Mortimus's comments (member since May 16, 2009)

Mortimus's comments from the YA Book Club group.

Here's a helpful wikipedia entry defining mythopoeia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythopoeia_(genre)

It seems to be a kind of twilight world hovering between ours and utter fancy. It think mythopoeia is rare -- often confused with allegory or with straight fantasy. The Hobbit is mythopoetic but not Percy Jackson. I think too that mythopoeia can lean one way or the other sometimes with one foot on the line separating it from allegory -- The Golden Key by MacDonald seems to flirt with the edge.

Any thoughts? I think a person without a taste for this stuff wouldn't like my work or even recognize it for what it is.

For those who do like this genre, come across anything you can recommend?

Nice thoughts, Anne. When our world touches another, or there are hidden magical elements in ours -- a mix makes perfect sense.

I think this'll make me seem a little like a snob, but names made up out of thin air don't come across well for me. I like to have them rooted somehow. I think I feel a kind of communal memory bringing half-remembered themes to mind when I hear a good one. Angie, your ref. to Aragorn is a good example. Tolkien had a tremendous advantage over the rest of us because he was a philologist. Languages -- esp. dead ones -- were a specialty. Names that have no roots seem thin. Another strategy I like is the transparently evocative name -- Luke Skywalker is a good example. (All the Star Wars names work that way.) The line between genius and campy is pretty thin there. The Star Trek names are better because they're more subtle. James Tiberius Kirk sums up the entire Western Tradition in a single person! (Look up the origins of each name to see what I mean.)

Seems to me that naming in YA fantasy novels is either delightful or just awful.

Sometimes I find myself groaning when I read place or character names. Other times I just smile and say, naturally, what other name could possibly have been used? And sometimes, very rarely, a name lifts me to another world.

Do you have any thoughts on this -- what are some of your favorites and where are they from? Any stinkers come to mind?

Glad to know it. I suppose the best way is through Amazon. I hope you enjoy it if you get to read it.

Angie asked me to post this title. I think this is the right place.




My website is www.mortimusclay.com

Mortimus Clay

Mortimus Clay

Yepsiree. Thanks, I'll do that.

Angie, I hate to break this to you -- but he's dead. He's lost weight though and is looking very svelte. We don't talk much --

Since I died in 1885 I've had a lot of time on my hands. You never realize when you're living how much time sleeping, chewing and swallowing, and personal hygiene consume.

I get some writing in these days, but more reading really. I like R.L. Stine, Roald Dahl, Tolkien, Lewis, all that. I'm reading the latest Percy Jackson and find myself sniggering at the description of the Underworld. Things are reaallly like that, you know. But its all in good fun.

I like thinking about Professor Tolkien's wonderful essay, "On Fairy Stories" -- esp. the part about "eucatastrophe". Why just the other day I said to him, "Ronald, why is it that eucatastrophe is so difficult to achieve?" And he said to me, "Mortimus, it is a skill that takes years of practice. And you must strive for it. On top of that, you must have experienced it."

Wonderful talking to J.R.R.

Love to talk to someone here too, by the way.