Nathan Nesiba Dr Hammerling and Sprunger Arthurian Legends 4/12/11 Water and Knowledge

Within literature, historical fiction and romance occupies a unique and popular position. Unlike any other type of fiction, one of its primary purposes is to educate the reader about the setting in which the story takes place. It does this through a deliberate use of facts and historical information about the topic, while maintaining the main characters and much of the storyline as fiction. This mingling of fact and fiction is what allows the story to maintain relevance to popular readers while providing true information. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart is considered by some to be a modern historical romance retelling of Geoffrey of Monmouths Merlin. In order to question this interpretation, one can consider the episode from Monmouth in which merlin gives Vortigern a reasonable (and correct) description of the reason that his tower continues to collapse. Analysis of this scene indicates that, at least in part, The Crystal Cave closely follows the guidelines for historical romance. Speaking broadly, the guidelines for historical romance can be split into three main categories. The first deals with the education behind the story, concerning itself with the way that the author creates a deliberate mesh of fact and fiction in order to provide an accurate representation of the setting. The second considers the style of writing itself, which often bears clear markings of modern society through the use of discourse in modern language, and an emphasis on the visual description. Such emphasis often results in elaborate descriptions of scenery and individuals in the text. The Final category approaches the content of the text. Historical romances frequently include

modern social values projected into an earlier time, strong emotional concerns within the story and a plot-centric design. In The Crystal Cave, Stewart takes the first category quite seriously. While the Arthurian legends are not often considered factual recounts of events and people, the Roman Britain that she places the characters and story into was very much real. This episode of Merlins story for the most part, takes place outside. Because of this, Stewart spends less time describing the different types of buildings or aspects of Roman society. However, she takes the time to articulate a description of what a large camp would have looked like at the time. As merlin is approaching the fallen tower, she writes that Round the wooden hall and buildings, the small skin tents clustered like toadstools (295). The deliberate inclusion of the fact that the tents were made of skin, as well as their organization around a central set of wooden buildings provides information that is unique to that time period, and otherwise not necessary for the story itself. Less factually educational, the inclusion of the warlord Vortigern as a main character in the episode provides further interaction with history as the characters interaction with this historical figure is able to convey some of what Vortigern was known for. This is in contrast to Geoffreys description of the event, which assumed that the reader was knowledgeable of the time period. He chose to represent the entire episode in a single paragraph, giving the reader the bare minimum of chronological facts so that they could piece together the story. Geoffreys writing style is similarly dry. He makes no attempt to engage the dialect that the characters would have likely used; instead using what appears to be a form of English that he would have used. However, he makes the decision to focus on the facts of the event rather than providing the reader with visual and sense information of the proceedings. When he describes the pool under the foundation of the tower, he simply writes that you will find a pond which causes

the foundations to sink. Stewart, like Geoffrey , uses a contemporary English dialect so that the story can be easily understood. On the other hand, she places the water in a cave beneath where the tower had fallen. When the torch-bearers entered the cave, the light grew, wavering on the walls as they advanced. Streams of sliding water caught the light and flowed down to meet their reflections, so that the fire seemed to rise through the pool like bubbles in sparkling wine (302). The use of strong imagery and visual descriptions of the event serves to make the story more interesting to the post-enlightenment audience of our time, and is a key feature of historical romance. The content of Stewarts writing, specifically the values that the characters hold, also represents a modern thought process. Where Geoffrey of Monmouth simply writes that the king made no scruple of believing himand now was possessed with the greatest admiration of him, she provides a tale in which Merlin and his servant spend a night in Vortigerns guest room while the water is drained. The interaction between servant and master in this scene is clearly that of a modern employer/employee relationship rather than a master/slave relationship which would have been more accurate to the time period. In fact, while Cadal is relating his trip to Merlin, who missed him deeply, he goes as far as to criticize Merlins choice in buying a horse, referring to the animal as that screw that you bought (305). A similarly modern focus on emotion can be found in Stewarts writing as well. When Merlin and Cadal are making plans in the guest room, Cadal suggests making a break for it, straight away (311). This is not because he thinks that it would be the noble thing or even necessarily the reasonable thing, as they are surrounded by armed guards. Cadal is acting out of a fear for Merlins life. Merlin walks to the door, and Cadal, his eyes scared, asks if Merlin truly intends to go on his own, in the middle of that wolfpack (312). He believes that, while Merlin is

famous now, his position could easily change, leaving him vulnerable once again to the priests plan, or simply Vortigerns wrath if Merlins true father is discovered. Geoffrey of Monmouth and Mary Stewart relate almost identical tales in this episode from Merlins life. Merlin, faced with his own sacrifice, convinces Vortigerns magi that water below the tower is the cause of the instability, for which he gains fame and respect, albeit short-lived. However, Stewarts treatment of the episode indicates a far more modern, emotional and educational objective when compared with Geoffreys factual list of events. Her style closely follows the guidelines for historical romance, and it is this aspect of Stewarts writing that can lead one to convincingly classify The Crystal Cave as an historical romance.