by David » March 17th, 2006, 2:34 am
I have read some critics who think the inclusion of Merlin in Hideous Strength was intrusive and that the story could have gotten along without him. I can't see that. Merlin is intergal to the plot. And if you know anything about the Merlin legends, you know that Lewis draws on his wealth of knowledge in the medeival-Arthurian realm in order to complete the legend of Merlin and bring it to an end.
For example, Merlin once denies in the book that he was the son of a devil. This was a part of the Merlin legend. So a lot of the accumulated stories about Merlin are addressed in Hideous Strength and he is laid to rest.
I once did a detailed paper on this in college and had a lot of fun reading all the literature on Merlin, but alas can't find a copy of the paper.
The way, the weather, the terrain, the discipline, the leadership. --Sun Tzu