(Ebook) The Medieval Merlin Tradition in France and Italy: Prophecy, Paradox, and Translatio by Laura Chuhan Campbell ISBN 9781843844808, 184384480X

(Ebook) The Medieval Merlin Tradition in France and Italy: Prophecy, Paradox, and Translatio by Laura Chuhan Campbell ISBN 9781843844808, 184384480X

The medieval figure of Merlin is intriguing, enigmatic, and riddled with contradictions. A character who is half-man, half devil, he possesses supernatural prophetic powers that allow him to know the entirety of the plot before it happens. This book examines translation in the French and Italian Merlin romances through Merlin's omniscient knowledge, using semiotic theory to explore medieval conceptions of translation and text transmission. Merlin's prophecies are analysed from the perspective of the medieval concept of translatio, positing that obscure prophetic language represents the paradox of translation between divine and earthly knowledge. At the same time, the book argues that the protagonist's omniscient knowledge creates a textual space in which narratives, languages, and cultural information interacts fluidly from version to version.