First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book deals with all aspects of the Merlin legend, from its origins to its expression in medieval and modern literature, film, and popular culture. Following an extended introduction and a full bibliography, the volume offers nearly twenty essays-some newly commissioned for this volume others selected from the most important scholarly and critical studies of Merlin and his role. Two of the reprinted essays are translated into English for the first time.

Eleven essays bring Arthurian studies into the 21st century, including film and black popular culture. Eleven essays by leading Arthurians lead off with an overview of the field suggesting directions that Arthurian studies must take to remain vital. Other essays contain innovative approaches, overviews of specific areas of Arthurian studies, and suggestions for new ways to approach Arthurian material; they range over Malory, Latin Arthurian literature, Gawain and the Green Knight, Merlin in the twenty-first century, Tennyson's Idylls, Arthur in African-American culture, current trends in criticism, Arthurian fiction, and Arthurian film. Contributors: ROBERT BLANCH, DEREK BREWER, P.J.C. FIELD, SIAN ECHARD, PETER GOODRICH, KEVIN HARTY, NORRIS J. LACY, BARBARATEPA LUPACK, DAVID STAINES, RAYMOND THOMPSON, JULIAN WASSERMAN, BONNIE WHEELER.