Levi's review
The Book of Merlyn: The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once and Future King
by T.H. White
Levi's review
The Book of Merlyn: The Unpublished Conclusion to The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Levi's review
rating:
recommended for: magicians, philosophers
The conclusion to The Once and Future King. It's the fifth of five volumes, and illustrates one last encounter between Arthur and Merlyn. If you've read The Once and Future King, you should read this for unity, but it can also be read as a stand-alone text. Some parts were taken from The Book of Merlyn and re-shaped into the first volume when the novel was published with only four. It works better as five, if only for the philosophical musings of this last (and short) book. Merlyn teaches Arthur that humans are unique and dangerous animals, emphasizing that nationalism will be the humans' downfall. Then Arthur dies and it's sad and there's a lot of latin.
