laura@utcsstat.UUCP (07/18/83)
re: giving bad taste and spoiling the atmosphere ... I thought so, and I was told by a not-reliable source that T H White thought so as well, and so cannibalised Merlyn and put the good bits into the Sword and the Stone. He also didnt release Merlyn, and it was only after his death thath his estate decided to. this is all rumour. Anybody out there have the real goods? Laura Creighton utzoo!utcssstat!laura
cfv@packet.UUCP (07/19/83)
I suggest that you look at the publishers forward to the Book of Merlyn
for the real story on how it came to be lost, found, and published....
--
>From the dungeons of the Warlock:
Chuck Von Rospach
ucbvax!amd70!packet!cfv
(chuqui@mit-mc) <- obsolete!cmaz504@ut-ngp.UUCP (07/20/83)
The book of Merlyn was indeed published after T.H. White's death. The remains of the manuscript were found I remember hearing at the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas where much of White's papers are kept. The official reason the book of Merlyn wasn't published along with the rest of Once and Future King was that it came out during WW II and the paper for the extra 100 pages or so couldn't be spared. The real reason is probably that the book of Merlyn is very anti-war. It takes up on the night before Auther and his son were to meet in their final battle (which is where The Once and Future King ended). Merlyn makes one more appearance and together he and Auther visit the animals that Auther learned from in The Sword in the Stone. Everyone gets into discussions of wheter war is good or bad etc. Personally I didn't find it quite as interesting as the rest of the book but it does round the story out. Hope that clears up some of the questions.