What Do We Want to Read. And When?

[Danielle The Book Huntress]

Mohammed, that's one of the hugest lures for me as far as ereaders. I had spent a lot of money acquiring obscure classic supernatural/horror volumes before I knew about how so many were free in the public domain.

[[deleted user]]

Simon wrote: "David, why don't you start a thread for each of your pre-Tolkien fantasy reads and then maybe people will join you in reading and discussing them?"

(Daniel ;) )

I will do that.

[Simon]

Sorry, I'm terrible with names...

[[deleted user]]

Heh - no worries man. :)

[[deleted user]]

So I started The Wood Beyond the World last night, and totally struggled to make about 5% in. My god, the style is so archaic. I don't know if I'm going to be able to hang with it. I had to read a few of the paragraphs numerous times just to understand what was going on

[Terry]

I think _The Well at the World's End_ might be a better book by Morris, though of course it's longer too. You're not going to lose any of the archaism though.

Whatever you do though, avoid _The Water of the Wondrous Isles_ I barely made it through that one alive.

[Alex]

Not that I'm a huge fan of Morris, but what's wrong with his "archaic" style? The writing is good, I just recall finding the whole thing a little plodding.

[[deleted user]]

Yeah - I think I might have quickly discovered that Morris is, simply, not for me. I, sometimes, love ornate prose (I mean Cisco and Ligotti are two of my favorite authors), but the archaic style employed by Morris does absolutely nothing for me.

[[deleted user]]

There is nothing wrong with it except for the most important thing: I don't like it. Or, at least, I'm not in the mood for it right now. Another time it could totally grip me.

[Simon]

If you don't enjoy psudo-archaic praise, you might want to abandon your plans to read "The Worm Ouroborus" as that has it in spades.

Incidentally, I wouldn't call the prose of Ligotti or Cisco particularly ornate, at least from what I have read.

My copy of "The Wood Beyond the World" hasn't arrived yet but I plan to read it next.

[Alex]

haha Simon, I have to admit I thought the same thing.

I find Dunsany to have pseudo-Archaic in spades though ... so who knows? Who can see into the mind of D Davis and make these predictions?

[[deleted user]]

I've read the first few pages of The Worm, and it reads nothing like this Morris book. It's a completely different kind of affected style.

I do like some archaic, affected styles, but this Morris chap just really turned my off. It probably has more to do with my mood right now.

[Mohammed]

D_Davis wrote: "I've read the first few pages of The Worm, and it reads nothing like this Morris book. It's a completely different kind of affected style.

I do like some archaic, affected styles, but this Morris ..."

I know what you mean i like some archaic prose authors and then some try it so hard that it looks artificial. Or some author just dont click with you even if they are good authors.

[Jim]

Simon wrote: "If you don't enjoy psudo-archaic praise, you might want to abandon your plans to read "The Worm Ouroborus" as that has it in spades...."

Yeah, that's what turned me off of it.

[Danielle The Book Huntress]

Some authors write archaic style better than others. I think it's a matter of it feeling authentic.

[Simon]

D_Davis wrote: "I've read the first few pages of The Worm, and it reads nothing like this Morris book."

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that it was similar in prose style, other than being psudo-archaic. I wouldn't know; I've yet to read any Morris. I'll certainly report back when I've tried it.

There is definitely a variety in effectiveness and quality of psudo-archaic prose. E. R. Eddison definitely knew what he was doing and I think that comes across in his writing. William Hope Hodgson's "In the Nightland" on the other hand was absolutely terrible and such a contrast from his other works.

[[deleted user]]

I don't think I'm looking for an authentic quality in an affected style. What I look for is when the chosen style makes the narrative better, or, like Simon said, a quality of effectiveness.

[Alex]

D_Davis wrote: "I don't think I'm looking for an authentic quality in an affected style. What I look for is when the chosen style makes the narrative better, or, like Simon said, a quality of effectiveness."

I don't remember it too well but I recall that Morris was going more for more of an "epic poetry" feel that might have been popular several hundreds years previous. Authors like Eddison and Dunsanydon't really have the same authenticity in their prose, they go for an affected style that helps drive the narrative forward a bit more for modern readers. (not that Eddison is fast paced and IMO loses the plot by the time he wrote Fish Dinner in Memison, which I found coma inducing).

I like what Morris is trying to do in theory but I'm not all that patient eith Epic poetry either.

[Simon]

Actually, Eddison was a student of old English and his stylising is supposed to be very authentic. That's what I've heard anyway.

[Alex]

From wikipedia

"Eddison's books are written in a meticulously recreated Jacobean prose style, seeded throughout with fragments, often acknowledged but often frankly stolen, from his favorite authors and genres: Homer and Sappho, Shakespeare and Webster, Norse Saga and French medieval lyric"

I guess this will give us something to discuss. I'm not quite sure how something can be reminiscent of all of those things at the same time, frankly.. since they're all completely different.

[Terry]

Inserted poetry in Eddison's works (sometimes cited sometimes not) is where the list comes in (Homeric, Sappho, Norse Saga etc.), but the actual prose of the story itself is pretty much Jacobean.

[Alex]

Dulac3 wrote: "Inserted poetry in Eddison's works (sometimes cited sometimes not) is where the list comes in (Homeric, Sappho, Norse Saga etc.), but the actual prose of the story itself is pretty much Jacobean."

Ohhh duh! That makes sense. Thanks.

[Nicky]

Actually, Eddison was a student of old English and his stylising is supposed to be very authentic.

If it was in Old English, the average person without a lit or language degree couldn't read it, and even some people with lit degrees... I could, but only with a dictionary.

/pet peeve of an English lit postgrad student

[Simon]

Daniel, is February going to be a write off then for your read-a-pre-tolkien-fantasy-novel-a-month goal this year or are you going to try another?

[[deleted user]]

I'm going to try another, Simon, after I finish what I'm currently reading. I'm not sure what.

[[deleted user]]

So I think I'll read Manly Wade Wellman's Battle in the Dawn: the Complete Hok the Mighty. The first story was published right before The Hobbit, and the series finished before LOTR was published.

[Simon]

I've heard talk about Manly Wade Wellman but I haven't every tried any of his work, what would you recommend as a starting point?

I notice that our library has Who Fears The Devil, is that a good place to start?

[[deleted user]]

Who Fears the Devil is where I started, and I was instantly hooked. I then went out and purchased everything I could get my hands on.

There's a big collection coming out this year of the complete John Thurnston - stories about an occult detective.

[[deleted user]]

So I need to read something pre-Tolkien this month. Not sure what...

[Terry]

I'd recommend The King of Elfland's Daughter or The Charwoman's Shadow by Dunsany if you haven't read them yet.