Merlin

A bestselling author and professor brings the historical figure of Merlin to life—the Merlin who prophesied his own death and was a counselor to kings as well as a scientist, humanist, and man of mystery.

A bestselling author and professor brings the historical figure of Merlin to life.

A bestselling author and professor brings the historical figure of Merlin to life—the Merlin who prophesied his own death and was a counselor to kings as well as a scientist, humanist, and man of mystery.

Library Journal

Goodrich identifies Merlin with the St. Dubricius who controlled vast lands in 6th-century Wales and founded a monastic university. She has freshly translated from the Latin Geoffrey of Monmouth's ``Merlin's Prophecy'' and interpreted its veiled phrases as a history of King Arthur's wars. The maps, chronologies, and bibliographical annotations are illuminating, but the text resembles notes rather than a thoroughly digested work. Those not put off by Goodrich's mixture of naivete and breathless scholarship, and who liked her King Arthur ( LJ 2/1/86), may be able to appreciate it. General readers are better advised to start with Nikolai Tolstoi's The Quest for Merlin ( LJ 8/85) or the various Arthurian books by Geoffrey Ashe. Barbara J. Dunlap, City Coll. Lib., CUNY

Norma Lorre Goodrich, Ph.D., K.C., FSA Scot, has been teaching for forty-five years and is a professor emeritus at the Claremont Colleges. She is the author of King Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, Heroines, Priestesses, Ancient Myths, and Medieval Myths. She lives in Claremont, California, with her husband.