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This magical account of King Arthur's last night on earth spent weeks on the New York Times best-seller list following its publication in 1977.
Even in addressing the profound issues of war and peace, The Book of Merlyn retains the life and sparkle for which White is known. The tale brings Arthur full circle, an ending, White wrote, that "will turn my completed epic into a perfect fruit, 'rounded off and bright and done.'"
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Ok, the first four--definately the Story is the major priority. Focal characters: Arthur, then after "The Sword in the Stone" the focus shifts to Lancelot and the queen, and to a lesser extent the Orkneys, etc. In the final chapter the reader is brought back to Arthur, whose musings on the nature of Man and War also smears our noses in these two essential elements, whose dissection was an important objective in the story for White.
Yeah, yeah, anyone who's read the book knows that. But what about the "Book of Merlyn"?
Well, picture drawing aside the glitter and pizzaz of the storyline that has won over so many people to focus on that teaming world of philosophy and abstract thought that Merlin had shown Arthur as a young king. Take "The Sword in the Stone", a primarily whimsical book in which I believe White first lay the groundwork for the "Book of Merlyn", return an aged, experienced and almost broken Arthur to this sort of setting, and...tada! bring back Merlin and the animals(or rather bring Arthur back to them). There now follows that dissection of War and Man we were talking about.
Yup, the whole book is essentially White's essay on these two subjects, given in a long philisophical discussion between the animals, Merlin, and an older Arthur in the comfort of the Badger's underground burrow(Nimue's cave, ha ha!).
Now for those who are thinking ,"Ye gods, the horror!", I gotta admit, in part, you're right. If you're thinking of reading this as the conclusion to "The Once and Future King" in a steady, smooth stream, you're in for a bumpy ride. Think about it, the book was published posthumously--there are structural problems and stuff(why I rate it 8 and not higher), the most blatant of which is the episodes as the ant and the goose from "The Sword in the Stone" properly belonged here originally, so you bump over that.
Bump.
Next, like I said, Story has taken a decided back seat to Essay. That's a bump for those who loved "The Once and Future King" for the laughter and the tears, a...MAJOR...bump.
BUMP.
But for those who can accept Story's new position in the scheme of things, you'll really dig this. Because White returns to someone he has really neglected in favor of Lancelot and Jenny and all that other stuff--Arthur. Arthur's back and he's gonna get a little attention, undergo a little developement. This is a must for you people. There is also now this beautiful circle to White's saga. And, getting down to the dirt, you are gonna love that Essay I was talking about.
It...is...BRILLIANT. For those who like this sort of thing, you will LOVE it, and for those who don't like this kind of stuff normally, you'll LOVE it anyway because of the original way White did it.
People who dug the "Tao of Pooh", you will LOVE this.
Kids doing an assignment on the underlying symbolism and whatnot of the "Once and Future King", you will LOVE this--it'll be so much help, it's almost cheating.
And. Finally. T.H. White fans everywhere. Read "The Book of Merlyn". In the end, this is what he's all about.
This is a humanistic work that dares to challenge the assumptions of humanism. Merlyn uses strong polemic to not only argue that humans are bad for nature (this is an incomplete understanding of the text) but that we have less "humanity" than vrtually all other animals. This view seems to be in direct conflict to Arthur's wish to salvage humanity. Yet Merlyn does not see it as a fatalistic view, he very much still shows hope.
The Book of Merlyn is a top-down, ideological examination of humanism enveloped in the archetypal Arthurian myth. It is not a bed-time story. It is not about lovely castles and romantic imagery.
It is about humanity.
