The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison (nonfiction book recommendations TXT) đź“•
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The Worm Ouroboros is considered to be one of the foundational texts of the high fantasy genre, influencing later authors like J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Ursula K. Leguin, and James Branch Cabell. It is most frequently compared to The Lord of the Rings in its epic scope set against a medieval, magic-laced backdrop—a world called “Middle Earth” by Eddison, thirty-two years before Tolkien’s—and in its almost mythical portrayal of larger-than-life heroes and villains.
The plot begins simply enough: The Lords of Demonland, a group of heroic warriors enjoying a strained peace, are called upon by an emissary of the warlock king of Witchland, Gorice XI. The emissary demands that Demonland submit to the King of Witchland—but the proud Demons refuse, setting off an epic war that spans their entire world. The heroic struggles of the Demons and their allies against the Witches reflect the circular nature of human history: the snake eating its own tail of the title.
The novel is written in a purposefully archaic, almost Jacobean style. The rich, surprising vocabulary and unusual spelling are testaments to Eddison’s expertise at reading and translating medieval-era texts. To this day, it remains perhaps unique in fantasy literature in the accuracy and precision of its highly affected prose style, perhaps matched only by the out-of-time strangeness of the prose in Hodgson’s The Night Land. But where critics often find The Night Land’s prose obtuse and difficult, they have nothing but praise for Eddison’s beautiful, quotable style.
Eddison had already imagined the story and its heroes as a child, and drawings he made as a youth of events in the book are preserved in the Bodleian library. While the novel is without a doubt the work of a mature and skilled writer, and while some of the events and characters are portrayed differently in the novel than they were in his youthful sketches, the names of many of the characters and places remain unchanged. Some of his contemporaries, like Tolkien, wondered about the strange naming style; others criticized it as taking away from the more serious subject matter.
The Worm Ouroboros remains one of the most influential works in the high fantasy genre to this day, and traces of the foundation it laid can be still be found in genre books a century after its publication.
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- Author: E. R. Eddison
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No sound was there in that high presence chamber in Galing till in a minute’s space the serving man returned with startled countenance, and, bowing before Lord Juss, said, “Lord, it is an Ambassador from Witchland and his train. He craveth present audience.”
Argument: With Dates[Dates Anno Carces Conditae. The action of the story covers exactly four years: from the 22nd April 399 to 22nd April 403 ACC].
Year ACC 171. Queen Sophonisba born in Morna Moruna. 187. Gorice III eat up with mantichores beyond the Bhavinan. 188. Morna Moruna sacked by Gorice IV. Queen Sophonisba lodged by divine agency in Koshtra Belorn. 337. Gorice VII, conjuring in Carcë, slain by evil spirits. 341. Birth of Zeldornius. 344. Birth of Corsus in Tenemos. 353. Corund born in Carcë. 354. Birth of Zenambria, duchess to Corsus. 357. Birth of Helteranius. 360. Volle born at Darklairstead in Demonland. 361. Birth of Jalcanaius Fostus. 363. Birth of Vizz at Darklairstead. 364. Gro born in Goblinland at the court of Zajë Zaculo, the foster-brother of Gaslark the King. Gaslark born in Zajë Zaculo. 366. Laxus, high Admiral of Witchland and after king of Pixyland, born in Estremerine. 367. Birth of Gallandus in Buteny. 369. Zigg born at Many Bushes in Amadardale. 370. Juss born in Galing. 371. Goldry Bluszco born in Galing. Dekalajus, eldest of the sons of Corsus, born in Witchland. 372. Spitfire born in Galing. Brandoch Daha born in Krothering. 374. La Fireez born in Norvasp of Pixyland. Gorius, second of Corsus’s sons, born in Witchland. 375. Corinius born in Carcë. 376. Prezmyra, sister to the Prince La Fireez, second wife to Corund, and after Queen of Impland, born in Norvasp. 379. Birth of Hacmon, eldest of the sons of Corund. Mevrian, sister to Lord Brandoch Daha, born in Krothering. 380. Heming born, second of Corund’s sons. 381. Dormanes born, third of Corund’s sons. 382. Birth of Viglus, Corund’s fourth son, in Carcë. Recedor, King of Goblinland, privily poisoned by Corsus: Gaslark reigns in his stead in Zajë Zaculo. Sriva, daughter to Corsus and Zenambria, born in Carcë. 383. Armelline, cousin-german to King Gaslark, after betrothed and wed to Goldry Bluszco, born in Goblinland. 384. Cargo, youngest of the sons of Corund, born in Carcë. 388. Goblinland invaded by the Ghouls: the flight out of Zajë Zaculo: Tenemos burnt: the power of the Ghouls crushed by Corsus. 389. Zeldornius, Helteranius, and Jalcanaius Fostus sent by Gaslark with an armament into Impland, and there ensorcelled. 390. The Witches harry in Goblinland: their defeat by the help of Demonland on Lormeron field: the slaying of Gorice X by Brandoch Daha: Corsus taken captive and shamed by the Demons: Gro, abandoning the Goblin cause, dwells in exile at the court of Witchland. 393. La Fireez, besieged by Fax Fay Faz at Lida Nanguna in Outer Impland, delivered by the Demons: Goldry Bluszco repulsed by Corsus before Harquem. 395. Corund weds in Norvasp with the Princess Prezmyra. 398. The Ghouls burst forth in unimagined ferocity: their harrying in Demonland and burning of Goldry’s house at Drepaby. 399. Holy war of Witchland, Demonland, Goblinland, and other polite nations against the Ghouls: Laxus, with the countenance of his master Gorice XI and by the counsel of Gro, deserts with all his fleet in the battle off Kartadza (eastern seaboard of Demonland): the Ghouls nevertheless overwhelmed by the Demons in Kartadza Sound, and their whole race exterminated: Gorice XI demands homage of Demonland, wrastles with Goldry Bluszco, and is in that encounter slain. Gorice XII, renewing with happier fortune the artificial practices of Gorice VII in Carcë, takes Goldry with a sending magical: Juss and Brandoch Daha, partly straught of their wits, unadvisedly go up with Gaslark against Carcë and are there clapped up: their delivery by the agency of La Fireez, and return to their own country: Juss’s dream: the council in Krothering: the first expedition to Impland. The King’s revenge on Pixyland executed by Corinius, and La Fireez dispossessed and driven into exile: Corund’s great march over Akra Skabranth, sudden irruption into Outer Impland, and conquest of that country: shipwreck of the Demon fleet: carnage at Salapanta: march of the Demons into Upper Impland: amorous commerce of Brandoch Daha with the Lady of Ishnain Nemartra, who lays a weird upon him: Corund besieges and captures Eshgrar Ogo: Juss and Brandoch Daha escape across the Moruna and winter by the Bhavinan. 400. News of Eshgrar Ogo brought to Carcë: Corund honoured by the King therefor with the style of king of Impland. Juss and Brandoch Daha cross the Zia Pass: fight with the mantichore: ascent of Koshtra Pivrarcha, entrance into Koshtra Belorn, and entertainment by Queen Sophonisba: Juss’s vision of Goldry bound on Zora: the Queen’s furtherance of their designs: the hippogriff hatched beside the Lake of Ravary: the fatal folly of Mivarsh: Juss in despite of the Queen’s admonitions assays Zora Rach on foot and comes within a little of losing his life. Prezmyra Queen of Impland and Laxus king of Pixyland crowned in Carcë: the King sends an expedition to put down Demonland, setting Corsus in chief command thereof: Laxus defeats Volle by sea off Lookinghaven, and Corsus Vizz by land at Crossby Outsikes, Vizz slain on the field: cruel and despiteful policy of Corsus: dissensions betwixt him and Gallandus: great reversal of these disasters by Spitfire, Corsus’s army cut in pieces by him on the Rapes of Brima and the survivors besieged in Owlswick: discontent of the army: Corsus with his own hands murthers Gallandus in Owlswick: tidings brought by Gro to Carcë: Corsus degraded by the King, who commissions Corinius as king of Demonland to retrieve the matter: battle of Thremnir’s Heugh, with the overthrow of Spitfire’s power: Corinius crowned in Owlswick: arrest of Corsus and his sons and their despatch home to Witchland. 401. Reduction of eastern Demonland by Corinius, save only Galing which Bremery holds with seventy men: Corinius moves west over the Stile: his insolent demands to Mevrian: miscarriage of Gaslark’s expedition to the relief of Krothering, his defeat at Aurwath: masterly retreat of Corinius from Krothering before superior numbers: his ambushing and destroying of Spitfire’s army on the shores of Switchwater: fall of Krothering and surrender of Mevrian: her escape by the counsel of Gro, the help of Corund’s sons, and the connivance of Laxus: her flight to Westmark and thence east
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