FT254

Like angels, mermaids belong to that category of beings we might just hope to see, though almost certainly we haven’t and won’t. Still, we recognise them at once, a familiar image in our culture if not our experience. Unlike angels, however, mermaids don’t exist within a theological framework that “explains” them. There’s no mermaid dogma, nor even a central text setting out quite what they are. Appropriate to their ambiguous nature, mermaids are slippery creatures, at home in a surprising range of contexts, from the oral traditions of folklore to the most officially approved manifestations of high art. It’s impossible to track a consistent path down which our idea of the mermaid has developed – her natural element is, after all, far more fluid than any graph or wall-chart.