HW: Elric and OJ

Andrew Gilham Andy_Gilham at MSN.COM
Mon Dec 9 18:25:41 EST 1996


>Ah, I see you *have* read it.  ;-) But are you refering to the title
>short story or the whole compilation?  I found the essay more
>destructive to my appreciation for the Elric series than any bad short
>story

If it's the essay I think it is (it's also in _Sojan_), then it's from 1964
itself.  I just took it as a cocky young writer wanting to show off how clever
and worldly wise he is, when he really just shows up how young and naive he
is.

>(or even the self-parody "The Stone Thing") could ever be.

But that's brilliant!  The wizard To'me'ko'op'r, etc...  And the throwaway gag
about "The History of the Purple Poignard" actually says everything you ever
need to know about Elric.

Curiously, I felt MM's later heroes - Hawkmoon and Corum - were much more
interesting, with their adventures generally better written, than Elric, whom
I never really cared for.  Of all MM's hack-work, _Count Brass_ stands out as
being genuinely affecting, and the Swords trilogy as being audacious and
rather spectacular.

- Andy



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