The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 18, 1978, Page Page 7, Image 7
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
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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 ?* *
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.