マーリンと西洋文化史 Merlin : Knowledge and Power through the Ages

Knight, Stephen

Cornell University Press（2009/10発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 296 p.／サイズ 25 halftones
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780801443657
• DDC分類 398.22

基本説明

Knight argues that Merlin in all his guises represents a conflict basic to Western societies - the clash between knowledge and power. Knight reveals the four main stages of the Merlin myth: Wisdom (early Celtic British), Advice (medieval European), Cleverness (early modern English), and Education (worldwide since the nineteenth century).

Full Description

Merlin, 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 History of the Kings of Britain (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.

Knight 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 whether it takes the form of bard versus lord, magician versus monarch, scientist versus capitalist, or academic versus politician. As Knight sees it, Merlin embodies the contentious duality inherent to organized societies. In tracing the applied meanings of knowledge in a range of social contexts, Knight reveals the four main stages of the Merlin myth: Wisdom (early Celtic British), Advice (medieval European), Cleverness (early modern English), and Education (worldwide since the nineteenth century). If a wizard can be captured within the pages of a book, Knight has accomplished the feat.

Contents

IntroductionChapter 1: British Myrddin-Merlin: Wisdom

Myrddin-Merlin

The Earliest Materials

Natural Wisdom: Myrddin of Cumbria

Prophetic Wisdom: Myrddin of Wales

Wisdom at Court: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae

Twelfth-Century Natural Wisdom: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita MerliniChapter 2: Medieval Merlin: Advice

From Prophecy to Advice: Wace

Christian Advice: Robert de Boron

Grand Vizier: The Vulgate Merlin

Darkening Advice: The Post-Vulgate Merlin

Advising a Nation: from Layamon to MaloryChapter 3: English Merlin: Cleverness

Prophecy and Advice in Decline

Renaissance Cleverness

Cleverness High and Low: The Seventeenth Century

Cleverness High and Low: The Eighteenth Century

The Dangers of Cleverness: The Romantics

The Dangers of Cleverness: The VictoriansChapter 4: International Merlin: Education

Continental Merlin: From Cleverness Back to Wisdom

Toward Education: America

Toward Education: Britain

Education and the Novel: White, Lewis, and Cooper

Education and the Novel: Historicism, Juveniles, and Fantasy

Merlin on Screen

International MerlinNotes

Primary Bibliography

Secondary Bibliography

Index