Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Hamish Hamilton (1978), Hardcover, 215 pages
Description
Drawing on the legends of Arthur and the Grail, this novel is comic, bawdy and erotic but also disturbing. Previous novels by Nye include The Voyage of Destiny.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jburlinson
At the heart, or should I say in the bosom, of Merlin is the following: "Perhaps it is the source of the magic I know already. For here is some root at the dark root of all -- an erotic nerve below everything, a source for all manner of imaginations and enchantments." This supplies Nye with all the
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rationale he needs to bust loose with all the "erotic" (if one defines that as somewhere midway between bawdy and pornographic) and imaginative extravagance he can pack into 200 pages. A book that starts with a version of the harrowing of hell that depicts Christ as a dancing monkey with a purple jacket, accompanied by cymbal-playing Virgin Mary who distracts Satan and his minions with lust and wine, is a book that will go just about anywhere. All good fun, though, and there's at least one genuine belly laugh to be had. Show Less
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
This cheeky novel, about the origin of the great enchanter, is especially irreverent towards monks and nuns.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1978
ISBN
0241899524 / 9780241899526
Local notes
In this reworking of the story of Merlin, the legendary wizard is intended by Lucifer to be born as the anti-Christ. Instead he creates a half-man, half-devil who relives the bawdy intimacies of Camelot from within the prison of a crystal cave.