Eddison, E. R.

Average customer rating:

the highest summit of art
If this is fantasy I prefer reality
Mature British Fantasy that Predates The Hobbit
This should not be out of print - head for the library
Awesome, unique, larger than life - but demanding - fantasy.

Zimiamvia: A Trilogy
E. R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Jurgen

ASIN: 0440503000
Release Date: 1992-08-01

Customer Reviews:

the highest summit of art.......2006-12-16

It shouldn't even be necessary to point out that Eric Eddison's books are the high point of twentieth century literature.

It should go without saying that he is the best prose artist in the history of the English-language novel; his writing, and his dialogue in particular, are at least fifteen percent better than whichever lesser genius comes in second (Lord Dunsany, perhaps?).

In a saner world, every college freshman would be expected to read his books, and to at least pretend to understand that the themes Eddison presents within them - the cycles of time, the duality of the godhead, human life lived as a work of conscious art - are the closest approach to Truth that are possible in fiction. (And they are only expressible in fantastic fiction, for we must come at these things indirectly and through the side door of Myth.)

The reason that Eddison is obscure and his infinite virtues remain almost unsung is, of course, because ours is a civilization, and indeed a world, so unrepentantly degenerate that it isn't capable of understanding his works. A typical professor presented with The Worm or Mistress of Mistresses is in the position of an ape given a laptop computer: the best he can do is to bang his head against it. For what Eddison brings us is truth, at both the spiritual and mundane levels, and truth is more than the little men of this world can bear.

You, dear reader, are probably already a cut above, to even have taken time to find out that Eddison exists and to bother to read a review of his books. (And be assured that this door is shut to the modestly endowed, as a survey of reviews on the web will reveal. Books on the level of Eddison, particulary the Zimiamvia trilogy, cannot be written with the masses in mind. This is the very definition of elite literature.)

If you haven't read any of these works, you now have a great opportunity to evolve further away from the "common muck", as Eddison might call them, and perhaps later on, even agree with the tone and substance of this review. Or, you can do what the common muck will do: instead of attempting to rise to Eddison's level, resent the fact that he is simply smarter, better and more enlightened than you, or any other novelist you've ever come across. And most of all, of course, resent that he doesn't care if you know it.

The chance, and the choice, are yours.

If this is fantasy I prefer reality.......2006-01-06

It's really hard to express how bad this book is. And to think that on his cover I read a praise from "the master" himself (ie Tolkien). I wonder what they put in his pipe that day! This story is a repulsive conglomerate of wanna-be fantasy scenarios, victorian fashions, latin and greek reminiscences. The characters are stereotypical (beautiful, strong, etc.) and seem to be all taken from some idiotic "high society" club. You get no impression of a living, warm, pulsating, lively world, but just of a few snobs wasting their time and yours. And how logically irritating can be to have characters citing latin and greek verses of our world? The prose tries desperately to sound ornate and elegant but is just convoluted and cold.

Mature British Fantasy that Predates The Hobbit.......2002-06-01

The Zimiamvian trilogy is a philosophy beautifully realized through Eddison's deftly extruding a world based on Beauty, his "fundamental value" of the universe (but how it's accomplished you'll just have to read for yourself). The fact that he starts with a philosophy means that his mindset throughout Zimiamvia is consistent and allows him to progress confidently through plot, prose, and poetry.

He describes environments with sumptuous imagery, but the best of his writing is in how he conveys that which is left unsaid: in the wonderful, bantering conversations, in the way Fiorinda conveys so much in the simple tilt of her head. Indeed, transitory beauty found in the fleeting moment was one of Eddison's obsessions, and important to the books. Simple gestures create changes in mood and atmosphere and it's fascinating to see Eddison impart these sweeping temporal phantasms again and again.

My only criticism is that Eddison's Victorian sentiments towards the roles of men and women can be quaint. But he obviously loved these characters and his commitment to them and to the philosophy behind Zimiamvia makes them utterly convincing, and such anachronisms are easily forgiven. After all, he fully admitted that his idea of utopia might not be everyone's.

This edition of the Zimiamvian books (Mistress of Mistresses - published in 1935, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and The Mezentian Gate all in one volume) also has the benefit of an introduction and wonderful footnotes by Paul Edmund Thomas which helped me since I'm uninitiated in the scholarship of Scandinavian and Viking sagas and a little rusty on some of the classics, to which Eddison makes copious references. I don't know if the individual books have the benefit of such notes, but I would recommend seeking out a copy with them if you're not intimately familiar with those subjects (also with Renaissance Italian political intrigue, European art history, and, in one passage, cricket match terminology). But please don't let this deter you from reading these marvelous books. Thomas' notes are conversational and even funny sometimes, which makes them very accessible. As of the writing of this review, the book is out of print, but I easily found a cheap used copy online and I encourage you to find one, too.

This should not be out of print - head for the library.......2000-09-27

... and look for it, or the individual titles: Mistress of Mistresses, Fish Dinner in Memison, The Mezentian Gate.This is fantasy of the highest order, and unlike anything else you might read. The prose itself is unusually beautiful. Though not writing the same as any of them, I place him in my pantheon of writers with Gene Wolfe, Thomas Pynchon, Kazantzakis (more than a few similarities there), perhaps Sam Delany.I first got recommended his less subtle, but still great, book The Worm Ourobouros back in the late 60's as a follow-on to Tolkien. This is a much more grown-up vision.

Awesome, unique, larger than life - but demanding - fantasy........1998-10-23

Ornate and splendid, Eddison's trilogy is by far the most audacious and ambitious fantasy I've read. The third volume is sadly incomplete, Eddison (like Peake) having died before he could finish it; but fortunately he had written the final sections, and it is the middle that is fragmentary. Even the plot summaries which do exist show that some of the best scenes in fantasy were, tragically, never written! The books are set in the world of Zimiamvia, where superhuman noblemen and women love, die, fight and endure intricate political wrangling. What is unusual about the books is their underlying philosophy, whose gradual revelation and embellishment is the real purpose of all this plot-mongering. To say more would be to reduce the intellectual excitement of discovering it. This is not an easy, story-teller's yarn, but a demanding AND REWARDING project. Its very prose is rich, dense and ornate, appropriate to the grandeur and seriousness of the author's intent. This is high fantasy for grown-ups. I like a bit of escapism as much as the next person, but it is also good to see the genre (before it WAS a genre) being used to a much higher purpose.

Average customer rating:

The Lessingham question
Five Stars Or Zero Stars, depending on your viewpoint
the best book you probably haven't read; and the best you ever will
The Worm of Reality
Cream of the Crop

The Worm Ouroboros
E. R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0486447405

Book Description

This is the book that shaped the landscape of contemporary science fiction. J. R. R. Tolkien acclaimed its author as "the greatest and most convincing writer of 'invented worlds' that I have read." Written in the best traditions of Homeric epics, Norse sagas, and Arthurian myths, it recounts compelling tales of warriors and witches.

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And the Lord Goldry spake: "We, the lords of Demon-land, do utterly scorn thee, Gorice XI., for the greatest of dastards, in that thou basely fleddest and forsookest us, thy sworn confederates, in the sea battle against the Ghouls. Our swords, which in that battle ended so great a curse and peril to all this world, are not bent nor broken. They shall be sheathed in the bowels of thee and thy minions, Corsus to wit, and Corund, and then: sons, and Corinius, and what other evildoers harbour in waterish Witchland, sooner than one little sea-pink growing on the cliffs of Demonland shall do thee obeisance.

Customer Reviews:

The Lessingham question.......2007-05-18

The problem with taking a half star off for the 'flaws' of The Worm Ouroborous' is that one would have to regrade every book on Amazon.com down by about ten stars. The book is simply a masterpiece vaunted high above ordinary things. I read it a sixteen, given me by my friend's father when I was raving about 'Lord of The Rings'. Despite the archaic prose I finished it in an evening and it has lived in my imagination now for over thirty years. I still like 'Lord of the Rings'; it is a great book, although 'soft', to use Eddison's own word.

Rather than re-echo the many justified superlatives above I'd like to address some particular issues:

The Worm has to be read in context with Eddison's other works. Only by doing so will one come to an understanding of the philosophy which produced it an some of the apparent errors. There are elements of Nietzsche, the will to power, master, slave morality and so but more tellingly there is a highly developed metaphysics. This is best seen though the character of Lessingham:

Firstly, the oft maligned first chapter where Lessingham disappears. This is simply an Elizabethan device often used in the drama of the time. There is no question of it being some oversight or mistake.

Understanding Lessingham's place is imperative. He represents the man of action ultimately doomed to failure because action will fail.

Eddison believes the universe operates on a kind of dual godhead - male and female in constant teasing opposition. God created the world, the female aspect constantly keeps him wanting to recreate it. The fantasy land is His creation for Her yet she shields this from him. Naturally, God creates the best of all possible worlds but there are also other lesser worlds (our own for example) In the best of all possible worlds God can have the best of all Earth like things - in Eddison's view this a mixed bag of Scandinavian saga, Ancient Greece and Elisabethian prose. These things are there because they are wonderful and the occupants of the world have all wonderful things at their fingertips. They are not anachronistic.

Every male individual is an aspect of the male God. Lessingham is the man of action, doomed to failure because he lives in a 'material' world. Other characters are simply greater or lesser aspects of Godhood, some more or less Godlike. Likewise the female characters.

The Worm Ouroborous was Eddison's first attempt. He used 'Goblins', 'Pixies' at the age of ten to describe his fantasies. I suspect he didn't go for some formulistic nomenclature because he still loved the childhood names. He loved writing The Worm Ouroborous and I love reading it [...].

Five Stars Or Zero Stars, depending on your viewpoint.......2007-01-19

If you like highly literary prose in archaic language with pages of visual description, then this book is for you. This book is a masterpiece of beauty in the world of fantasy.

Eddison, in the first major fantasy novel of the 20th-century, creates a world with a complete background of history, geography, and ancient grudges that build up to a stunning climax. If you are a new writer that wants to break into fantasy or science fiction, then this book is a must read--not that you should write like Edisson, but that you should learn from his descriptive language and storytelling.

If, however, you like lots of action with little narrative prose, then skip this book--it will put you to sleep very quickly.

the best book you probably haven't read; and the best you ever will.......2006-12-16

It shouldn't even be necessary to point out that Eric Eddison's books are the high point of twentieth century literature.

It should go without saying that he is the best prose artist in the history of the English-language novel; his writing, and his dialogue in particular, are at least fifteen percent better than whichever lesser genius comes in second (Lord Dunsany, perhaps?).

In a saner world, every college freshman would be expected to read his books, and to at least pretend to understand that the themes Eddison presents within them - the cycles of time, the duality of the godhead, human life lived as a work of conscious art - are the closest approach to Truth that are possible in fiction. (And they are only expressible in fantastic fiction, for we must come at these things indirectly and through the side door of Myth.)

The reason that Eddison is obscure and his infinite virtues remain almost unsung is, of course, because ours is a civilization, and indeed a world, so unrepentantly degenerate that it isn't capable of understanding his works. A typical professor presented with The Worm or Mistress of Mistresses is in the position of an ape given a laptop computer: the best he can do is to bang his head against it. For Eddison's philosophy is simply the truth about the way the world works, at both the spiritual and mundane levels, and truth is too much for the little men of this world to bear.

You, dear reader, are probably already a cut above, to even have taken time to find out that Eddison exists and to bother to read a review of his books.

If you haven't read any of these works, you now have a great opportunity to evolve further away from the "common muck", as Eddison might call them, and perhaps later on, even agree with the tone and substance of this review. Or, you can do what the common muck will do: instead of attempting to rise to Eddison's level, resent the fact that he is simply smarter, better and more enlightened than you, or any other novelist you've ever come across. And most of all, of course, resent that he doesn't care if you know it.

The chance, and the choice, are yours.

The Worm of Reality.......2006-12-01

I love this book. I have read it many times and know anyone who loves to read and retains their imagination will love it to. I confess a need to read good British novels that command the language with all its accents. I gave the book five stars because the theme seems never to become stale over time (as the book's war base suggests) and as a mathematician I understand the topographical social suggestions of homo-sapian's short-comming of learning from history over time.

I hoped a movie would be made but it would fall short unless a genius got funding to do it justice. Also, it is a book that should be read first and who is it to get the populace to grace this book with its due when written in older English?

Cream of the Crop.......2006-09-06

The Worm Ouroboros is a work that I feel cannot be praised in high enough terms. I can but reiterate what previous reviewers have said and proclaim it a Masterpiece of English Literature. Any reader interested in the works of the Classical, Medieval, or Renaissance periods, as those that are fans of modern fantasy will find literary pleasure beyond words in the pages of The Worm Ouroboros.

The Worm Ouroboros (Ballantine Adult Fantasy, 24309)

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The Worm Ouroboros (Ballantine Adult Fantasy, 24309)
E. R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0345243099

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Mistress of Mistresses
E.R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Victor Gollancz Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0575072849

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The Mezentian Gate
E. R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Ballatine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000OBA5EQ

Average customer rating:

The Book That Made Me Fall in Love with Fantasy
Read Book #3 first, then #2 and finally #1

A Fish Dinner in Memison
E.R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0345272226
Release Date: 1978-03-12

Customer Reviews:

The Book That Made Me Fall in Love with Fantasy.......2005-01-08

Ok, I confess I read this book in the series first. I bought my original copy at a roadside flea market for a dime in the early 70's in a rural county in an appalachian state. No idea how it got there. I still have that copy sitting on my shelf beside the Worm Ouroboros, Mistress of Mistresses and The Menzentian Gate.

Eddison created this baroque world similar to the plots and counterplots of Renaissance Europe. It is guaranteed to appeal to adolsecent anqst but there is also enough meat to hook the inquiring mind for a lifetime. I haven't read it in a long time because I don't need to do so, I carry it around in my mind-- from which it peeks now and then when something calls it up.

His prose is deliberately archaic. His books are not an easy read but they well repay reading.

Read Book #3 first, then #2 and finally #1.......2004-08-27

A great series. Suggest you start, however with Book #3 of the Trilogy, The Mezentian Gate and then this book, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and then finally Book #1, Mistress of Mistresses last. This order is how the books progress #3,2,1, but not how they were written.

Even better is to read The Worm Ouroboros first a couple of times before the Zimiamvian Triology.

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If these be Demons...

The Worm Ouroboros
E. R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GU4KR8

Customer Reviews:

If these be Demons..........2006-08-06

_Some might be put off that the heroes of this book (and heroes they truly be) are of the race of demons. Yet, if these be demons, then one scarce ever have need of angels. These Lords of Demonland are the embodiment of honor incarnate. Nor is this petty personal honor in name only, but it is the deep noble honor of those whose very existence is the soul and sap of the realm they serve. This is not a modern book, nor be it wrote in modern language. The heroism and nobility of its characters will be as difficult for the modern mind to comprehend, as is the high language that frames it. Truly, prose like this has not been written for 400 years, before the King's English was ossified and codified to death and a great writer could still conjure up his own new-forged words of power to fit his subject.

_I was reminded of the great mythic tales of Ireland, of her heroes and high Kings, when I first started reading this tale. Lord Goldry Bluszco reminded me of nothing so much as great Cuchulainn. Yet, I was also reminded of the epic tales of India. Indeed, the classic illustration by Henderson of the Lords Juss, Bluszco, Spitfire, and Daha immediately reminded be of the Pandavas. These are tales of glory and high adventure from the most eternal mythic heights.

_Some seem put off by the opening of the book, while nothing could be more apropos. The character of Lessingham is that of an astral explorer. The martlet is his power animal and guide. The lotus room- well, the lotus is the symbol of the sacred portal on the threshold of the unconscious and conscious worlds. As for Mercury being the home of great kingdoms existing at a higher, finer state of vibration- read your Swedenborg...

This book was originally published in 1922. The term "Middle Earth" appears to have been used here first (The Hobbit wasn't published until 1937, I believe.) But then Tolkien praised Eddison as the finest writer in the genre.

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A Fish Dinner in Memison
E. R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Pan/Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000KP3MBE

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A Fish Dinner in Memison
E. R. Eddison
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NW7B3E

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Mezentian Gate 01578
E R Eddison
Manufacturer: BALLANTINE BOOKS @
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SFC1Z4

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