Page 1 of 2

A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: February 28th, 2006, 6:40 pm
by jo

re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: February 28th, 2006, 8:09 pm
by Theo
It might well be a valid criticism, but that sounds a little odd - I can't remember hearing of Lewis criticizing others for "trying to include too much at once". On the other hand, that was almost exactly the criticism Tolkien made of the Narnia books - he didn't like Lewis' approach of stuffing every cool thing from various mythologies into his world.

Still, I dunno. I think Merlin's a pretty cool character, quite unlike any other character I can think of in Lewis's books. It's just a shame that he doesn't get to do much in the book.

Re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: February 28th, 2006, 8:42 pm
by Stanley Anderson

re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: March 1st, 2006, 7:05 am
by Messenger_of_Eden

Re: re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: March 1st, 2006, 12:28 pm
by Gabriel Syme

Re: re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: March 3rd, 2006, 12:28 am
by The Pfifltrigg

re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: March 5th, 2006, 1:39 pm
by Áthas
When I started reading THS, Merlin's appearance did something to me... set me on fire in some way. I was totally fascinated about this link between mythology and our modern world and I loved it.
Most of you probably guess from my avatar that I'm a fan of the TV-series "Stargate SG1" where they include tons of mytholy (Merlina appears there too) and I think there is something great about doing that. These mythologies suddenly become much more vivid, more interesting... to me it was as if a whole new word had been opened up where everything was possible.
From my own point of view, Lewis did the inclusion of Merlin really well, making him a real and very interesting character.

re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: March 5th, 2006, 4:59 pm
by Messenger_of_Eden

re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: March 17th, 2006, 2:34 am
by David
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.

re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: April 9th, 2006, 12:32 am
by StrawberryRose
i must admit, that I thought that Merlin's inclusion in the story was rather odd. However, now that i look back on other events in the book, perhaps his inclusion is not as odd as I think. Now that i thinkof it, wasn't there a great deal of other kinds of things like that mentioned in the story? For instance, isn't there something at the end about the person of Venus?
It's been many years since i have read the ST and i'm not an expert in mythology. Am I way off base, or is there an immense amount of mythology included in THS?

re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: April 9th, 2006, 9:32 pm
by BeeLayne

re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: April 10th, 2006, 5:56 am
by The Pfifltrigg

Re: re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: April 10th, 2006, 12:48 pm
by Monica

Re: re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: April 11th, 2006, 2:59 am
by BeeLayne

Re: A criticism I heard recently of Merlin in THS

PostPosted: May 1st, 2006, 8:34 pm
by Janet