taking on a life of their own and gaining different accretions and emphases on the way. At the same time, a specifically English development of the material takes off via Wace’s Norman French, Layamon’s early English and the subsequent Middle English Arthuriana. The French and English developments were brought together by Malory in the fifteenth century. Knight charts these developments exhaustively, providing a detailed account of the ways in which the material was used and how ‘knowledge’, which the Merlin figure embodies, is configured in relation to the power structures of succeeding generations.

So the ‘wise’ and self-sufficient sage and prophet of the Welsh tradition, living alone in the forest, reserves his knowledge and releases it to those in power on his own terms. The medieval ‘adviser’, by contrast, is tied into the power structures of Christendom in the French romances, particularly the ‘Vulgate Cycle’ where he is characterised by Knight as a ‘Grand Vizier’. The Merlin of the English tradition is ‘clever’ rather than wise and is marginalised in the exercise of power. In Renaissance and later texts he becomes much more of a mage or even a proto-scientist, a technician whose knowledge may or may not be of use to those wielding power and so used accordingly. In Wales, and for English writers such as Peacock and Gray, the ‘bard’ was Taliesin rather than Merlin but the image here is of lost or defeated power.

Modern Merlin enjoys a return to the status of a wise counsellor with Knight’s chosen theme of ‘education’ predominating. The detailed survey of extant material is particularly dense in the coverage of contemporary texts, even those which are superficial or peripheral to the main themes. Knight sees the contemporary status of Merlin as an educator as related to the interests of individuals rather than the larger structures of power. He comments that “the power of the modern individual controls through irony the force of knowledge which it so patently lacks”.

As a comprehensive survey of the Merlin legend this is an exhaustive and informative work. As an interpretation of the significance of the legend as a cultural phenomenon, and the appropriations it has undergone (which might, self-referentially, include the book itself) it is impressive. The schematic framework does not restrict the range of interpretations and commentary. Rather it provides an illuminating focus on a legend seen as mythically embodying the complexities of the relationship between knowledge and power.