Merrill's trilogy, published in three separate volumes and reprinted in its entirety in The Changing Light at Sandover (Atheneum, 1982), provides the focal point and inspiration for these 11 essays. The authors cover Merrill's linguistic inventiveness and his love of puns and palindromes. Includes David Kalstone's essay on autobiographical details in Merrill's work, Rachel Jacoff's explanation of his debt to Dante and David Jackson's eyewitness account of Merrill transcribing messages at his Ouija board. ISBN 0-8014-1404-0 : $22.50.