The Worm Ouroboros
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The Worm Ouroboros (1922) is a heroic high fantasy novel by Eric Rucker Eddison.
There has been a recent UK paperback edition in the Fantasy Masterworks series. A paperback edition was reissued in Bridgewater, New Jersey, by Replica Books in 1999 with ISBN 073510171X.
The book describes the protracted war between the domineering king of Witchland and the Lords of Demonland in an imaginary world (ostensibly on the planet Mercury) that is mainly medieval and partly reminiscent of Norse sagas. As an early and ambitious high fantasy, it invites comparison with J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (which it predates).
Whereas Tolkien invented a backdrop of cultures, histories and languages, in The Worm Ouroboros it is the prose style that is central. It is arguably one of the more convincing examples of mock-archaic high diction; as a translator of old Norse sagas and a connoisseur of English poetry, Eddison had the required scholarship.
While Eddison relishes exotic personal and place names, he seems to have given little thought to plausible etymology and consistency, unlike Tolkien's layers of invented languages. On the other hand, Tolkien's prose style may seem pedestrian in comparison to Eddison's.
The morality of the tale sharply contrasts with Tolkien's heroism of the common man in a fight against evil. The protagonists, the four Lords of Demonland, are notable for their loyalty and their sense of fair play. Nonetheless, theirs is chiefly a warrior ethic of seeking glory in battle (and bragging about it in frequent and resonant speeches). Their antagonists are, for the most part, noble and worthy opponents even if their methods are less fair. As a further complication, the most complex and sympathetic character is a serial traitor, who is however motivated by an entirely unselfish, aesthetic sense of the nobility of failure and the inevitability of decay. One can arguably detect echoes of Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra in this worldview.
The title of the book refers to the Ouroboros, although this symbol has only a minor role in the book.
External links
- Classics of Fantasy: The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison. By John D. Rateliff (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/main/classicworm)