SatansBedFellow
Tue, 6th Dec '05, 4:49am
'Tales of the Dying Earth', Gollancz, 2000 – by Jack Vance
'Tales of the Dying Earth' is a collection of four stories ('The Dying Earth', 'Eyes of the Overworld', 'Cugel's Saga', and 'Rhialto the Marvellous') linked by a poignant and powerful setting and the rebellious heroes and merciless antiheroes that explore and inhabit it. It is a dim and ancient Earth in the far future, where the old red sun is failing and Earth's inhabitants (human and inhuman) wander amid the ruins of the past. I loved these strange lands, and stranger peoples (complete with queer customs) that are so far removed from fantasy-fiction's typical pastoral fare. Instead it is a world characterized best by the word "mystery" and similar to the exotic, shadowy and somewhat morbid dream-worlds of H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. Indeed, Vance is a master of the weird . His prose style which is both rich and ornate; conjures this profusion of odd cultures, ghoulish otherworlds, decadent magicians (there are no benevolent patriarchs here!), tragedy and drollery (the book is littered with witticisms and verbal flourishes).
This is fantasy without the usual trappings, and is so utterly unique. So much fantasy is parochial - not as true now as it was years ago - but the assumption is simply one of a culture, more or less like ours, with the same ideals and the same notions of how to do things, just idealised, and pitched within a simple, almost Manichean, struggle between the absolute polarities of good and evil. Vance's work is infused with an existential mood rather than simply reflecting the sentiments of sacrifice and morality typical of fantasy-fiction. I loved Cugel the loathsome anti-hero who is just engaging enough that you want him to win through. 'Tales of the Dying Earth' is a superb read that I simply cannot recommend enough to you.
'Tales of the Dying Earth' is a collection of four stories ('The Dying Earth', 'Eyes of the Overworld', 'Cugel's Saga', and 'Rhialto the Marvellous') linked by a poignant and powerful setting and the rebellious heroes and merciless antiheroes that explore and inhabit it. It is a dim and ancient Earth in the far future, where the old red sun is failing and Earth's inhabitants (human and inhuman) wander amid the ruins of the past. I loved these strange lands, and stranger peoples (complete with queer customs) that are so far removed from fantasy-fiction's typical pastoral fare. Instead it is a world characterized best by the word "mystery" and similar to the exotic, shadowy and somewhat morbid dream-worlds of H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. Indeed, Vance is a master of the weird . His prose style which is both rich and ornate; conjures this profusion of odd cultures, ghoulish otherworlds, decadent magicians (there are no benevolent patriarchs here!), tragedy and drollery (the book is littered with witticisms and verbal flourishes).
This is fantasy without the usual trappings, and is so utterly unique. So much fantasy is parochial - not as true now as it was years ago - but the assumption is simply one of a culture, more or less like ours, with the same ideals and the same notions of how to do things, just idealised, and pitched within a simple, almost Manichean, struggle between the absolute polarities of good and evil. Vance's work is infused with an existential mood rather than simply reflecting the sentiments of sacrifice and morality typical of fantasy-fiction. I loved Cugel the loathsome anti-hero who is just engaging enough that you want him to win through. 'Tales of the Dying Earth' is a superb read that I simply cannot recommend enough to you.