ABSTRACT
Merlin's literary career has long been dependent on that of Arthurian literature. However, his figure evokes so many different associations and exerts such charm that he has been able to exist outside the mediaeval context and to attain the status of a literary myth in his own right. Thus the story of Merlin, made up of successive contributions, was repeated, summarized and translated, completely or in part, in European literature. Merlin is not only the instigator of the Round Table, but also the mythical author of Arthurian literature. At the turn of the century, the myth of Merlin gained renewed poetical strength with the work of Guillaume Apollinaire. At the end of the story, it is revealed that he is Merlin reduced to the role of an ordinary man and in search of the sapphire which used to give him strength and subtlby the Nouveauety.
