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Fantasy, I By Lehman Stiles Th# Book of Morlyn by T.H. White; Shaftsbury; $2.25 I will not cease from mental strife Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand 'iiii I have built Jerusalem On England's green and pleasant land. These words from the ancient English hymn , end one of the chapters in T. H. White's The Book of Merlyn. And this is the task White sets for himself in this enchanting, beautiful story. The Jerusalem has been known by many names throughout history ? Byzantium, Atlantis, Utopia. The Arthurian legend White draws upon is equally universal. By joining the concepts seamlessly, he creates a mythical magic that resounds with meaning. THE BOOK OF MERLYN is the final book of The Once and Future King, White's epic classic, surpassed only by Malory's Morte D'Arthur as a retelling of the King Arthur legend. But this book exists on its own and may actually be more effective for the twenty year separation from the publishing of The Once and Future King. The span of time, however, has not diminished the book's message, and White has succeeded in writing a book for all times and places. But the story does bring to a close White's tetralogy, as it reunites an aged and broken Arthur, on the eve of his final hnhlo wi*V? hio ? ^ w. ?? wMWAVf niui IIlO 111 OV UlClllUl 3 Merlyn and the animals. The book is definitely a . fantasy, as the animals are endowed with speech and intelligence, and lovers of Tolkien will find much to enjoy. But more important than White's mechanics in presenting his subject, is the pure beauty of his prose. It is this beauty that enables the reader to blend the widely diverging elements White effortlessly uses in his writing. THE READER can believe in a Merlyn who, because he lives "backwards," has knowledge of 18th-century politics. He is a Merlyn who can turn Arthur into an ant and then a goose, because White's prose controls his ideas perfectly. The Drohlem Arthur must Oftliin ?* * g ? ? ? -m vsaau AAkMMV kJV/1 V V/ TTllCXl IIC 1 t/lUTHS 10 , his teachers is the justification of his existence. He is facing certain death in the upcoming battle at the hands of his own bastard son Mordred and his wife has had an affair with his most trusted knight. At this point in his life, mankind is a shoddy, foolish joke. y-iCharlie ( H API-IN John McCabe t C ( ; V i; '> ,..^V I 4--" r-L ' -flfe*. ; Merlyn and the animals seem to support this for a while; they reveal man to be more savage and hostile than any member of the animal kingdom. Merlyn . ' iages, mere ne is, auDDing Himself Homo sapiens, forsooth, proclaiming himself the lord of creation, like that ass Napoleon putting on his own crown! There he is, condescending to the other animals: even condescending, God bless my soul and body, to his ancestors! It is the Great Victorian Hubris . . . Look at those historical novels by Scott, in* which the human beings themselves, because they lived a couple of hundred years ago, are made to talk like imitation warming pans!" IT WOULD have been easy for White to stop his pattern there, as many authors have, leaving mankind for no more than a two-legged beast. But the author progresses through a full cycle of awareness by making Arthur into two different animals to show tViaf airan 4 * 1 Vliui VTVI1 UIC II1U31 pcucci social sysiems are not morally right for humanity. The ants, who not very faintly resemble Nazi Germany, march automatically on a neighboring nest, not out of evil devices but because, as a stateordered consciousness, they are driven to do so by their nature. This horrifies Arthur, who is plucked back to humanity as he tries to stop the battle. Then Arthur becomes a goose and experiences a sort of beautiful anarchy. He loves his life with the geese and is heartbroken when Merlyn brings him back just as he is going to propose to a gander. The story is silly on the surface, but White's prose makes everything believable and magical. A RTill ID IC " -? ' * mtiiivit 10 inland cuuvuiceu 01 nis numanity Dy the lowly hedgehog, who sings the old hymn of regeneration, "Jerusalem." White suggests, through Merlyn, that a global nation is this world's Jerusalem; that man must be individual to be man in the fullest sense. That White could carry off such a serious message in such fantasy is the real proof of his expertise. THE BOOK OF MERLYN is not to be merely read ; it is to be experienced. The story acquires that special atmosphere of perfect harmony that is reserved for a very few books. The whole is far more than the sum of the parts, and White's challenge to humanity is a lasting, living immortalization of the wise animals, the incredible wizard and the long-dead king who will never grow old. Life and tim By Gary Brackett rhirlln Phanlln hu Ifthn MrT?K?' Doubleday; $10 John McCabe recounts Charlie Chaplin's life anc hrough a series of incidents which greatly influent Chaplin the actor and Chaplin the man in his biography Chaplin. For example, McCook tells of an incident which < luring Chaplin's first theatrical tour in San Francisco. Chaplin was a superstitious man in that he enjoyed hi or tune told. During the San Francisco tour, one gypsy lady ma nteresting predictions. She told Chaplin that he woulc lew business, his career would be extraordinary and 1 >e married three times. TkU >- 1 ' * ? - ? a ins gypsy s predictions came true, cnapiin entere msiness ? motion pictures; he was married three tin Ala Gray, Paulette Goddard, and finally to writer VNeiU's daughter Oona. And he had an "extra :areer." THE MAJOR portion of the book is a factual accoui naking of many of Chaplin's 82 films, in 70 of which rayed his most memorable character, "The Tramp.1 j serious prose 5 OK jWS BESTSELLER UST! l|LbWfw * M M K K!# ?,??< jut dfjijifraE ONCE AND FUTURE KIHC J / "" <" < .. , .* < ?.,> flcntnu es of The Tramp' Chaplin's later life, however, provides the most interesting incidents in the biography. For example, in 1952, after the "lukewarm" reception of his movie "Limelight," Chaplin and his wife Oona decided to take a six-month tour of Europe. 1 career When they were to return to the United States, however, the :ed both U.S. Attorney General, James McGranery, ordered the Im, Charlie migration and Naturalization Service to bar Chaplin, who was still a British citizen, from re-entering the U.S. under a code [>ccurred denying an alien's entry on grounds of morals or Communist It seems affiliation. iving his This incident drew both criticism ?nH ?- ?V/M|#yv* V 111 IICWO publications throughout the U.S. and the world. de some 1 enter a LATER IN his life, when Chaplin was able to return to the ie would U.S., he was presented with a special award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Still later, the "Cockney d a new street boy" became a Knight Commander of the British Empire ties ? to on January 2,1975, when Queen Elizabeth knighted him. Chaplin Eugene died on Christmas Day 1977. ordinary McCabe provides an interesting and factual account of screen great Charlie Chaplin's life. The biography is well researched nt of the and well written. The book has a slow and almost dull beginning, he por- but after reading a few chapters, the reader begins to become ' engrossed in Chaplin's life and career.