MATHEY@SANDIA.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (07/14/83)
From: Evelyn Mathey <MATHEY@SANDIA.ARPA> Walt Disney's The Sword in the Stone is a very poor version of the first part of T. H. White's Once and Future King. The musical Camelot is, of course based on the second part. Like many other readers I was very disappointed in The Book of Merlin. While Mary Stewart is not a first class writer (my opinion only) I found The Crystal Cave to be an interesting book. It is about the childhood and early adulthood of Merlin and the part he played in the conception of Arthur. This book is followed by The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchanment. They are ok - but I have no desire to read them again. Tolkien very deliberatly used northen European names and myths. He wanted "middle earth" to feel like these myths. As a philologist he certainly had access to the material. Try reading some of his scholarly non-fiction sometime. For those of you who are interested in Welsh, Celtic, etc history and myths I read a series of five books for adolescents which is placed in the present (most of the time), but uses these myths and customs. It also touches on the Arthur stories. The series is called The Dark Is Rising. Two of these books won the Newbury Award. I read the second book first, not realizing that it was part of a series, and it is better than the first. If you decide to try these don't give up on the first book. I am embarressed that I can't remember the author or the name of one of the books. The ones I do remember are Over Sea, Under Stone, The Green Witch, The Gray King, and The Dark Is Rising. I got these from the library but will get further info if anyone is interested. Michael Morcook places the second Corum trilogy in a psuedo Gaelic world. They are called The Spear and The Bull, The Oak and the Ram, and The Sword and the Stallion. Sorry if I have inverted any of these ( i. e. it might be The Bull and The Spear). Obviously, I have a very bad memory for the titles and authors of books. I also am an Orson Scott Card fan, Songbird being my favorite. I don't like A Planet Called Treason as well. To give another example of how people's taste varies - I enjoyed The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, although I read it with a dictionary at my side, I read the first Thomas Covenant(sp?) book and could't stand it. I just couldn't identify with the hero (anti-hero?) and I was bugged by what I considered almost blatant plagiarism from Tolkien. -----Evelyn -------
GARFINKEL@RUTGERS.ARPA (07/26/83)
on-on-a-theme" with an emphasis both on
variation and theme. It is certainly worth at least its paperback price.
Mark Waser
GARFINKEL@RUTGERS.ARPA
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