Book Club - Week 1 of The King of Elfland's Daughter, Ch 1-9

[boredoom]

Today's when we kick off our reading of Lord Dunsany's The King of Elf-land's Daugther. Our goal is to read the first nine chapters this week and discuss as we go along. I'll chime in with my initial impressions a little later. How is the book grabbing you? What were you expecting, and does it conform to you expectations?

I'll also start you off with a little riddle: Why might the kingdom be called "Erl?" What could that be a reference to?

(The pre-reading thread for the book is here)

[TanRu]

I haven't started the book yet, but I am guessing it is a reference to the legend of the Erlking and the ballad The Erlking's Daughter?

[mumblethrax]

I'll also start you off with a little riddle: Why might the kingdom be called "Erl?" What could that be a reference to?

Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht, was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?

[boredoom]

Yes! TanRu and Mumblethrax Googled my mind. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlking:

The Erlking (German: Erlkönig, "Alder King") is depicted in a number of German poems and ballads as a malevolent creature who haunts forests and carries off travellers to their deaths. The name is an 18th-century mistranslation of the original Danish word elverkonge[citation needed], "elf-king". The character is most famous as the antagonist in Goethe's poem Der Erlkönig and Schubert's musical adaptation of the same name.

But "Erle" was also a surname in Dunsany's family. His brother was Admiral The Hon. Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, KCB, DSO, JP, DL.

We also have the name of the hero, Alveric, which means "ruler of elves" in Old Norse. So we have a curiously circular setup: The Elfking asks his son, the King of Elves, to go marry the King of Elfland's daughter. Is Dunsany making a joke or foreshadowing something in the story? Or is he really lazy when it comes to making up names, like a lot of otherwise good GMs?

[TanRu]

I was wondering about that too.

I thought maybe there was some kind of switcheroo coming, with Alveric becoming the King of Elfland, but (as of Chapter V anyhow) his only child is a son, not a daughter.

[Jeppe]

What do you guys think of the prose so far? For me it's both pleasantly poetic and infuriatingly flowery, sometimes even a little clunky. I loved the writing of Dunsany in his Pegana work, but those are generally all short stories and poems, and it reads a lot different to me in this long-form story.

[TanRu]

What do you guys think of the prose so far? For me it's both pleasantly poetic and infuriatingly flowery, sometimes even a little clunky.

I agree. It's kind of a slog for me to get through. I do enjoy the recurring themes, "the fields we know" and so on.

So far my two favorite things are:
- "the rites that are proper for the wedding of a mermaid that hath forsaken the sea"
- "he went one windy morning up the hill of the lonely witch, and found her sitting idly in her doorway, having nothing to curse or bless"

[kajabor]

What do you guys think of the prose so far? For me it's both pleasantly poetic and infuriatingly flowery, sometimes even a little clunky. I loved the writing of Dunsany in his Pegana work, but those are generally all short stories and poems, and it reads a lot different to me in this long-form story.

It gets worse as it goes on. I've found that there are longish chunks of pointless verbiage that can be rapidly skimmed. Prose-wise, Dunsany's no Nabokov. Also, the story is pretty slavish in its adherence to fairy tale tropes. At about halfway through, I've found no hint of imagination; it's just pastiche from the Northern European folktale stock. Still, it's not completely without charm.

[Jeppe]

It gets worse as it goes on. I've found that there are longish chunks of pointless verbiage that can be rapidly skimmed. Prose-wise, Dunsany's no Nabokov. Also, the story is pretty slavish in its adherence to fairy tale tropes. At about halfway through, I've found no hint of imagination; it's just pastiche from the Northern European folktale stock. Still, it's not completely without charm.

I actually found the fairy tale tropes very refreshing! I know that they aren't very imaginative at all, but compared to modern fantasy it almost felt like a breath of fresh air. And with the Pegana universe, Dunsany proved that he can be innovative. After everyone's read this book, I'll link to a couple of the shorter Pegana stories, just to give an example of his other stuff. I don't know how widely read those stories are.

PS: I really dislike Nabokov, sorry

[kajabor]

I actually found the fairy tale tropes very refreshing! I know that they aren't very imaginative at all, but compared to modern fantasy it almost felt like a breath of fresh air. And with the Pegana universe, Dunsany proved that he can be innovative. After everyone's read this book, I'll link to a couple of the shorter Pegana stories, just to give an example of his other stuff. I don't know how widely read those stories are.

PS: I really dislike Nabokov, sorry

Interesting. I don't read much modern fantasy, but I've read lots and lots of old fairy tale collections, so my perspective is perhaps a bit jaded by that. No need to apologize for disliking Nabokov! He's probably my favorite prose stylist in English but de gustibus non disputandum.

On the plus side for Dunsany, I like the way he portrays the non-passage of time in Elf-land. I realize this is an old trope, but there's something about the specific descriptions of eternal morning light, and the way the "fields we know" can seem so enticing to Elflanders because of their changeability, and thus that Elfland is sort of dull, from their perspective, while for Alveric Elfland is wondrous in a disturbing, almost unpleasant way, that I really liked.