Transcribe
Translate
Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 7, Summer 1945
Page 160
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
160 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Tips on Tales by Joyce Mayday Joan Grant's Winged Pharaoh (1938): Of rare literary value, this book stands securely on that foundation alone. But it has other praiseworthy qualities, the most important of which is a spiritual quality seldom found in modern fiction. It is written in the first person by a priestess who was co-ruler of ancient Egypt with Menes, he of the first dynasty when rulers were wise in the traditions of the divine kings. Primarily a novel of Egypt before its olden glory was dimmed, the author writes also of the civilizations of Crete and Sumeria, entwining with both the literary device of reincarnation, which gleams like a slender thread of silver throughout the story. And proof of the inadequacy of the adjectives used by many reviewers to describe it lies in the very reading of the novel itself. Dion Fortune's Sea Priestess (1938): Of all Dion Fortune's novels, this is the most magical in effect. Its hero is a provincial business man, somewhat frustrated by the limitations of his life in a west country English town. While invalided by a severe attack of asthma he takes refuge in the world of imagination. And as he recovers, a series of strange adventures befalls him---he meets Morgan le Fey, an ageless, bewitching priestess from the temples of lost Atlantis, and she teaches him "moon magic". His experiences with her and the ancient wisdom taught him provide highly entertaining reading. The rhythmic prose which constitutes the novel is conducive to an unusually strong identification of the reader with the characters, a psychological experience which the author, incidentally, recommends. Whether this experience is pleasant or unpleasant matters little: the effect is bound to be keenly salutary. Rumer Godden's Black Narcissus (1939): Here is a book to delight those readers who enjoyed Lost Horizon. On a Himalayan mountain peak is a palace owned by the ruler of a native Indian state. Built by his father and called the House of Women in earlier days, the present owner offered it to the Anglo-Catholic nuns of Saint Faith to be used as a convent. And strange indeed was the influence of the former palace on the lives on its new occupants, which is told by Sister Clodagh... "The house would not conform; look at the way they tried to say Saint Faith and always said Mopu. The flimsy walls did not shut out the world but made a sounding-box for it...and everywhere in front of them was that far horizon and the eagles in the gulf below the snows. 'I think I can see too far,' said Sister Phillippe. 'I see across there, and then I can't see the potato I'm planting and it doesn't seem to matter whether I plant it or not.'" Dion Fortune's Goat-Foot God (1936): Whether a reviewer who is enchanted by a book is capable of describing it objectively is problematical, but the reader is likely to find that he too is captivated by this fascinating story. At the time of a major crisis of his life Hugh Paston meets an elderly bookseller, wise, kind and philosophical, through whom he avoids a complete breakdown. By means of this friendship he acquires a new set of values, and thereupon hinges this engrossing novel. Hugh pursues a course of action designed to open to his sight the subjective world, and in the process uncovers memories of a past life in ancient Greece and of experiences as one Ambrosius, a prior in an English monastery of the Middle Ages. "But whatever Ambrosius might or might not be, he corresponded to reality as the movements of the hands of a clock correspond to the passage of time." Through such curious mental byways Hugh reorganizes his life, and the drama, romance and strange adventures that accompany the process combine to form a story that no thrill-loving fantasy reader should miss.
Saving...
prev
next
160 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Tips on Tales by Joyce Mayday Joan Grant's Winged Pharaoh (1938): Of rare literary value, this book stands securely on that foundation alone. But it has other praiseworthy qualities, the most important of which is a spiritual quality seldom found in modern fiction. It is written in the first person by a priestess who was co-ruler of ancient Egypt with Menes, he of the first dynasty when rulers were wise in the traditions of the divine kings. Primarily a novel of Egypt before its olden glory was dimmed, the author writes also of the civilizations of Crete and Sumeria, entwining with both the literary device of reincarnation, which gleams like a slender thread of silver throughout the story. And proof of the inadequacy of the adjectives used by many reviewers to describe it lies in the very reading of the novel itself. Dion Fortune's Sea Priestess (1938): Of all Dion Fortune's novels, this is the most magical in effect. Its hero is a provincial business man, somewhat frustrated by the limitations of his life in a west country English town. While invalided by a severe attack of asthma he takes refuge in the world of imagination. And as he recovers, a series of strange adventures befalls him---he meets Morgan le Fey, an ageless, bewitching priestess from the temples of lost Atlantis, and she teaches him "moon magic". His experiences with her and the ancient wisdom taught him provide highly entertaining reading. The rhythmic prose which constitutes the novel is conducive to an unusually strong identification of the reader with the characters, a psychological experience which the author, incidentally, recommends. Whether this experience is pleasant or unpleasant matters little: the effect is bound to be keenly salutary. Rumer Godden's Black Narcissus (1939): Here is a book to delight those readers who enjoyed Lost Horizon. On a Himalayan mountain peak is a palace owned by the ruler of a native Indian state. Built by his father and called the House of Women in earlier days, the present owner offered it to the Anglo-Catholic nuns of Saint Faith to be used as a convent. And strange indeed was the influence of the former palace on the lives on its new occupants, which is told by Sister Clodagh... "The house would not conform; look at the way they tried to say Saint Faith and always said Mopu. The flimsy walls did not shut out the world but made a sounding-box for it...and everywhere in front of them was that far horizon and the eagles in the gulf below the snows. 'I think I can see too far,' said Sister Phillippe. 'I see across there, and then I can't see the potato I'm planting and it doesn't seem to matter whether I plant it or not.'" Dion Fortune's Goat-Foot God (1936): Whether a reviewer who is enchanted by a book is capable of describing it objectively is problematical, but the reader is likely to find that he too is captivated by this fascinating story. At the time of a major crisis of his life Hugh Paston meets an elderly bookseller, wise, kind and philosophical, through whom he avoids a complete breakdown. By means of this friendship he acquires a new set of values, and thereupon hinges this engrossing novel. Hugh pursues a course of action designed to open to his sight the subjective world, and in the process uncovers memories of a past life in ancient Greece and of experiences as one Ambrosius, a prior in an English monastery of the Middle Ages. "But whatever Ambrosius might or might not be, he corresponded to reality as the movements of the hands of a clock correspond to the passage of time." Through such curious mental byways Hugh reorganizes his life, and the drama, romance and strange adventures that accompany the process combine to form a story that no thrill-loving fantasy reader should miss.
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
