SOURCE: "The Metamorphosis of Merlin: An Examination of the Protagonist of The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hill," in Comparative Studies in Merlin from the Vedas to C. G. Jung, edited by James Gollnick, 1991, pp. 63-75.

In the following essay, Dean argues that a successful literary representation of the character Merlin requires that modern readers be able and willing to suspend their skepticism and accept Merlin as half human and half divine.

In medieval times, the problem of presenting the supernatural was easier than it is today. The dominant form of medieval fiction was romance, and there, the naturalistic existed very comfortably side by side with the supernatural. Have-lock the Dane, for example, who earns his living by day in the most humdrum manner, catching fish and selling them in the market town of Lincoln, goes to sleep at night and has a light as bright as a...