tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55786752024-03-18T23:56:05.511-04:00The Crusty CurmudgeonSono pazzi questi Romani!Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.comBlogger1499125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-83096108422233997702024-03-17T09:00:00.003-04:002024-03-17T09:00:00.265-04:00The Guns of Avalon, chapter 6<p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>The Guns of Avalon<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.</i></p>
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<p class="first">Corwin and Ganelon arrived in a shadow Avalon where Corwin's brother Benedict was the ruler. They decided to stay with him for a time, but he warned them not to use Avalon as a staging area for their planned assault on Amber. Corwin also met Dara, Bebedict's young great-granddaughter, who has a latent ability to manipulate Shadow but has not yet walked the Pattern in Amber that will fully enable her abilities.</p>
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<p>Corwin plans to obtain guns on Earth and jeweller's rouge in Avalon. The latter is to use in place of gunpowder, which will not burn in Amber. He travels to a city and makes a deal for a large quantity of rouge with a jeweller. For payment, he gathers a quantity of uncut diamonds, which are easily obtained in this world.</p>
<p>Upon returning to Benedict's manor by night, he shares a drink with Ganelon, who declares his intent to retire to this Avalon, if he lives through Amber and if Benedict will have him. They discuss whether Benedict can be trusted not to take sides in the conflict. Ganelon also tells Corwin about four bodies he found buried in the woods: people he says Benedict killed and put in a shallow grave. When they part, he goes to the place and finds the grave, but does not dig for the bodies.</p>
<p>Corwin encounters Dara, and he tells her of his intent to attack Amber, kill Eric, and take the throne. They too discuss where Benedict's loyalties are. Dara wants Corwin to teach her to walk through Shadow, but he tells her to wait and repeats his previous invitation to contact him after he is in Amber. They kiss.</p>
<p>So Dara is Corwin's third love interest in this series, after Moore of Rebma and, um, Lorraine of Lorraine. A great-grandniece isn't a degree of consanguinity that would be considered illegal, but … bleah.</p>
<p>There's a lot of discussion in chapter 6 about where Benedict's loyalties lie, given that he is known to have met with two of Eric's allies, Gérard and Julian. I don't think there's anything newly revealed that I haven't commented on already. Except, perhaps, for four bodies he didn't want anyone to know about, for some reason.</p>
<p>Corwin confirms that gunpowder will not ignite in Amber. He discovered jeweller's rouge's explosive properties by accident while polishing a piece of jewelry and throwing the cloth in the fire.</p>
<p>His uncut diamonds were obtained in the Namib desert north of Cape Town. Zelazny seems to imply that the geography of Avalon is the same as our Earth. Is that true of all Shadow worlds, and presumably of Amber itself? Avalon had no Ernest Oppenheimer, and hence no De Beers diamond monopoly, so nothing stops Corwin from simply raking diamonds out of the Namibian sand to finance his rouge purchase.</p>
<p>Corwin and Ganelon are making plans to leave Avalon, but without Benedict's knowledge. Where do they go next? My guess would be Earth, to obtain munitions. Hopefully we'll find out in chapter 7. Three chapters to go.</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-29462300834930914732024-03-14T09:00:00.012-04:002024-03-14T09:00:00.145-04:00The Guns of Avalon, chapter 5<p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>The Guns of Avalon<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.</i></p>
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<p class="first">Corwin of Amber and Ganelon, steward of a Shadow world called Lorraine, have formed an alliance to retake Amber from Corwin's brother Eric, who has placed himself on its throne. They are former enemies, but Corwin helped Ganelon defeat a dark Circle in Lorraine, a by-product of a curse Corwin placed on Eric. They travelled to a shadow of Avalon, the realm that Corwin once ruled. Corwin plans to obtain a quantity of jeweller's rouge in Avalon, and use it as the propellant in firearms purchased on Earth, because Corwin once discovered that unlike conventional gunpowder, jeweller's rouge will burn in Amber.</p>
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<p>When they arrived in shadow Avalon, they discovered that its Protector and ruler was Corwin's long-lost eldest brother, Benedict. He had no interest in getting involved in Corwin's coup, and warned him not to use Avalon to stage an invasion of Amber. However, Corwin spied him using his Trumps to contact someone in the family.</p>
<p>Corwin is waken from a dream by a young woman who addresses him by his real name. He learns that she is Benedict's great-granddaughter, Dara. She recognized him from his image on his Trump. Although she does not know how to use the power, she has limited ability to move through Shadow. Corwin explains the nature of Shadow and the use of the Pattern and the Trumps to her. In return, Dara informs him that his brothers Brand, Gérard, and Julian have all visited Avalon—the latter two only a few months ago, after suffering some kind of accident. Corwin invites Dara to contact him via his Trump in three months, before departing on a journey.</p>
<p>Dara is the first Amberite character we've met that wasn't a son or daughter of Oberon. She was born in Avalon. As an Amberite, she has the latent ability to move through Shadow, and has done so accidentally. She envisions Shadow as a "burning spider web," which Corwin recognizes as the Pattern. Is that what the Pattern represents? A map of Shadow?</p>
<p>While Dara is a common name in many cultures, my guess is Zelazny took it from the Anglicization of the Old Irish name Dáire. It is a unisex name, although predominantly male. Several ancient Irish rulers and legendary figures were named Dáire. The name means "fertile" or "violent." </p>
<p>Benedict is very protective of Dara, not wanting it to be known that she is an Amberite; he passes her off as his ward. Given that her grandmother and mother died violently while he was in Amber, this is a prudent choice, probably. As Corwin advises her, "never trust a relative." Was a relative trying to send Benedict a message? If so, who, and why?</p>
<p>Benedict wants no part of the family intrigue, and I guess he wants to shield Dara from that as well. So I get the feeling that Benedict is dealing with Corwin sincerely. On the other hand, we know that he has tried to contact at least one relative secretly via the Trumps, and we also know that he has met with three brothers in person. Brand visited him eight years ago, and his sympathies (and current whereabouts) are unknown. But Gérard and Julian, who are allied with Eric, were there only a few months ago. So can Corwin trust Benedict? I'd say the jury's still out. (Is even Corwin trustworthy? He still feels like an unreliable narrator.)</p>
<p>What was the nature of Gérard ad Julian's accident? It occurred "on the black road." Are they, too, fighting the denizens of the dark rift? If so, it seems Corwin's curse on Eric, that he would "never rest easy upon the throne," is coming true, albeit in an unintended way. </p>
<p>With chapter 5, we're over the hump in <cite>The Guns of Avalon</cite>. It's all downhill the rest of the way through this novel (and Volume 1 of my Doubleday set). Stay tuned for the next chapter on Sunday.</p>
Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-13896790976360602872024-03-10T09:00:00.004-04:002024-03-10T09:00:00.147-04:00The Guns of Avalon, chapter 4<p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>The Guns of Avalon<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.</i></p>
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<p>Corwin has been living in a Shadow world named Lorraine. The steward, Ganelon, is known to him from centuries past when he ruled another Shadow world called Avalon. However, he banished Ganelon for rebellion. Using the pseudonym Corey, Corwin helped Ganelon defeat the evil creatures of the dark Circle that had appeared in Lorraine as a consequence of Corwin's curse against his brother Eric. Ganelon finally recognized Corwin, but no longer hated him.
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<p>The two form an alliance and travel together to a Shadow resembling the original Avalon, which had fallen ages ago. Ganelon catches a youth stealing food from their camp. He is a deserter from a battle against some "hellmaids" that emerged from a cave in Avalon. They let him go, and approach the military camp, posing as mercenaries. They are brought into the camp, where they meet the commanding officer and Protector of this Avalon—who is none other than Corwin's eldest brother, Benedict. He lost an arm during the battle. They catch up on current events. Benedict informs Corwin that he desires peace and will not support any conflict between him and Eric; he is welcome to reside as a guest in Avalon but not to stage an attack against Amber. Afterward, when Corwin beds down outside Benedict's tent, he spies him using his deck of Tarots, but does not know who (if anyone) he contacted.</p>
<p>This chapter is heavy, and I mean heavy, on exposition. Much of it is simply a recap of the story so far. But it introduces a new major character: Benedict. He's been mentioned a few times already. He is Corwin's eldest brother and arms teacher, being the best swordsman of all the Amberites. He has been missing, and nobody knew whether he was alive or dead (Corwin tried to contact him via his Trump in <cite>Nine Princes</cite> and got no response).<p>
<p>Benedict's namesake is probably St. Benedict of Nursia, the fifth-century Catholic monk who founded the Benedictine order: basically, the father of Christian monasticism. Benedict of Amber has become disenchanted with the court politics of his world, and chosen to remove himself from all that strife, disclaim his entitlement to the throne, and live separated from Amber. In a certain sense, he's become a hermit.</p>
<p>Benedict is encouraged that Corwin regrew his eyes, because it means he may in time regrow the arm lost to the hellmaids, though his ability to regenerate is not what Corwin's is. Corwin feels responsible for that loss, as well as for bringing that corruption to Avalon.</p>
<p>This Shadow Avalon was also once ruled by a shadow Corwin, and like the Corwin of Lorraine, he is not fondly remembered, to say the least. Benedict does not make their kinship known. I am beginning to anticipate that we might actually meet some shadow Corwins in the future. There seem to be a lot of them. As ruler of the original Avalon, Corwin was harsh but not tyrranical. Perhaps the farther the Shadows emanate from their source, the more distorted they become. Could there be some <em>really</em> evil Corwins out there?</p>
<p>Amidst all the exposition in this chapter, we learn a lot more about the Amberites. Benedict is the eldest, who has distanced himself from family politics. He regards <em>any</em> ambition to seize the throne as a usurpation, since Oberon is missing but not actually dead. (Corwin does not tell him that Oberon himself encouraged him to take the throne from Eric, nor is it suggested that Benedict would support him even then.) Eric is older than Corwin, but Corwin says <em>he</em> has the more legitimate claim. He also calls Eric a literal bastard, implying that although they are full brothers, both being sons of Oberon's second wife, Eric was born out of wedlock while Corwin was not.</p>
<p>Corwin spells out his plan to retake Amber. is spelled out. I correctly guessed that he wants to obtain jeweller's rouge from Avalon. Then he will travel to Earth where, employed as a mercenary, he had made connections with Belgian arms dealers from whom to buy a considerable quantity of firearms. "My order would be complicated and expensive, I realized, because some ammunition manufacturer would have to be persuaded to set up a special production line": in other words, his plan requires custom-made ammunition using rouge as a propellant instead of gunpowder. I hope someday we're given an explanation for this wonky chemistry, in which an explosive like gunpowder will not ignite, but a relatively non-combustible substance like jeweller's rouge (ferric oxide) is energetic enough to propel bullets. I don't think I would find "because that's the way it is" a particularly satisfying answer.</p>
<p>Lastly, whom did Benedict try to contact with his Trumps, if that's what he was doing? Is it friend or foe? Is Benedict really as aloof from all this as he appears? The story continues next Thursday. </p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-20650005124964629712024-03-07T09:00:00.006-05:002024-03-07T09:00:00.250-05:00The Guns of Avalon, chapter 3<p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>The Guns of Avalon<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.</i> </p>
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<p class-"first">Corwin, having escaped from the dungeon of his brother Eric in Amber, set out in search of Avalon, a Shadow kingdom which he once ruled. Instead he found a realm called Lorraine, ruled over by Ganelon, whom he had banished there from Amber. Disguising his identity, he joined with Ganelon to destroy the dark Circle that had appeared in Lorraine, apparently an extension of the dark rift he opened in Amber when he pronounced a powerful curse on Eric. He began a relationship with a woman, also named Lorraine.</p>
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<p>Ganelon and his men, aided by Corwin, march on the Circle and battle with the men and things that dwell there. In a tower at the centre of the Circle, Corwin challenges the goat-man that is the leader of the dark creatures. They fight, and Corwin defeats the monster (and hence the Circle), but is choked unconscious. When he comes to, Ganelon recognizes him, but no longer hates him. He wants to help Corwin retake Amber.</p>
<p>Lorraine, though, does hate him. The kingdom had once been ruled by a shadow of Corwin. This version of him was a despot who had had her grandfather killed. She leaves, running away with an old lover named Melkin. However, Melkin murders her for her jewelry. Corwin discovers her body, buries her, and kills Melkin.</p>
<p>So passes Lorraine from the story. She was Corwin's second love interest; the first was Moire, the female ruler/governor/steward of Rebma, with whom he had a one-night stand in <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>. I neglected to mention last week that Lorraine's namesake is a region in the northeast of present-day France. The name derives from <i>Lotharingia</i>, which means "the realm of Lothair." Lothair I was a Carolingian emperor and the grandson of Charlemagne. Remember that in the <cite>Song of Roland</cite>, Charlemagne is betrayed by the knight Ganelon.</p>
<p>The goat-thing recognizes Corwin as a Lord of Amber, as had the horned creature Strygalldwir whom he slew in the previous chapter. Yet Ganelon does not, at least until he sees his face without his visor and beard. Do supernatural creatures have some ability to recognize the family of Amber that humans do not?</p>
<p>I have read that Grayswandir, Corwin's silver sword, is a humorous allusion to Graywand, the sword of Murray Leinster's character Fafhrd from his own series of fantasy stories. However, Grayswandir is a conventional magical fantasy sword with a distinctive name, like Rhindon in <cite>The Chronicles of Narnia</cite> or Glamdring in <cite>The Lord of the Rings</cite>. Fafhrd frequently loses his sword, and "Graywand" is the name he gives whatever sword he happens to be using. (On the other hand, Corwin <em>can</em> just pull Grayswandir out of a nearby tree whenever he needs it.) And now I want to read some Murray Leinster, too.</p>
<p>The Avalon that Corwin seeks is not the one that he ruled over; it has fallen. However, he hopes to find a copy—not to rule, but to arm for battle. He tells Ganelon there is a "pink powder the jewelers use" that he once ignited in Amber. The implication here is that conventional gunpowder will <em>not</em> ignite in Amber, and he will need to prime his guns with this other powder instead. My guess is that he means jeweller's rouge, which is powdered ferric oxide (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) used for polishing. It's rust. Amber has some very odd physics, if gunpowder will not ignite, but rust (not easily combustible) will. But Corwin and his siblings need to light their cigarettes somehow, so matches must work, by the magical power of plot necessity.</p>
<p>Lance acknowledges only one God. Christianity exists not only in our world, but across Shadow. Lance is a shadow of Sir Lancelot of Arthurian legend, so of course he would be a Christian.</p>
<p>Corwin also exists, or existed, across Shadow. In Lorraine he is remembered as a tyrant. The real Corwin ruled Avalon harshly, but I don't necessarily get the impression that he was a despot. He certainly isn't that now. He came across Lorraine by chance because he had compassion on Lance. Perhaps several centuries of exile on Earth have softened his demeanour.</p>
<p>Separated from his own people, Corwin has forged a new alliance with Ganelon, an old enemy. There's a big part of me that wants to see them remain reconciled. But there's a lot to be said for the dramatic potential of a more tenuous alliance. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, and all that.</p>
<p>Now that the battle is done, this chapter seems to ignore the note ("I am coming") that Corwin sent to himself. Ganelon anticipated aid from Corwin, but didn't realize until the end that Corwin was there all along. Surely he is not too dense to realize he was being manipulated. Will Ganelon stick with Corwin, or betray him again? Stay tuned for chapter 4 on Sunday. </p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-85249805220755089872024-03-03T09:00:00.002-05:002024-03-03T09:00:00.136-05:00The Guns of Avalon, chapter 2 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>The Guns of Avalon<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.</i></p>
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<p class="first">Prince Corwin of Amber has escaped after his brother Eric took the throne of Amber, blinded him, and threw him in the dungeon for three years. Travelling through Shadow, looking for a former kingdom of his called Avalon, he encounters a wounded knight named Lance and takes him to the Keep of Ganelon—under an alias, since he had exiled Ganelon from Avalon 600 years earlier. He learns that Ganelon's realm, Lorraine, is home to a darkened circle of land from which evil beings emerge to attack the surrounding area. Ganelon hires Corwin as an arms trainer for his troops.</p>
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<p>Corwin meets a woman, also named Lorraine, and they begin a relationship. During a dinner date, he senses that someone is trying to locate him using his Trump, but he successfully resists, not wanting to give himself away to his enemies. Lorraine, however, has a touch of second sight, and she has a vision of the person trying to make contact. It was Corwin's father. They are attacked by a winged creature from the dark Circle calling itself Strygalldwir, whom Corwin kills.</p>
<p>Two weeks later, Ganelon and Corwin reconnoitre the dark Circle and decide to attack it. When they return to the Keep, Lorraine tells Corwin that she has had a dream of him and the horned creature at the centre of the Circle locked in combat.</p>
<p>In the previous chapter, Ganelon tells Corwin about the origin of the Circle. It began as a fairy circle of toadstools, but one with a deadly effect: a little girl was found dead within it, and her father died a few days later after he found her. They were Lorraine's daughter and husband. The Circle has deleterious effects on people: anyone who entered it died or fell sick. King Uther rode against the Circle and fell, which is how Ganelon came to be the steward of the kingdom.</p>
<p>When Ganelon and his men attacked the Circle, they came across a group of men sacrificing a goat on an altar. They tied one of them to the altar and killed him, but he transformed into a goat creature and unleashed a horde of evil beasts. The goat-man may be the leader or champion of the creatures in the Circle. Corwin and Ganelon believe defeating him will end the threat it poses. Corwin believes it is his responsibility to conquer the goat-man, because he himself is responsible for the Circle: "In a fit of passion, compounded of rage, horror, and pain, I had unleashed this thing, and it was reflected somewhere in every earth in existence. Such is the blood curse of a Prince of Amber," which Corwin spoke against Eric in the previous book, and doing so, unintentionally opened up a similar rift within Amber itself.</p>
<p>Lance says that Corwin used to rule Lorraine as a "demon lordling," until he abdicated and fled. Corwin says (in his narrative, not to Ganelon) that it wasn't true. Corwin may be powerful enough that he casts Shadows of his own, and so there are possibly imitation Corwins in many worlds. He remembers a Lancelot in Avalon, but Lance in Lorraine is not the same individual.</p>
<p>I'm still curious about the significance of the note Corwin sent himself, and Ganelon is still thinking about what it means as well. Does his former lord in Avalon mean to come to his aid, or is he playing some kind of joke? Obviously by sending the message to himself, to be seen by someone else, Corwin is working some kind of Machiavellian scheme. What will happen when Ganelon recognizes "Sir Corey" as Corwin himself? Doubtless Zelazny will reveal the answers in time, but it will have to wait until at least next Thursday. </p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-39342516475364871282024-02-29T09:00:00.005-05:002024-02-29T09:00:00.248-05:00The Guns of Avalon, chapter 1 <p class="first">Good morning! After a two-week hiatus, we return today to our readthrough of Roger Zelazny's fantasy series <cite>The Chronicles of Amber</cite>, the first five books of which were published from 1970–78. This is a reread, but it has been over 30 years since I last read them, and I remember next to nothing. So what you are reading is basically my first impression.</p>
<p>I paused at the end of the first book, <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>, and we pick up the story again today with the second, <cite>The Guns of Avalon</cite>. </p>
<p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>The Guns of Avalon<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.</i></p>
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<h4>The story so far</h4>
<p>A man wakes up in a private hospital after an automobile accident. He has amnesia. He learns he has been kept there against his will by his sister Flora, sedated, under the name Carl Corey. Escaping the hospital and going to Flora's house, his memories start to return. With the help of his brother Random, he travels to Amber, the real world of which ours is a mere shadow. There, in the undersea city of Rebma, he walks a replica of the Pattern, the magic labyrinth that gives his family the ability to manipulate reality and travel in Shadow; doing so restores his memories. He knows that he is Corwin, prince of Amber, and that he fought his brother Eric for the throne of Amber after the disappearance of their father Oberon. Eric banished him to sixteenth-century Earth, where Corwin survived the plague but his memory didn't, trapping him there for centuries.</p>
<p>Corwin uses the Pattern to teleport directly to the palace of Amber, where he steals a deck of tarot cards containing magical Trumps that enable the Amber royal family to communicate. He also confronts Eric and fights him before escaping. Using the Trumps, Corwin learns that Oberon, long missing and presumed dead, is actually alive. Oberon encourages him to take the throne of Amber from his brother, Eric, who is to be crowned in a few months. Corwin and his brother Bleys raise an army and march on the palace of Amber. Corwin alone reaches the palace gate, where he is captured. He is forced to crown Eric, and is then blinded and imprisoned.</p>
<p>Three years later, Corwin's regenerative powers have restored his eyes. He escapes his cell with the help of Dworkin, the madman who designed the Trumps and the Pattern, teleporting to the Lighthouse of Cabra. He befriends the lighthouse keeper and spends a time recuperating there, before sailing away to form another army and attempt to take Amber again.</p>
<h4>The Guns of Avalon</h4>
<p>The second novel in <cite>The Chronicles of Amber</cite> begins with Corwin making landfall somewhere in Shadow. He retrieves his silver sword, Grayswandir, in a hollow tree. After some walking through Shadow, looking for a place called Avalon, where he once ruled, he encounters a wounded knight named Lance and six bodies. Corwin gives the knight food and first aid and carries him to his desired destination, the Keep of Ganelon. En route they are attacked by two giant cats, whom Corwin defeats.</p>
<p>Corwin had cast Ganelon out of Avalon and into Shadow 600 years ago. However, due to Corwin's long beard and emaciated state from his imprisonment, Ganelon does not recognize him. Corwin also recognizes Lance as a shadow of the man he knew in Avalon. Using the alias Sir Corey of Cabra, he decides to stay at the Keep of Ganelon. Ganelon asks him to stay for a few weeks and train his troops.</p>
<p>Ganelon tells "Sir Corey" how he came to be exiled from Avalon. He also tells him about the "dark Circle" that had appeared in his world: a blackened area from which hostile creatures emerge to attack the surrounding land. The men Lance had been fighting came from this Circle. As they talk, a white bird with a message tied to its leg arrives. The message is "I am coming"—this is one of two messenger birds Corwin himself released at the end of <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>. He interprets it as an offer of aid defeating the Circle, without revealing that he himself had sent it. </p>
<p>This book has another clever title. It's a pun on Alistair Maclean's 1957 war novel, <cite>The Guns of Navarone</cite>, which was made into a classic movie in 1961 starring Gregory Peck and David Niven. Avalon is the name of Corwin's past kingdom in Shadow. It was hinted at the close of the previous novel that his next assault on Amber would use guns: "With my own forces to back me up, I would do another thing Amber had never known. I didn't know how yet, but I promised myself that guns would blaze within the immortal city on the day of my return."</p>
<p>Ganelon remembers the Shadow Avalon quite fondly:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="noindent">"Yes, I remember Avalon," he said, "a place of silver and shade and cool waters, where the stars shone like bonfires at night and the green of day was always the green of spring. Youth, love, beauty—I knew them in Avalon. Proud steeds, bright metal, soft lips, dark ale. Honor…" He shook his head.</p>
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<p class="noindent">He seems to remember the "sorceror Lord" Corwin's honour a little less fondly. Perhaps Corwin isn't quite as saintly a protagonist as his narrative has suggested thus far.</p>
<p>Corwin feigns secondhand familiarity with Avalon by reciting a song he claims to have heard from a wandering bard:</p>
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<p class="noindent">Beyond the River of the Blessed, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Avalon. Our swords were shattered in our hands and we hung our shields on the oak tree. The silver towers were fallen, into a sea of blood. How many miles to Avalon? None, I say, and all. The silver towers are fallen.</p>
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<p class="noindent">Compare that to Psalm 137 in the Bible:</p>
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<p class="noindent">By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps Upon the willows in the midst thereof.… Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; Who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. (Psalm 137:1–2, 7 King James Version)</p>
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<p>Of course, Avalon is named after the mythical island paradise in Arthurian legend, where Excalibur was forged and King Arthur was taken to recover after being mortally wounded in his final battle.</p>
<p>Roger Zelazny plays with Arthurian legend a lot in this chapter. The previous ruler of Ganelon's realm was King Uther. Uther Pendragon was the father of King Arthur. Lance's real name is Lancelot du Lac, whose namesake is the most famous of the Knights of the Round Table. Lancelot is known for his failed quest for he Holy Grail and his adulterous love affair with Queen Guinevere, which led to civil war and Arthur s downfall.</p>
<p>Ganelon's namesake is not from Arthurian legend, but French:. He is the knight who betrays Charlemagne to the Saracens in the 11th-century poem <cite>Song of Roland</cite>, resulting in the Frankish defeat in an ambush at Roncevaux Pass. Similarly, Zelazny's Ganelon betrays Corwin after being passed over for a dukedom: he allows invaders into the realm instead of repelling them.</p>
<p>This chapter gives us a clearer picture of the nature of Shadow:</p>
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<p class="noindent">Amber casts an infinity of shadows. A child of Amber may walk among them, and such was my heritage. You may call them parallel worlds if you wish, alternate universes if you would, the products of a deranged mind if you care to. I call them shadows, as do all who possess the power to walk among them. We select a possibility and we walk until we reach it. So, in a sense, we create it. Let's leave it at that for now.</p>
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<p class="noindent">Only the children of Amber can walk in Shadow, which they do by moulding reality to the shape they want. Infinite shadows exist, because any world that can be imagined can be created. Hence Corwin can reach into a random hollow tree and draw out his own sword. It is there because he created a world in which it was there. Ganelon was carried by Corwin out of Avalon, but as a mere mortal without Corwin's power, neither Avalon nor a route to it exist in his world. </p>
<p>The "Circle" in Ganelon's world is described as darkened, with blackened vegetation, and inhabited by bats and other hostile things. It sounds very similar to the Vale of Garnath at the end of <cite>Nine Princes</cite>, turned dark and corrupt by Corwin's curse against Eric. Who or what caused the Circle? Is there a connection?</p>
<p>At the end of <cite>Nine Princes</cite>, Corwin sent out two messenger birds: a black one to Eric, vowing revenge, and a white one, bearing the message "I am coming," to an unknown destination. That bird delivers its message back to Corwin in this chapter. It seems clear he meant for this to happen, and for <em>someone</em> to see "Sir Corey" receive a note from Corwin of Amber. I don't get the impression he specifically intended that someone to be Ganelon; his run-in with Lance appeared unplanned. So what <em>was</em> his intent?</p>
<p>I'm happy to be continuing with this readthrough of <cite>The Chronicles of Amber</cite>. Once again, if I can keep up the pace of two chapters per week, the next one will drop this Sunday.</p>
Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-7893258780302580142024-02-18T09:00:00.006-05:002024-02-18T09:00:00.137-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 10 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> now. I promise I won't be offended.</i></p>
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<p>After being blinded and imprisoned by his brother Eric in the dungeons of the castle of Amber, Corwin regains his sight, thanks to his quick healing power. His opportunity to escape comes from a chance meeting with Dworkin, creator of the Trumps that allow the Royal family of Amber to communicate with, and teleport to, each other. Dworkin draws a Trump of the Lighthouse of Cabra on Corwin's cell wall, and Corwin uses it to escape.</p>
<p>At the lighthouse, Corwin poses as a castaway named Corey and gets aid from Jopin the lighthouse keeper. He stays with Jopin for several months. When he announces his intention to leave, Jopin reveals that he had recognized Corwin and tells him, before he goes, to look at the Vale of Garnath through the spyglass. Doing so, he realizes that the valley has turned into a new opening into Amber that evil things are using, and it is a result of a curse he had placed on Eric while imprisoned. Sailing away from the lighthouse, he sends a message to Eric via a black bird that he is coming for him.</p>
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<p>Did Jopin know all along who Corwin was, or did he recognize him later? Corwin describes him as apolitical, not caring who is on the throne, so perhaps it simply doesn't matter one way or the other. Will this the last we see of him?</p>
<p>In chapter 5, Corwin first mentions his power to pronounce an irrevocable curse, which he would like to place on Eric just as he was dying. In chapter, when he has been blinded and thrown into the dungeon, he pronounces the curse, and "knew that Eric would never rest easy upon the throne." In my previous posts, I overlooked the death curse, not realizing its significance at the time. Now, the Vale of Garnath has become corrupted into a portal into some dark dimension. Curse you, unintended consequences! (Also, it was the Vale of Garnath that Eric burned during Corwin and Belys's advance on Amber, not Arden Forest as I wrote mistakenly.)</p>
<p>When Corwin's friend Rein visited him in his cell, he said that Julian was again guarding Arden because "things" had come from Shadow. Arden is adjacent to Garnath, so presumably they appear there and wander into non-corrupted territory. Corwin is glad that they will be a thorn in Eric's side. But if he is successful in taking the throne, might they also become something he has to deal with, as well?</p>
<p>And so <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> ends on a cliffhanger—perhaps not so resounding, after all—with Corwin vowing revenge on his brother Eric, and resolving to gather his armies and assail Amber anew—only this time with guns. The next volume is titled <cite>The Guns of Avalon</cite>, not surprisingly.</p>
<h4>Final thoughts</h4>
<p><cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> was a good read. As I said at the beginning of this series, the last time I read it was 1989 or 1990, so it is practically fresh to me. It's short for a modern fantasy novel, but as a pulp paperback and part of a series from the 1970s, the length seems pretty typical. It starts out as urban fantasy and fairly quickly transforms into high fantasy. Other than that, <cite>Nine Princes</cite> isn't as genre-bending as some of Roger Zelazny's other books, such as <cite>…And Call Me Conrad</cite> and <cite>Lord of Light</cite>, which blurred the distinction between fantasy and science fiction. Zelazny was a fan of intertextuality, and so, especially at the beginning, I had fun trying to figure out where he got various personal and place names, and whether they had any significance to the story. (That still remains to be seen.) </p>
<p>Zelazny's style has one quirk that I find mildly irritating. </p>
<p>He likes short, single-sentence paragraphs. </p>
<p>Otherwise, though, he does a very good job of plotting the novel to keep the reader curious how it will unfold. This is true at the chapter and the book level. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next, in <cite>The Guns of Avalon</cite>. I'm going to take a short break, and then start on the second part of <cite>The Chronicles of Amber</cite> in about two weeks.</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-56477884174914138492024-02-15T09:00:00.001-05:002024-02-15T09:00:00.140-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 9 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> now. I promise I won't be offended.</i></p>
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<p>Corwin, Prince of Amber, has failed in his attempt to take the throne of Amber from his evil brother, Eric. He was captured, forced to offer Eric the crown at his coronation, then blinded and imprisoned.</p>
<p>Three years later, Corwin is still in his cell in the dungeon. But he realizes that thanks to his unusual ability to recover quickly from injury, his eyes are growing back. The next time Eric trots him out for a celebratory banquet, his recovered sight will be discovered. So Corwin starts planning his escape.</p>
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<p>He starts using a sharpened spoon to carve away the cell door around the lock, a months-long process. One day, he realizes he is not alone in his cell. The intruder is Dworkin, the hunchbacked magician who created the Trumps. Dworkin had been imprisoned by Corwin's father, Oberon, but he designed a new Trump that enabled him to teleport through the wall into of Corwin's cell (being curious what was on the other side).</p>
<p>However, Dworkin left his Trump behind and cannot return to his own apartment. Corwin allows him to carve a sketch in his wall with his sharpened spoon, and to use his small supply of matches for light. In return, he requests that Dworkin "decorate" the opposite wall with a picture of the Lighthouse of Cabra. After Dworkin has gone, Corwin uses his last match to set his bedding on fire, and by that light he teleports to the Lighthouse, thus escaping from Eric.</p>
<p>This is the penultimate chapter of <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>. I expected Corwin to escape Eric's dungeon, but I suppose I was expecting a breakout that was a little less … subtle. His original plan, before Dworkin arrived, was to weaken the door, kick it open, then fight his way to the Pattern and teleport away.</p>
<p>Corwin's accelerated healing ability was mentioned in chapter 1 where, after breaking both legs in a car accident, he had completely healed in two weeks. (No wonder Flora wanted him kept under sedation.) This healing ability is what enabled him to survive the plague in the 16th century, as well as recovering from paraplegia during World War II. Turns out it was a bit of a Chekhov's gun. </p>
<p>As Corwin carves away at his cell door, he contemplate whether technically <em>he</em> is the rightful liege of Amber: after all, at Eric's coronation, Corwin first crowned <em>himself</em>, though he was beaten for it. It was just one of several pranks he pulled at Eric's expense—or so I assumed. Suppose this joke becomes a significant plot point later in the series? </p>
<p>Dworkin Barimen was first mentioned in chapter 6 as the creator of the Trumps and the Pattern: "He was the ancient artist to whom space and perspective meant nothing"—which is presumably related to his ability to make magic pictures. He's also a bit mad. The Trumps were commissioned by Oberon, who discovered Dworkin in Shadows. Until Corwin met him in his cell, his whereabouts were unknown. He had been imprisoned by Oberon after describing a way to destroy Amber. I suspect we'll be seeing Dworkin again. However, his appearance at <em>this</em> point in the novel feels just a little bit like a <i>deus ex machina</i>. </p>
<p>Dworkin, incidentally, is an Ashkenazi Jewish surname, ultimately derived from "Deborah," the prophetess and fourth (and only female) judge/ruler of pre-monarchial Israel in the Bible (see Judges 4–5). Are we meant to imagine Dworkin as a little, hunchbacked magical Jewish madman? Oberon supposedly rescued him from Shadow, and not necessarily from our Earth, so I'm somewhat intrigued by the concept of "extradimensional Jews," much as I am with "space Asians" whenever the topic of representation in <cite>Star Wars</cite> movies is raised. </p>
<p>Corwin has escaped from Eric's dungeon. How long will it be before his disappearance is discovered? It could be a while. Will Eric see the sketch of the Lighthouse and put the pieces together? With one chapter left, how will <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> pan out? Stay tuned for the (hopefully) resounding conclusion this Sunday!</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-17113426324005020552024-02-11T09:00:00.002-05:002024-02-11T10:30:25.114-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 8 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> now. I promise I won't be offended.</i></p>
<hr> <p>Corwin's and Bleys's assault on Amber to retake the throne from their brother Eric has failed. Their entire army was obliterated, Bleys fell almost at the gate to Amber, and Corwin was captured.</p> <p>Imprisoned in the castle dungeon, Corwin is brought in chains to a banquet at which Eric is crowned king of Amber, in spite of many insults from Corwin. Eric has Corwin blinded and thrown back in his cell. He is left alone for over four months, until a knight named Rein, whom Corwin had befriended centuries ago, secretly brings him a gift of good food, wine, and cigarettes. On the anniversary of his coronation, Eric again drags Corwin out to a banquet. "Thus ended the first year of darkness."</p>
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<p>With the loss of his vision, Corwin has also lost his ability to move through Shadow. The Pattern can restore the latter; might it also be able to restore his sight? </p> <p>One of the <cite>Chronicles of Amber'</cite>s more delightful anachronisms is Corwin's family's smoking habit. The palace has ashtrays, and (in spite of the presumably medieval setting) Rein has access to Salem cigarettes. If he's not a member of the royal family, he can't travel through Shadow to get smokes from our Earth. Did he get them from one of Corwin's brothers or sisters? Is there a prince of Amber who makes regular cigarette runs to our Earth? Did R. J. Reynolds open up a branch plant in Amber? </p> <p>Rein may be an ally for Corwin. Will their friendship come into play later? Rein informs him that Random is also imprisoned, Brand and Benedict remain missing, and Bleys is presumed dead, though his body was not found after he fell off the staircase. Something tells me he successfully used the Trumps as he plummeted off the mountain.</p> <p>Chapter 8 has little in terms of plot, but what it lacks in action, it makes up for in significance. That last line suggests there will be more years of darkness ahead. Yet only two chapters remain, and presumably the novel ends on a high note. We will find out next week how it all pans out.</p> Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-90407127114586612212024-02-09T21:37:00.000-05:002024-02-09T21:37:05.715-05:00Friday in the Wild: February 9, 2024 <p class-"first">It's Friday, and that means it's time for the weekly roundup of good stuff from around the blogosphere. I've got three articles this week.</p>
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<p>Matt at <a href="https://matthewcochran.net">The 96th Thesis</a> wrote an interesting critique of a presentation about singleness in the church. We might expect the usual handwringing about how churches neglect singles in their ministry programs, and there's some of that. But he asks:</p>
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<p class="noindent">But is the alleged focus given to marriage an inappropriate one in society or even the church?</p>
<p>If so, Christians have a real problem on our hands because the Bible itself treats singleness as "other." Marriage is very much treated as the norm in Holy Scriptures.… God told us to "be fruitful and multiply" before literally anything else. He also made sure to explicitly reiterate it after every global disaster like the Fall or the Flood.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://matthewcochran.net/blog/singleness-in-the-church/">Singleness in the Church</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm in my 50s,.and have never been married. I've had some experience with singles ministries in church, and found them to general pie somewhere on the spectrum between a meat market and a therapeutic support group. Not my thing in either case. I agree that marriage with children is the biblical norm. I desire that for myself as well, but my marital status isn't a disorder in need of therapy. Perhaps there's not enough emphasis given to what Paul.says about godly contentment in our present circumstances (Philippians 4:10–13; cf. 1 Corinthians 7:6–11).</p>
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<p>Jonathan Van Maren wrote an op-ed for <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/">The European Conservative</a> about the progressive attempts.to hijack a Canadian literary icon, Anne of Green Gables:</p>
<blockquote>
<pnclass="noindent">Reinterpretation of classic literature is a booming industry. As Tristin Hopper noted in the <cite>National Post</cite>, in "recent years, even the P.E.I.-based L.M. Montgomery Institute has issued statements accusing their namesake of being a purveyor of colonialist white supremacy," and in 2022, they hosted "a conference of scholars who 'have experience discussing Montgomery's work in connection to conversations on queer theory and gender, colonialism, and diversity in literature.'" Indeed, one academic called Montgomery gay; another LGBT activist writes that she was "homophobic." It never seems to occur to LGBT activists that sometimes their proclivities are simply not relevant to the conversation.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/the-kidnapping-of-anne-of-green-gables/">The Kidnapping of Anne of Green Gables</a>]</p>
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<p>Or, that if one is saying Montgomery was gay and another that she was homophobic, maybe they should get their story straight, lest us undergraduates conclude that they're making it up as they go.</p>
<p>Along the same lines, Van Maren also wrote in 2022 about "<a href="https://europeanconservative.com/articles/essay/the-queering-of-j-r-r-tolkien/">The Queering of J. R. R. Tolkien</a>." To this I could add the renaming of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children's Literature Legacy Award by the American Library Association in 2018, because of Ingalls Wilder's supposed racial insensitivity concerning native Americans. We can no longer appreciate older literature as a product of its own time. It must be re-imagined and rewritten in light of the Current Thing, or else memory-holed. If adults who work in libraries or teach literature can't help us appreciate Montgomery's or Tolkien's work without gaying it up, they're shortchanging us.</p>
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<p>Finally, it's been a year since the Asbury Revival broke out after a chapel service at Asbury University in Kentucky. <a href="https://slowtowrite.com/">Samuel Sey</a> asks what happened in the aftermath:</p>
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<p class="noindent">Nearly all of the people I spoke to said individuals from their churches visited Asbury Chapel during the revival, but they said they couldn’t highlight any lasting outcomes. One representative of a Slavic church said the Russia-Ukraine war has had a more noticeable impact on its members than the "revival."</p>
<p>Last February, Zack Meerkrabs, the pastor whose sermon apparently started the revival said no one would know if it was a real revival until months later. A year later, it looks like what happened at Asbury was a fad, not a revival.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://slowtowrite.com/what-happened-to-the-asbury-revival/">What Happened to the Asbury Revival?</a>]</p>
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<p>A year ago, if I was ever asked about the Asbury Revival, I said to wait and see. And we did. If we look back at the Great Awakening or the Welsh Revival of 1904, we see them as as watershed events having profound aftereffects even in the present. On the other hand, we don't talk much at all about Brownsville or Lakeland anymore. It looks like, in hindsight, Asbury belongs to the latter group, not the former.</p>
<p>And that's it. Until next time, Share and Enjoy.</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-37844835085636319942024-02-08T09:00:00.002-05:002024-02-11T10:31:08.235-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 7 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> now. I promise I won't be offended.</i></p>
<hr> <p>In their attempt to take the city of Amber and overthrow their brother Eric before he can be crowned king, Corwin and Bleys have reunited on land after Corwin lost his naval fleet to brother Caine. They march over land toward Amber, but when they reach the forest of Arden, Eric burns it down while Julian deploys archers against them. Eric escapes the fire and arrows by swimming down the river alongside the forest. </p> <p>Corwin returns to Bleys's camp, where only 5,000 troops remain, and they march on Kolvir, the mountain on which Amber sits. They ascend the mountain and then the long staircase to Amber, with Eric's men eliminating theirs all the way. Bleys is struck near the top and falls, but Corwin throws his Trumps after him in a desperate attempt at a rescue. Corwin himself makes it into Amber, but he is captured and imprisoned—the last one alive. </p>
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<p>This is an action-packed and significant chapter. Zelazny does a very good job of describing the war of attrition that Corwin and Bleys fight. Out of the 250,000 troops they had amassed in chapter 6, only 5,000 survive past the Arden fire. Three thousand are left by the time they reach Kolvir. Only a few hundred remain when Corwin reaches the entrance to Amber at the top. Finally, only he survives. That is a staggering loss, though to put it in perspective, some battles in World War II (for example, the Battle of Stalingrad) had body counts in the millions. But to lose an entire army? Well, this <em>is</em> fantasy. </p> <p>Just as Rebma has a staircase descending into the ocean to its entrance, Amber has a staircase ascending the mountain. Amber's stairs are explicitly described as winding, though, and I didn't get the impression that Rebma's do. </p> <p>Bleys fell in the battle, only a few feet from the top. I think we'll see him again, though. Like Gandalf's fall from the bridge of Khazad-dûm, it seems too dramatic to be permanent. We'll see. </p> <p>All in all, Chapter 7 was a well-written and exciting one, and it's whetted my appetite for what remains of <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>. Three chapters remain. </p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-65154697270433748852024-02-04T09:00:00.001-05:002024-02-04T09:00:00.159-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 6 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> now. I promise I won't be offended.</i> </p>
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<p class="first">Corwin, prince of Amber, has recovered his memories and his ability to magically travel to and from Amber. He faced his brother Eric and declared his intent to take the throne of Amber from him. </p>
<p>Corwin is now with his brother Bleys, who has allied with him to March on Amber and take the throne. They travel throughout Shadow, raising a military force large enough to defeat Eric before his coronation, which is to take place in three months. </p>
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<p>Using his deck of Trumps, Corwin contacts his brothers Caine and Gérard, who are allied with Eric and guarding the sea. He persuades them to stay out of the way. There is no answer when he tries to call Benedict. Brand is apparently in trouble and calls out for a rescue, but contact is broken. Corwin then tries the card of his father Oberon, presumed dead, and is surprised when he gets an answer. Oberon tells him to take the throne. </p>
<p>Bleys and Corwin advance on Amber, with Bleys in charge of the land forces and Corwin the navy. Eric knows they are coming, and he can control the weather, so losses to storms, flash floods, and freak weather are heavy. Moreover, Caine has gone back to Eric's side. With his navy decimated, Corwin surrenders his flagship to Caine and teleports to Bleys. </p>
<p>This chapter is long on action and short on expository material. If you were to film it, you could do it as a montage of the many acts of destruction Eric perpetrate on Corwin's fleet and Bleys's army. Storms, earthquakes, floods, monsters—the VFX team would have a field day. This is epic stuff, but we're only through two-thirds of the novel, so I don't think it's quite the climax. </p>
<p>I had speculated earlier that perhaps Corwin, suffering from amnesia, might be an unreliable narrator. Maybe Eric's not actually so bad, and Corwin's the actual villain. Now that he's got his memories back, though, I think it's fair to say Eric is, indeed, villainous. He was responsible for Corwin's car accident, and basically his entire imprisonment on Earth. The true Lord of Amber, Oberon, has been presumed dead but is alive and missing. Where has he gone? Did Eric disappear him, too? Is that why he supports Corwin's attempt to take the throne? </p>
<p>Eric uses something called the Jewel of Judgment to control the weather. That doesn't sound like what you'd name a weather-control gadget, unless you're using it against everyone not named Noah. But it sounds important enough to come back into the story later, maybe. </p>
<p>Older brother Benedict is also missing, presumed dead. But is he? His whereabouts are also unknown and his Trump doesn't work, but Corwin had assumed the same of Oberon. Brand is alive but in trouble, either imprisoned or in torment, and his Trump only works intermittently. </p>
<p>Corwin's stolen deck of cards does indeed have a complete set of Trumps, including his dead brothers and sisters. So what happened to Flora's missing cards? Did she get rid of them? Does, say, dead brother Eugene's card even have any use now? There's also an additional Trump representing Amber, enabling direct travel there. I suspect Corwin will be using that card before the end of this novel. </p>
<p>Amber is the real world, and Shadows emanate outward from it, between Amber and Chaos. (Is Chaos another world like Amber, or is it just something like the outer edge of existence?) Corwin's family can move through Shadow by altering reality (adding to and subtracting from it) until it matches where they want to be. It would be possible for Corwin to create a Shadow identical to Amber in every respect except that he is on its throne. However, he would know it wasn't real. </p>
<p>Does this mean that Shadow is malleable, reshaped by anyone moving through it? Is our Earth just a product of Eric's imagination that he could theoretically remake into (for example) Narnia? Or do the various realities have an objective existence that could be mapped: that is, is there already a Narnia <em>somewhere</em> that you could get to if you knew the way? In my head, I picture Shadow as a sort of magical moiré, where the interference pattern ripples through reality creating infinite variety. </p>
<p>There are four chapters—one-third of the novel—remaining in <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>. The action is building up to something. We'll see soon what that is. Stay tuned for Chapter 7 on Thursday. </p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-22670646370376068282024-02-01T09:00:00.007-05:002024-02-01T09:00:00.139-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 5 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> now. I promise I won't be offended.</i></p>
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<p class="first">In the previous chapter of <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>, brothers Corwin and Random have made their way from Earth, in the Shadows, to the real world of Amber. They found and rescued their sister Deirdre, who had been captured by their brother Eric's men. They decide to go to Rebma, an underwater city that is the reflection of Amber. </p>
<p>As they descend the undersea stairway to Rebma, Corwin discovers he can breathe, nonetheless. They are pursued by horsemen, whom they fight and defeat on the stairs just before they arrive in Rebma. </p>
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<p>Corwin, Random, and Deirdre are brought to the palace of Rebma where they meet the ruler, Moire. Random, who had previously hinted at being <i>persona non grata</i> in Rebma, is taken into custody. In the past, he had seduced Moire's daughter Morgane, who got pregnant and had a son, Martin, before committing suicide. For this, Moire sentences Random to marry a blind woman of Rebma and live with her for a year. Random accepts his sentence. They detail their plan to restore Corwin's memory and take the throne of Amber, of which Moire approves. </p>
<p>The Rebma Pattern restores Corwin's memories. He uses it to transport himself to the palace in Amber, where he steals a deck of the cards from the library. Eric discovers him and they fight, and Corwin escapes. He uses the stolen Trumps to teleport himself to his brother Bleys. They form an alliance to take Amber from Eric. </p>
<p>As expected, the Pattern is a magic labyrinth. Anyone not of the royal family of Amber would be killed trying to use it. Even for Corwin's family it is difficult, but it gives them the power to move through Shadows. Random's son Martin was able to walk it successfully; he transported himself into Shadows and his whereabouts are unknown. Someone who walks the Pattern can also teleport himself anywhere in Amber. </p>
<p>There are three Patterns: the original one in Amber, the reflection in Rebma, and a third one in Tir-na Nog'th, where for an undisclosed reason they cannot go. Tir-na Nog'th obviously alludes to Tir na nÓg, the abode of the gods and the dead in Irish Celtic mythology, in which it is depicted as an island paradise and a land of eternal youth. </p>
<p>Speaking of eternal youth, the book has already hinted that Corwin is older than he appears. When his memories are restored in the Pattern, he learns he is <i>centuries</i> old. He was left on Earth by Eric to die of the plague in the sixteenth century. He got his amnesia at that time, not in the car accident. The flashbacks he sees in the Pattern when his memory returns include, amongst others: surviving the plague, drinking with Shakespeare, the French Revolution, World War II, and the American space program. On Earth, Corwin was a mercenary and a musician. </p>
<p>Corwin also remembers when he "entered the green forests of the Western Reserve and took three scalps one day." The Western Reserve was land in present-day Ohio that originally belonged to the colony of Connecticut. Is it a coincidence that Zelazny received his B.A. from Western Reserve University in Cleveland? </p>
<p>It seems to me that when Corwin remembers his past, the style of the novel becomes a bit more flowery. Eric's manner of speech is definitely archaic. Up to this point, <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> has been more like an urban fantasy, yet here it feels more like high fantasy. So perhaps form follows setting, perhaps not. </p>
<p>The Trumps are for both communication and transportation. Using one family member's Trump, another family member can talk to him or teleport to his location, as Corwin does with Bleys. Clearly this is the second, easier way to travel to Amber that was alluded to previously. There were once fifteen brothers and eight sisters, of whom eight, possibly ten, are now dead. Are the dead brothers and sisters the missing Trumps from Flora's deck? Does Corwin's stolen deck have all of them? Do they have any further use? </p>
<p>Last week I presumed Bleys to be allied with Eric. That turns out not to be the case. He seems quite happy to help Corwin overthrow Eric, although he has his own designs on the throne, which has potential for some interesting conflict. </p>
<p>Corwin's father, mentioned in passing, is named Oberon. This is the name of the king of the fairies in medieval folklore. Oberon is best known, no doubt, from Shakespeare's play <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, a fantasy in which a dispute between Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the fairies, results in much confusion amongst the nearby townspeople. Perhaps Corwin and Shakespeare came up with the plot during their drinking bouts. But what has happened to Amber's Oberon? </p>
<p>Who exactly is Moire, who resides in the palace of Rebma? Clearly she isn't a queen, not being of Corwin's family. Some kind of Governor or regent? If so, who appointed her? Moire's sympathies don't lie with Eric. She is likely named after <i>moire</i>, a silk cloth finished to have a wavy, watery appearance—a suitable name for an undersea dweller! The moiré patterns you see on TV or in digital images are also named after the appearance of this cloth. Despite not having met before, Corwin and Moire have a brief sexual encounter. That was … unnecessary. <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> was published in 1970, and free love was still a thing, I guess.</p>
<p>Moire's daughter is named Morgane, which may be an allusion to Morgan le Fay, the legendary sorceress and half-sister of King Arthur. Morgane's son Martin is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. </p>
<p>This was another long chapter, though an action-packed and satisfying one. I suspect the first three short chapters were the exception rather than the norm, so I'll see if I can maintain this twice-weekly pace in the long term. Nonetheless, look out for chapter 6 this Sunday. </p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-87294223354313020672024-01-29T17:20:00.000-05:002024-01-29T17:20:04.178-05:00I Begg your pardon? <p class="first">Recently, in an interview, radio pastor Alistair Begg (host of the <cite>Truth for Life</cite> program) recounted a conversation he had had with a Christian lady, whose grandson was going to marry a transgender woman. She didn't know whether she ought to attend the wedding. Begg counseled her to attend the wedding and provide a wedding gift.<sup>1</sup> Social media blew up, as social media is wont to do, with Christians roundly condemning this advice. The American Family Radio network also announced that it was dropping his program.</p>
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<p>I want to be fair to Begg. He isn't a chronic compromiser who has incrementally departed from the faith. He has had a faithful ministry for decades. In fact, he was a guest speaker at an event at my biblically conservative church last year. Cancelling Begg over one gaffe is an overreaction. One swallow does not make a summer, and one error does not make an apostate.</p>
<p>I want to be fair also to his argument. Begg isn't affirming or neutral on same-sex or transgender weddings. He and the grandmother in the scenario stipulate that this wedding is a moral wrong. Faithfulness to Jesus precludes approving of her grandson marrying a transgender person. "I, you, and your grandson all agree that Jesus forbids such a union," Begg is saying, "and he understands that you can't affirm his marriage. And therefore…"</p>
<p>But the <em>and therefore</em> is where we have to part company. Begg hasn't compromised on biblical sexual ethics, but he has on their application. He concludes that she should attend the wedding out of love for her grandson and to build bridges to people who don't follow Jesus. I submit that she <em>should not</em> attend. Let me explain.</p>
<h4>A wedding is not a football match</h4>
<p>If a wedding ceremony was something people attended merely to <em>observe</em>, like a ball game, I might be in general agreement with Begg. If wedding-goers were just spectators, then going to a transgender wedding doesn't make much of a difference one way or another. It's just one family member showing up for another family member's special event.</p>
<p>But wedding guests aren't merely spectators or well-wishers. They're witnesses. We're familiar with the traditional opening of a Christian wedding, as found, for example, in the Anglican <cite>Book of Common Prayer</cite>: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this Congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy Matrimony."<sup>2</sup> And a little further down in the order of service, we also see these familiar words: "If any man can show any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace."<sup>3</sup> This isn't an opportunity for an old flame to stand up and declare his undying love for the bride in the hope of stealing her away from the altar. It's to discover any <em>legal</em> impediment to the marriage: for example, the couple are brother and sister, one of them is an impostor, or the groom already has a mad wife locked in the attic. It has also been taken as a given—until about the beginning of this century, anyway—that by definition, two men or two women could not be married.</p>
<p>If wedding guests are witnesses who can attest that a lawful wedding has taken place, then when those words are spoken, a Christian would be duty-bound to speak up and say that (as the BCP itself says) marriage was instituted by God between the first man and the first woman, designed for mutual help and the procreation of children, and symbolizes the union between Christ and his church. Therefore, a man and a transgender woman (in reality, another man) may <em>not</em> be lawfully joined together in the sight of God, because such a union violates God's intent for human sexuality.</p>
<p>Is that what this lady's grandson wants to happen on his wedding day? I daresay that would give greater offence, and to more people, than simply declining to go at all.</p>
<p>Another alternative might be to attend the wedding anyway, and just hold her tongue. But that would be to tacitly attest that a lawful marriage is taking place, while knowing it is not. In other words, it is <em>bearing false witness</em>. So it's best not to go at all.</p>
<h4>Male and female made he them</h4>
<p>Genesis tells us: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it'" (Gen. 1:27–28). And a little further on, it says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (2:24).</p>
<p>That is the design for marriage and sexuality: a man and his wife are drawn closer together, and they make babies. The norm is a man and his wife: not two husbands or two wives. By design, two men or two women cannot be fruitful and multiply.</p>
<p>Jesus reaffirms this. Notwithstanding the progressive canard that Jesus taught nothing concerning homosexuality, when he gives his teaching on divorce (Matthew 19:3–12), he cites both Genesis 1:27 and 2:24. He makes no provision for same-sex relationships; it's just a given that a man and a woman are needed for a marriage. After all, as the incarnate God of creation, it was his design. Jesus concludes, "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate" (19:6). Conversely, let not man join what God has not. Two men or two women cannot become one flesh.</p>
<p>Transgenderism makes the matter a bit more complex, but the same general principles obtain. A transgender woman is a man <em>imitating</em> a woman. A marriage between a man and a trans woman is really a same-sex marriage between two men, which God forbids. On the other hand, an ostensibly same-sex wedding with a woman and a trans woman is technically a heterosexual one. However, it <em>wants to be</em> a same-sex wedding. The latter couple is still publicly flaunting their sin, advertising their rebellion against God's design for marriage, even if their sex life could still potentially result in children.</p>
<p>Genesis 1:27 ties the sexual binary to bearing the image of God. He created us male and female. There is no changing from one to the other, nor is there a spectrum between them, nor is there a third sex that is neither. The T and Q in LGBTQ are especially predicated upon lies. We are what we were made to be, not what we imagine ourselves to be. Rejecting the goodness of the body by which God has made us male or female rejects the goodness of God and demeans his image. A transgender man or woman is a parody of a real man or woman, and a same-sex or transgender wedding is a parody of God's design for marriage. This is not something that a Christian can participate in, in good conscience.</p>
<h4>In conclusion</h4>
<p>Alistair Begg is a faithful pastor with a track record of sound biblical teaching. I believe that in counseling someone to attend a transgender wedding, he is trying to speak the truth in love. However, he has erred too far on the side of love, and thereby compromised the truth. It appears that he has chosen to stand by his remarks since the controversy erupted. That's unfortunate. He really needs to admit his error, and walk it back.</p>
<h4>Footnotes</h4>
<p><sup>1</sup> Owen Strachan has transcribed the relevant text in <a href="https://owenstrachan.substack.com/p/unrighteous-wedding-invitations-a">his post</a> on this topic.</p>
<p><sup>2</sup> "The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony," Prayer Book Society of Canada, accessed January 28, 2024, <a href="https://prayerbook.ca/bcp-online/matrimony/">https://prayerbook.ca/bcp-online/matrimony/</a>.</p>
<p><sup>3</sup> Ibid.</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-29991435547472472652024-01-28T09:00:00.002-05:002024-02-11T10:33:25.339-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 4<p><b>Spoiler alert:</b> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> now. I promise I won't be offended.</i></p>
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<p class="first">In the previous chapter of <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>, Corwin received a phone call from his brother Random in California, who was being pursued and needed protection. In chapter 4, he arrives at the front door of their sister Flora's New York mansion—much to Flora's alarm.<p>
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<p>Random is being pursued by some mysterious figures that he can't lose. They track him all the way to New York. When Corwin refuses to let them in through the front door, they break in through a window. But between Corwin's confiscated handgun, Flora's attack dogs, and a sabre Random takes from the library, they make short work of the invaders. They are human-like in appearance, but with some unusual deformities: creatures from elsewhere in the Shadows.</p>
<p>The next day, Corwin and Random go driving in Flora's Mercedes. Random asks if Corwin is planning on going after Eric, and Corwin (although still suffering from amnesia) decides he will. As they drive, the road around them is transfomed: Random is shifting them out of the Shadows and into the real world of Amber.</p>
<p>On the road, they encounter roadblocks set up by Eric, but Random uses his reality-changing power to avoid them. However, they encounter their brother Julian on his giant horse, Morgenstern, at the forest of Arden. He, too, is watching for them, and pursues them with a pack of hunting dogs. Corwin captures Julian and learns from him that Eric controls Amber, and their brothers guard the main routes. They let Julian go.</p>
<p>When the car runs out of gas, Corwin and Random continue the journey to Amber on foot. They rescue their sister, Deirdre, who is held captive by some of Eric's men. They're attacked by werewolves, and defeat them as well. Corwin admits to Random and Deirdre that he has amnesia and has been bluffing all along. They decide to go to Rebma, the underwater reflection of Amber, hoping that the Pattern on the floor there will restore his memories.</p>
<p>This is a long chapter: at 30 pages, it's as long as the first three chapters together. At last, though, fantasy stuff happens! Magical worlds! Improbable beasts! Fights with wolves!</p>
<p>The main conflict in <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> is finally explicit: a feud between Eric and Corwin for the throne. Eric currently resides in Amber (and presumably controls the throne). Brothers Julian, Bleys, Gérard, and Caine, and sister Florimel, are allied with Eric and tasked with keeping Corwin away. (The brothers are guarding the roads, while I guess Flora's strategy was just to stick him in a hospital room and keep him drugged up. Crude, but effective.) Random and Deirdre have sided with Corwin. So far, we don't know who, if anyone, is currently on the throne, or why the princes of Amber are doing their own version of the Wars of the Roses. Is there now a King of Amber? If not, what has happened to him?</p>
<p>The fight with Julian takes place at the forest of Arden. This is the name of a former forest in the midlands of England, near Coventry and Birmingham. William Shakespeare was raised in nearby Stratford-upon-Avon; he set his play <cite>As You Like It</cite> in Arden—or at least a nostalgic, romanticized version of it. Deforestation had been under way since the Middle Ages. The Arden Shakespeare, one of the more scholarly series of Shakespeare's works, is named after the setting of <cite>As You Like It</cite>.</p>
<p>Amber is a city in the real world. All other worlds are Shadows, including our own. Random has the ability to move through Shadow. While escaping to New York, he tried but failed to "subtract" his pursuers, meaning he can alter reality by deciding what to keep or remove from it. He uses this power to avoid Eric's roadblocks, before he and Corwin have fully left the Shadows. He can't manipulate reality in Amber. Corwin has forgotten how to use this ability because of his amnesia.</p>
<p>Corwin, Random, and Deirdre decide to take Corwin to Rebma, which I picture as an underwater mirror image of Amber. ("Rebma" is "Amber" spelled backward, obviously.) There is a "Pattern" there which will hopefully restore Corwin's memories, and also his ability to move through Shadows. What's the Pattern? I picture it as a sort of magical labyrinth. Will it help Corwin even though it is the reverse image of the one in Amber? Here's hoping we'll find the answer soon.</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-214945912480734792024-01-26T18:12:00.001-05:002024-01-26T18:12:07.417-05:00Friday in the Wild: January 26, 2024 <p class="first">Last week's Friday in the Wild was a long one; conversely, this week's is short, as was my time for reading blogs.</p>
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<p>I follow Prof. Oliver Tearle's Substack, <a href="https://interestingliterature.com/">Interesting Literature</a> because, as its unassuming name suggests, it's about interesting literature. I always look forward to posts where his and my reading interests coincide (and, with him being an English professor and me an English graduate, that happens often enough for my liking). It's nice to come across a brief, accessible, and scholarly analysis of a familiar book or poem.</p>
<p>This week, Prof. Tearle posted an article about the source and meaning of the phrase "turn the other cheek." There's nothing surprising here to biblically literate readers. In this day and age, I guess I'm just impressed he didn't make it weird.</p>
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<p class="noindent">To what extent Jesus is taking Mosaic law further and to what extent he appears to be going against it is open to interpretation, but the main message, perhaps, to take from this passage is tolerance, forbearance, and forgiving one's enemies. As Oscar Wilde later added, "nothing annoys them so much."</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://interestingliterature.com/2024/01/turn-the-other-cheek-meaning/">"Turn the Other Cheek": Meaning, Analysis and Origin</a>]</p>
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<p class="noindent">As St. Paul also said (see Romans 12:20, quoting Proverbs 25:21–22).</p>
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<p>In the last week, <a href="https://slowtowrite.com/alistair-begg-gay-weddings-and-love/">Samuel Sey</a> , <a href="https://owenstrachan.substack.com/p/unrighteous-wedding-invitations-a">Owen Strachan</a>, and <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/01/can-christians-attend-gay-weddings">Carl Trueman</a> have all posted articles about Christians attending same-sex or transgender weddings. Samuel and Owen are responding directly to the controversy over Alistair Begg's remarks on his radio program. Carl doesn't mention Begg, but the timing of his article is, at least, fortuitous.</p>
<p>I actually have an article on this topic in the works to be posted early next week. In the meantime, I'm in general agreement with all three of those articles, and I commend them to your attention.</p>
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<p>Well, I said it was short. Until next time, Share and Enjoy.</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-74146543293146730822024-01-25T09:00:00.002-05:002024-02-11T10:34:10.832-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 3 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <i>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </i>Nine Princes in Amber<i> now. I promise I won't be offended.</i></p>
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<p class="first">Corwin has escaped from the private hospital where he was recovering from a car accident but actually being held prisoner. He has amnesia, but learns his sister Florimel (or Flora) was the one keeping him there. He finds her and (while hiding his memory loss) learns that he is actually from (apparently) an alternate reality called Amber, and stands opposed to his siblings on some as-yet-unspecified family issue.</p>
<p>In chapter 3 of <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>, Corwin wakes up the next day in Flora's house. She isn't there, so he searches her library for more clues. He finds a secret compartment in her desk that hides a deck of tarot cards. The trump cards are lifelike representations of himself and his siblings.</p>
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<p>The phone rings. It's another of his brothers, Random. He is on the run from someone. Initially he panics when he realizes whom he is speaking to, but calms down when Corwin promises him protection in Flora's house.</p>
<p>Flora returns home. She has been trying to travel to Amber, but was obstructed or opposed somehow. She suspects Corwin when he reveals that he found her card deck. Then Random arrives at Flora's door.</p>
<p>In this chapter, we meet the second of Corwin s siblings in the flesh: his brother Random. My limited research suggests"Random" is a Middle-English given name derived from the French <i>randir</i>, meaning to run or gallop. However, Corwin regards him as untrustworthy, so maybe his name actually reflects an unpredictable or arbitrary character.</p>
<p>From Random, we get a bit more information about Corwin's dysfunctional family. When he realizes he is taking to Corwin on the phone, he suspects he has murdered Flora. So she is allied with Eric, who is Corwin's chief antagonist. It's unclear where Random himself stands. He is frightened of Corwin, but more so of Flora, and trusts Corwin to protect him from her. Why? Who is he on the run from?</p>
<p>Amber is accessed in two ways. Flora tried to travel there via the Road, and failed. Her journey was blocked by "things," which she suspects Corwin put in her way. It's implied that the second route to Amber has something to do with the tarot cards.</p>
<p>The tarot deck is the most interesting part of this chapter. English North Americans mainly associate tarot cards with the occult: card readers use them to tell fortunes. But cartomancy is a relatively modern invention. But in Europe, especially France and Italy, the tarot deck has been used since the Middle Ages to play a family of games something like bridge. A tarot deck consists of 78 cards. There are four suits—wands, cups, swords, and pentacles—with numbered cards from 1 (ace) to 10 and four face cards, king, queen, cavalier, and jack. An additional 21 trump cards have characters on them such as Death, the Lovers, the Hanged Man, and so forth. These are likely the cards most associated with the tarot deck. One last card, the Fool, may or may not be a trump depending on the game.</p>
<p>In cartomancy, the suit cards are known as the Lesser Arcana while the trumps are the Greater Arcana. Corwin calls Flora's trump cards "Greater Trumps," which implies to me that their use is more like card reading than card playing.</p>
<p>In Flora's deck, the usual trump cards are replaced with pictures of her siblings. There are nine brothers and four sisters, named (in the order Corwin turns them up) Random, Julian, Caine, Eric, Benedict, Corwin, Gérard, Bleys, Brand, Flora, Deirdre, Fiona, and Llewella. Corwin notices that some trumps are missing. Those eight or nine missing cards presumably represent other family members. Who are they? Why are their cards gone?</p>
<p>Perhaps more will be revealed in chapter 4, this coming Sunday.</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-65595836898863253872024-01-21T09:00:00.001-05:002024-01-21T09:00:00.285-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 2 <p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <em>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </em>Nine Princes in Amber<em> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </em>Nine Princes in Amber<em> now. I promise I won't be offended.</em></p>
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<p class="first">Our protagonist wakes up in a hospital after a car accident. He has amnesia, but he learns that he was admitted under the name Carl Corey, and that his sister, Evelyn Flaumel, has been paying to keep him there, under sedation. In Chapter 2 of <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>, Corey has escaped the hospital and takes a bus to New York to meet with his sister. En route, he contemplates that the car accident that put him there was likely not accidental.</p>
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<p>At Evelyn's mansion, Corey is admitted to the library, where he meets his sister face-to-face. As they talk, Corey does his best to fish for information while not letting on that he has lost his memory. Parts of his memory begin to resurface. His real name is Corwin, not Corey, and Evelyn's is Florimel. She wants to know where Corwin stands on some unspecified issue. Still in the dark, Corwin affects a neutral position and agrees to stay with Florimel, where she can keep an eye on him.</p>
<p>Between Corwin's fishing expedition and his partial recovery of his memories, the mystery is <em>starting</em> to become clearer.</p>
<p>Corey's real name is Corwin. I believe this given name is of Welsh origin. It may also be related to the Latin genus <i>Corvus</i>, that family of birds that includes crows, jackdaws, and ravens. Crows in folklore are often bad omens: consider, for example, the crows the orcs use as spies in <cite>The Hobbit</cite> and <cite>The Lord of the Rings</cite>, or the raven of Edgar Allan Poe's eponymous poem. They're also a heraldic symbol. In fact a Polish family, Korwin, has a raven in its coat of arms. Is this a coincidence?</p>
<p>Corwin has a flashback in which he and his sister are together at some sort of party. She is in green, while he is wearing what he calls "my colors," black and silver. Are these heraldic colours, perhaps? It seems obvious that Corwin is one of the titular princes. (And aren't black and silver crow colours?)</p>
<p>Florimel is the name of the heroine in John Dryden's 1667 play <cite>The Maiden Queen</cite>. I don't know this work, so I can't tell whether her name has any symbolic meaning, or if Zelazny just chose a cool name from early English literature. She is indeed Corwin's sister; that wasn't a lie. Corwin seems to have a hostile relationship with the rest of his family. Indeed, even this meeting has an undertone of hostility and confrontation. On the other hand, there seems to be a détente of sorts between Corwin and Florimel. She even calls him her favourite brother.</p>
<p>Corwin remembers his brother Eric, whom he hates, and suspects had something to do with his accident. Eric is a Norse name meaning "one ruler." Is this name significant? Two other brothers are also mentioned by name, Julian and Caine. His relationship with them is also hostile, though perhaps less than between him and Eric. Another figure, Bleys, is mentioned, although his relationship to Corwin is as yet unknown.</p>
<p>In chapter 2, we get our first mention of Amber: </p>
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<p class="noindent">"You're right," she said, sipping her drink. "I almost feel in Amber with you around," and I almost dropped my drink.</p>
<p>Amber! The word had sent a bolt of lightning down my spine!</p>
<p>Then she began to cry, and I rose and put my arm around her shoulders to comfort her.</p>
<p>"Don't cry, little girl. Please don't. It makes me unhappy, too." <em>Amber! There was something there, something electrical and potent!</em> "There will be good days once again," I said, softly.</p>
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<p>By contrast, Florimel calls <em>this</em> world "Shadow." Is the contrast between shadow and reality? Is our world a pale imitation of Amber in some way? Or is it a contrast between light and darkness, good and evil, in which compared to our world, Amber is a paradise? We shall soon see, I'm sure.</p>
<p>Like Corwin, we still don't know exactly what's going on. If I were to take a guess, I'd say that there is a rivalry between Corvin and his brothers (or at least Corwin and Eric) for the throne in Amber. (Who is on that throne currently?) Eric orchestrated Corwin's "accident." It's unclear to the others where Corwin stands, and possibly they wanted him kept out of the way so he wouldn't go York to their Lancaster.</p>
<p>There's plenty of book left, though, so we'll see. Chapter 3 of the <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> readthrough will be posted next Thursday.</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-31618547179501861102024-01-20T21:30:00.002-05:002024-01-21T10:55:08.857-05:00Friday Saturday in the Wild: January 20, 2024 <p class="first">Welcome to the first Friday in the Wild of 2024! Between the Christmas holidays and a lingering cold, it's been a while. But I've been collecting links for the past couple of weeks nonetheless, so rather than waste them, this will just be a longer installment than usual. (I'm also a day late due to time constraints—but hopefully not a dollar short.)</p>
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<p>At <a href="https://www.str.org/">Stand to Reason</a>, Alan Shlemon wants us to stop speaking "Christianese":</p>
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<p class="noindent">Christianese is the language Christians speak at church and to other Christians. It has two characteristics. One, it’s churchy. It contains theologically loaded lingo that is understandable to Christians but largely incoherent to non-Christians. Two, it’s full of clichés and idioms. Christians use phrases that take little effort to articulate but a lot of effort to apprehend.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://www.str.org/w/stop-speaking-christianese-please">stop Speaking Christianese, Please</a>]</p>
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<p>I think there's a value to theological language: it's shorthand for not having to explain complex concepts like justification repeatedly. Explain it and give it a label: it's a great time-saver. But I agree with Shlemon when it comes to church lingo. I didn't grow up in Evangelical churches, and so I don't naturally speak that way. I find it awkward.</p>
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<p>I related to this article by Tim <a href="https://www.challies.com/">Challies</a> because my theological journey has brought me in and out of many of these churches as well:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="noindent">It is one of the realities of the Christian faith that skeptics love to criticize—the reality that there are a host of different denominations and a multitude of different expressions of Christian worship. But while believers have become accustomed to responding to this criticism with a sense of shame, I choose to see it in a different light. I choose to see each tradition as highlighting different aspects of God’s purpose for the local church. As a prism refracts the light and separates it into its component colors, the differing traditions refract the Bible’s varying commands and emphases. And this is why I feel at home in so many different churches.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://www.challies.com/articles/i-feel-at-home-in-your-church/">I Feel at Home in Your Church</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Like Tim, I'm a convictional Baptist. I was born and raised Baptist, then subsequently attended churches of the United Church of Canada, the Brethren, various flavours of Baptist again, no denomination, and finally my present one, the Associated Gospel Churches. I feel at home in any church, High or Low, where Jesus is preached.</p>
<hr />
<p>Muslims revere Muhammad as God's final prophet, but their reverence sometimes has no grounding in the historical Muhammad. A. S. Ibrahim of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary writes a fascinating <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/who-was-the-real-muhammad">article</a> for <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/">Desiring God</a> about the Muhammad of tradition, the Muhammad of legend, and the Muhammad of history.</p>
<hr />
<p>Also at Desiring God, Mark Johnston provided a guide to that classic book of Puritan prayers, <cite>The Valley of Vision</cite>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="noindent">The beauty of this collection of prayers is multifaceted, traversing the entire scope of the Christian journey from the depths to the heights. The prayers express the deep desires of the heart and the perplexities of our Christian experience in language full of deep reverence for God on the one hand and, on the other hand, a down-to-earth sense of our needs, longings, and failings. Through them all, there is the rich gospel realization that, despite our manifold sins and transgressions—through omission as much as commission—the grace of God in Christ is more than sufficient for our guilt, and the aid of the Holy Spirit is more than equal to our human weakness.</p>
<p>[Read <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-valley-of-vision">The Valley of Vision: A Reader's Guide to a Christian Classic</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Personally, I was surprised to learn (though not from this article in particular) that <cite>The Valley of Vision</cite> was not an original Puritan work but a modern anthology—;it is in fact younger than me—and also that the prayers were not originally in poetic form. Neither of which diminishes the value of the book in any way.</p>
<hr />
<p>Joni Eareckson Tada writes at <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/in-christ-alone-stanza/">The Gospel Coalition</a> about the emotional effect of the third stanza of the modern hymn, "In Christ Alone":</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="noindent">There’s one stanza so compelling that it's emotionally irresistible. It drives people to their feet, whether out of awestruck reverence or with effervescent joy, and I've watched as they jump from their seats, stretch their arms as if to touch heaven itself, and sing with abandon,</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="noindent">Then bursting forth in glorious day,<br />
Up from the grave He rose again!<br />
And as He stands in victory,<br />
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;<br />
For I am His and He is mine—<br />
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'd give anything to join my friends at that point. I'd love to rise from my wheelchair, stand on tiptoe, throw my head back, and cry and laugh at the same time.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/in-christ-alone-stanza/">The "In Christ Alone" Stanza That Makes Joni Want to Leap</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems to be a universal experience that this particular hymn gives that emotional lift to everyone who sings it, in that same place. In fact I can't think of any other hymn, commonly sung, that has this same effect. The refrain of "And Can It Be," perhaps? But that's it.</p>
<hr />
<p><a href="https://theorangutanlibrarian.wordpress.com/">The Orangutan Librarian</a> did a post about the <a href="https://theorangutanlibrarian.wordpress.com/2024/01/14/books-with-the-best-beginnings/">books with the best beginnings</a>. She hit a lot of the classics, obviously—<cite>The Hobbit</cite>, <cite>Pride and Prejudice</cite>, <cite>Jane Eyre</cite>—but I'm sorry to say she missed the best opening sentence of any 20th-century novel: "The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse," from Charles Williams's <cite>War in Heaven</cite>.</p>
<hr />
<p>Douglas Wilson wrote an article about striking a balance between buying into a strictly materialistic view of the universe, and buying into a superstitious one:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="noindent">When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they thought they saw a ghost (Matt. 14:26). This tells us that they were a group of men who believed in ghosts. At the same time, we need to recognize that the text reassures us that what they saw was Christ, and not a ghost. They were wrong about what it was, but not wrong about what it could have been. And making a similar point from the opposite direction, what they did see was a man walking on water. Voltaire wouldn’t have gone for that any more than he would have gone in for the ghost.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://dougwils.com/the-church/s16-theology/things-that-go-bump-in-the-night-2.html">Things that Go Bump in the Night</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm reminded, somewhat, about what C. S. Lewis said about the biblical account of the defeat of Sennacherib by Hezekiah: the Bible says it was due to angelic intervention, while Herodotus said mice nibbled the Assyrians' bowstrings. The open-minded man is on the side of the angels, Lewis said. The biblical story is consistent with how you'd expect angels to behave. Mice, on the other hand, don't do that kind of thing.</p>
<hr />
<p>Last one: Again at the Gospel Coalition, Andrew Spencer published an interview with Derek Cooper, author of <cite>Christianity and New Religious Movements</cite>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="noindent">On one hand, all we need for evangelism is a thorough understanding of the gospel. However, we can shape our explanation of the gospel in helpful ways if we understand who we're talking to and what they believe. This is what Paul did when he spoke to the Athenians in the Areopagus (Acts 17:22-34). He wasn't just referencing pop culture; he was connecting their existing belief structures to their need for Christ as Savior. Paul had done his research so he could help bridge the gap between people's existing beliefs and the gospel.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/christianity-new-religious-movements/">Why You Should Understand "New Religious Movements"</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Several years ago, a friend of mine, who was then an intern at my church, did a lengthy Sunday school class on other religions, for much the same reason. I was glad to participate in one or two sessions.</p>
<p>And that's it, until (hopefully) next week. Share and Enjoy!</p>
Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-57791357399962887892024-01-18T09:00:00.001-05:002024-01-18T09:00:00.136-05:00Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 1<p><strong>Spoiler alert:</strong> <em>This post is part of an in-depth discussion of </em>Nine Princes in Amber<em> by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read </em>Nine Princes in Amber<em> now. I promise I won't be offended.</em></p>
<hr>
<p class="first">Welcome to the first post in my readthrough of Roger Zelazny's <cite>Chronicles of Amber</cite>. We are beginning, obviously, at the beginning: the first chapter of the first book, <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite>, originally published in 1970.</p>
<p>Our protagonist wakes up in a hospital room. He has amnesia: he remembers being in an accident, but he doesn't know where he is and can't remember his own name. His legs are in casts, but they aren't broken; whatever his injuries were, they've healed. He also realizes that he has been kept drugged.
</p>
<a name='more'></a>
<p>A nurse enters his room to give him a shot, presumably of the same sedative; he sends her away, then removes the casts from his legs. Another orderly comes in to give him the shot (the nurse apparently calling for some muscle). He overpowers him, steals his clothes, and escapes the hospital room to look for answers.</p>
<p>He finds and confronts the doctor in his office on the first floor. The doctor evidently considers our hero quite dangerous: he pulls a gun from his desk, but the patient takes it away. The doctor calls him Mr. Corey, and he learns that his stay in this private hospital is being paid for by his sister, Evelyn Flaumel, who lives in New York. Corey demands cash and a cab, and he escapes the hospital.</p>
<p>This is a short, introductory chapter. There's really not much to say about it. It sets up the plot and dishes out just enough information to keep readers interested in going on. <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> is narrated from a first-person perspective, meaning we know only what the protagonist knows. And given that he is currently suffering from amnesia, is he even a reliable narrator?</p>
<p>It's a good beginning. Right off the bat, there's a mystery with a lot of unanswered questions. Who is Carl Corey? Why is his sister paying to keep him, drugged, in a hospital? Why are the hospital staff apparently willing to go along with his abduction and keep him in the dark? Was his accident really an accident? Is Corey so dangerous that the doctor wants a gun handy, and why? Is Corey even his real name?</p>
<p>So far, Evelyn Flaumel is the only clue to Corey's circumstances. I guess his next step will be to pay her a visit. In the meantime, I'll leave this inaugural installment short, and pick up the story with chapter 2 on Sunday.</p>
<p>As a postscript, I love the title of this volume. I know Amber is the series's magical realm. But <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> evokes an image of them trapped in fossilized tree sap like a prehistoric insect, doesn't it?</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-58786447321210943232024-01-16T17:40:00.001-05:002024-01-17T00:59:31.602-05:00Reading through The Chronicles of Amber<p class="first">I first heard of the late Roger Zelazny's <cite>Chronicles of Amber</cite> in high school. I worked at the public library for three years, and saw many of the volumes on the paperback rack.</p>
<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19ykH8G0HYBYRoAaP506TLehS9LfIFcPfwbBWNg68cJRmo3wucTpXk7_QkeKs0BNeBtn1_kBE4AwinOF8Nm7W-YDOau941SFmoHyO5V5Bo_1IL4x4OTK_EiB2XSm_fCQV9ZWWWe8DatEnko8GIb3OxSrElqr_oLPR81ZTNb6gES9_I3_6Bj4I/s1600/313px-Zelazny-roger-chronicles-of-amber.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19ykH8G0HYBYRoAaP506TLehS9LfIFcPfwbBWNg68cJRmo3wucTpXk7_QkeKs0BNeBtn1_kBE4AwinOF8Nm7W-YDOau941SFmoHyO5V5Bo_1IL4x4OTK_EiB2XSm_fCQV9ZWWWe8DatEnko8GIb3OxSrElqr_oLPR81ZTNb6gES9_I3_6Bj4I/s1600/313px-Zelazny-roger-chronicles-of-amber.jpg" class="right" height="300" /></a>On a Saturday in 1989 or 1990, needing some reading material for a bus trip, I came across a two-volume set of <cite>The Chronicles of Amber</cite> (Nelson Doubleday, 1978) at a used bookshop a few blocks from the Kitchener bus terminal, and I decided to give it a try.<a href="#fn1" id="fnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> In those days, I was decidedly <em>not</em> a fantasy reader. I hadn't even read <cite>The Lord of the Rings</cite> yet (and when I tried that, the next summer, I didn't get too far). So <cite>Amber</cite> was my first fantasy. It was like nothing I had read previously.</p>
<a name='more'></a>
<p>This fall, Matt at <a href="https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/">Runalong the Shelves</a> did a <a href="https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2023/11/13/nine-weeks-in-middle-earth-week-1">9-week readthrough of <cite>LOTR</cite></a>. It wasn't his first reading, though it had been many years. I felt inspired to try my hand at blogging a similar readthrough. Not with <cite>LOTR</cite>, though: I read it about every six years (and just read it last year). It's too familiar for my purposes. But I'm in the same situation as Matt <i>vis-à-vis</i> the <cite>Amber</cite> series. I last read it when I was 19, but now I'm 53. I remember it making a favourable impression, but I've forgotten the story completely. I remember, perhaps not even accurately, that the protagonist wakes up with amnesia after an accident, learns he's some kind of prince, and can travel between this world and the magical world of Amber by walking a labyrinth. That's all. I'm essentially starting fresh. (I even made a point of not reading the blurb on the dust-jacket flaps).</p>
<p>Zelazny wrote ten novels in the series constituting two cycles of five novels each. My Doubleday set has only the earlier "Corwin" cycle:</p>
<ol>
<li><cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> (1970)</li>
<li><cite>The Guns of Avalon</cite> (1972)</li>
<li><cite>The Sign of the Unicorn</cite> (1975)</li>
<li><cite>The Hand of Oberon</cite> (1976)</li>
<li><cite>The Courts of Chaos</cite> (1978)</li>
</ol>
<p>These five novels comprise 57 chapters, so a readthrough should be doable within a year, assuming I do a chapter or two per week. I'm in no rush, though, so I'm not against going overtime.</p>
<p>The later "Merlin" cycle was published between 1985 and 1991. I've never read them. If this readthrough goes well, I might consider a followup, assuming I can buy a more recent omnibus.</p>
<p>Other than <cite>Amber</cite>, I've read two of Zelazny's other books: <cite>This Immortal</cite> (aka <cite>…And Call Me Conrad</cite>) and <cite>Lord of Light</cite>. He was big on incorporating world mythology and legend into his stories, and if <cite>Amber</cite> is the same, then this English graduate will hopefully be kept busy playing Spot the Allusion. This ought to be fun.</p>
<p>Chapter 1 of <cite>Nine Princes in Amber</cite> will drop in a few days.</p>
<h3 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h3>
<p><a href="#fnref1">[1]</a> <strong>Here's looking at you, footnote:</strong> I bought a lot of good books and records at Casablanca Books over my years in university, including also my omnibus edition of Isaac Asimov's original <cite>Foundation</cite> trilogy. The store closed a decade ago, which is too bad, even though I'm no longer in K-W. For many years, it was my favourite bookshop.</p>
Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-55993872058605887932024-01-01T15:38:00.002-05:002024-01-01T15:38:56.545-05:002023 readiing review<p class="first">2023 has come to an end. That means it's time for my year-end review of my reading hobby, my traditional first post of the new year.</p>
<p>My annual goal is to read 50 books of any type. <a href="http://mcclare.blogspot.com/2023/01/2022-reading-wrap-up.html">Last year</a>, I fell well short of that target. This year, on the other hand, I exceeded it, reading 70 books. That's a record, surpassing the 61 I read in 2020. According to my stats at Goodreads, by <em>page count</em> I've read only marginally more in 2023 than 2020. That means I've been selecting shorter titles, though for the most part not intentionally. (And not to <a href="https://www.thebeaverton.com/2023/12/man-intent-on-reading-50-books-this-year-really-ploughing-through-the-goosebumps/">cheat my way to meeting my goal</a>!)</p>
<p>My first book this year was <strong><cite>A Pale View of Hills</cite></strong> by Kazuo Ishiguro, whom I resolved to read more of in 2022. During the year I also read his <a href="http://mcclare.blogspot.com/2023/11/maybe-then-ill-fade-away-and-not-have.html"><strong><cite>An Artist of the Floating World</cite></strong></a> and <strong><cite>The Remains of the Day</cite></strong>. The last was meant to be my final novel for the year until I realized it was much shorter than I remembered. Oops.</p>
<p>Anyway, the last novel of 2023 is <strong><cite>The Razor's Edge</cite></strong> by W. Somerset Maugham. Technically, I finished it up this afternoon, but I'm not going to begrudge 2023 one last book over the last chapter. This was a re-read of a book that was required reading in my last year of high-school English. Like <cite>The Turn of the Screw</cite> a few years ago, I found I enjoyed it much more in middle age than my teenage years. Now I feel inclined to re-read and re-evaluate a lot of boring high-school literature. (<cite>The Catcher in the Rye</cite> and <cite>Heart of Darkness</cite> are still boring, though.)</p>
<p>The newest book I read this year was <strong><cite>The Secret</cite></strong> by Lee and Andrew Child, published in October. As the Jack Reacher series are the only books I make a point of reading soon after release, then unless the brothers Child change their publishing timetable or my overall reading habits evolve, this is very likely to be an annual constant.</p>
<p>The oldest book was, again, a play by Aphra Behn: <strong><cite>The Dutch Lover</cite></strong> from 1673. My original plan was to read all of Behn's plays during a year on weekend afternoons, as I had done with Shakespeare's works. I guess I'm less enthusiastic about Behn, since in nearly three years years I've managed only three out of (I believe) 18 plays. She's enjoyable, though.</p>
<p>My favourite book of the year? Well … <cite>The Remains of the Day</cite> has long been my favourite novel, nothing has yet displaced it, and I re-read it just this week (for the fourth time). If I leave it out of contention, however, and look at books I hadn't read before, then the nod goes instead to Stephen King's <strong><cite>Revival</cite></strong>, a surprisingly good horror story—surprising not because I have low expectations for King, but because his books just prior to this 2014 one were focused on crime (<cite>Mr. Mercedes</cite>, <cite>Joyland</cite>), fantasy (<cite>The Wind Through the Keyhole</cite>), and science fiction (<cite>Under the Dome</cite>), so his return to straight-up supernatural horror was a welcome one. Runner-up: <cite>An Artist of the Floating World</cite>. I'll grant this one to Ishiguro.</p>
<p>My least favourite of the year: <strong><cite>Downbelow Station</cite></strong> by C. J. Cherryh. I can't put my finger on anything particularly <em>bad</em> about this novel; it just failed to hold my interest. In my ongoing reading of the Hugo- and Nebula-winning novels, I was looking forward to this one, since I had read and enjoyed Cherryh's <cite>Rimrunners</cite> years ago, but <cite>Downbelow Station</cite> just didn't live up to the expectations I'd built up in my head. Your mileage may vary. Sometime in 2024 I'll also be reading a follow-up novel, <cite>Cyteen</cite>, set in the same universe as the other two, and I haven't been prejudiced against it yet. Runner-up: <strong><cite>The Gray Man</cite></strong> by Mark Greaney. Again, a novel that didn't live up to my expectations. It was entertaining enough to pass the time while travelling, but I thought it predictable and derivative of older thrillers such as <cite>The Bourne Identity</cite>.</p>
<p>The best new discovery of the year was a genre, rather than an author: the Japanese light novel. This isn't a genre that we have in the West, as such. I suppose the closest equivalent would be a young-adult series—or a comic book, if they came in prose. Near the beginning of the year, I watched the anime series <strong><cite>Sword Art Online</cite></strong> and <strong><cite>Full Metal Panic!</cite></strong>, and liked them enough to want to read the source material. I've read a handful of volumes of each series. Of the two, I enjoy the story in <cite>Full Metal Panic</cite>, written by Shōji Gatō more; but I think <cite>Sword Art Online</cite> by Reki Kawahara is better written. In fairness to both authors, I can't read Japanese, so I can't tell whether this is due to their own writing ability or the translators'. I'd never read a non-Western novel before the end of 2020, and now I've latched on to blatantly commercial Japanese juvenile fiction as a source of semi-disposable entertainment. Runner-up: <strong><cite>The House Without a Key</cite></strong>, the first of the Charlie Chan mystery novels by Earl Derr Biggers.</p>
<p>A book I finally finished: <strong><cite>Bleak House</cite></strong> by Charles Dickens. I visit with a friend weekly, and for many years it's been my habit on the walk back home to listen to an audiobook. In late 2019, I started <cite>Bleak House</cite>—specifically, the <a href="https://librivox.org/bleak-house-by-charles-dickens-2/">Librivox recording narrated by Mil Nicholson</a>, which is excellent. Now, this is a <em>long</em> novel comprising 67 chapters, and my travel time was about enough for one chapter per week. And then there was the pandemic, which put a halt on those weekly sessions. Even without COVID it would have taken more than a year to finish; as it was, I finished <cite>Bleak House</cite> three years and ten months after starting. Runner-up: <strong><cite>The Once and Future King</cite></strong> by T. H. White, which took two years and ten months start to finish; it is, however, a series of four novels.</p>
<p>I aim to read five nonfiction books per year. In 2023, I read eight (and part of three more). Most of these were theology, as I have from time to time been studying issues such as Dispensationalism and neo-Pentecostalism. The best of these was <strong><cite>No Quick Fix</cite></strong>, by Andrew Naselli, a critique of the Keswick Holiness or “Higher Life” movement.</p>
<p>Finally, my reading goals for 2024 include:</p>
<ul>
<li>completing my chronological reading of Stephen King's books, which I began c. 2010. Including the upcoming story collection, <cite>You Like It Darker</cite>, I've got ten books left. Then I'll have nothing else to look forward to but <em>new</em> Stephen King novels.</li>
<li>blogging a readthrough of Roger Zelazny's fantasy series, <cite>The Chronicles of Amber</cite>. I'll post more details about this in the new year.</li>
<li>reading <cite>Journey to the West</cite> by Wu Cheng'en, one of the four great classical Chinese novels. This is a <em>long</em> one. I've read the complete works of Shakespeare, <cite>Les Misérables</cite>, <cite>The Lord of the Rings</cite>, and the Bible, and I think <cite>Journey to the West</cite> outweighs any of them. Reading it is sure to be almost as much of an epic as the story itself.</li>
</ul>
<p>My return trip to Ottawa is the day after New Year's, and my coach reading (and very probably the first novel of 2024) will be Andrew Klavan's <cite>A Strange Habit of Mind</cite>, the second of his Cameron Winter mysteries.</p>
<p>Happy New Year, everyone!</p>
Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-79874929889754930282023-12-24T15:00:00.002-05:002023-12-24T21:52:43.227-05:00Christmas movie grinchiness<p class="first">I'm not a huge fan of Christmas movies. I have nothing against them, apart from the occasional overweening sentimentality. I enjoy Christmas for various reasons, but I'm not overly crazy about it, and the same goes for seasonal movies.</p>
<p>On the other hand, for some reason, I <em>do</em> enjoy trying to compile random lists of things from memory: books I read in high school, plays I've seen, things like that.</p>
<p>So, apropos of nothing (except that it's Christmas Eve), I thought I would try to list every Christmas movie
I've seen, along with some brief comments.</p>
<a name='more'></a>
<p>First, a few negatives:</p>
<ul>
<li>No Hallmark movies. Not my thing. I'm restricting myself to feature films. Possibly a very well-known TV movie might slip through.</li>
<li>No, <cite>Die Hard</cite> doesn't count. I'm sure this brands me as some sort of infidel. But a movie that takes place <em>during</em> Christmas and a movie that is <em>about</em> Christmas are two different things. The same goes for any other action movie that happens to have Christmas things in it.</li>
<li>Although it's one of the few Dickens novels I've read, I've never never seen a film adaptation of <cite>A Christmas Carol</cite>. Not all the way through, anyway. I think I've seen a few minutes of about four versions, including the classic <cite>Scrooge</cite> with Alastair Sim, <cite>Mickey's Christmas Carol</cite>, and <cite>A Muppet Christmas Carol</cite>.</li>
</ul>
<p>After some brainstorming, I came up with:</p>
<h3 id="the-bishops-wife-1947"><cite>The Bishop's Wife</cite> (1947)</h3>
<p>Cary Grant stars as an angel who visits a bishop (David Niven), ostensibly to help him with raising money for a new cathedral, but really to help fix the strained relationships with his wife and daughter that his obsession with fundraising have caused. Anything with Grant and Niven in it is OK in my book.</p>
<h3 id="a-christmas-story-1983"><cite>A Christmas Story</cite> (1983)</h3>
<p>I first saw this classic in university circa 1990, and I've probably watched it a dozen times since. Famous for its "leg lamp," bully Scut Farkus, and the running gag about shooting your eye out with a Daisy "Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time," <cite>A Christmas Story</cite> is inarguably my favourite seasonal fare.</p>
<h3 id="holiday-inn-1942"><cite>Holiday Inn</cite> (1942)</h3>
<p>This classic film is about two partners in a song-and-dance act, played by Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, their rivalry in love, and the former's efforts to launch an entertainment venue that opens only on holidays. The movie is famous for debuting the Irving Berlin song "White Christmas," for which it won an Oscar.</p>
<h3 id="how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-2000"><cite>How the Grinch Stole Christmas</cite> (2000)</h3>
<p>Specifically, the live-action adaptation starring Jim Carrey as the titular Grinch. I think I enjoyed it at the time, though clearly it wasn't all <em>that</em> memorable.</p>
<h3 id="its-a-wonderful-life-1946"><cite>It's a Wonderful Life</cite> (1946)</h3>
<p>This is considered one of the greatest films ever made, and yet I've only ever seen it once. James Stewart stars as a banker contemplating suicide on Christmas Eve, until his guardian angel shows him what the world would have been like without him. Some people wonder why <cite>It's a Wonderful Life</cite> didn't win the Best Picture Oscar that year. To be fair, <cite>The Best Years of Our Lives</cite>, which swept the awards, was a worthy competitor.</p>
<h3 id="joyeux-noël-2006"><cite>Joyeux Noël</cite> (2006)</h3>
<p>This is a fictional war drama about the "Christmas Truce" of 1914. It was an international film (primarily French) produced in French, English, and German. I'm a sucker for a good WWI movie, and this one wasn't too bad, if a little sentimental.</p>
<h3 id="meet-me-in-st.-louis-1944"><cite>Meet Me in St. Louis</cite> (1944)</h3>
<p>This one seemed to play pretty regularly on local TV on Christmas day during the 90s. It's about a year in the life of an upper-middle-class family just prior to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Apart from <cite>The Wizard of Oz</cite>, it's the only movie starring Judy Garland I've seen. <cite>Meet Me in St. Louis</cite> was notable for its music, especially for debuting "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (along with the title song and "The Trolley Song"). It's a spectacularly colorful movie, too.</p>
<h3 id="miracle-on-34th-street-1947"><cite>Miracle on 34th Street</cite> (1947)</h3>
<p>A kindly department-store Santa claims to be the real thing, and he winds up in court to prove he isn't delusional and in need of institutionalization. It's not often a Christmas movie turns into a courtroom drama. The name "Kris Kringle" was in use for a hundred years before this film, but I personally suspect it was instrumental in popularizing it as a nickname for Santa Claus.</p>
<h3 id="national-lampoons-christmas-vacation-1989"><cite>National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation</cite> (1989)</h3>
<p>Clark Griswold wants to have an old-fashioned family Christmas, but once again his plans go awry. Like its two <em>Vacation</em> predecessors, this movie relies on crude and slapstick humour, but you'll probably laugh in spite of yourself. The best jokes involve Aunt Bethany's cat and, of course, the over-the-top Christmas-light installation. (After I wrote this last night, we pulled this one out.)</p>
<h3 id="santa-claus-conquers-the-martians-1964"><cite>Santa Claus Conquers the Martians</cite> (1964)</h3>
<p>Awful. Terrible. One of the worst movies ever made. And yet, a longtime guilty pleasure. The Martians, believing their culture to be too rigid, kidnap two Earth children to help them find the real Santa out of all the fake ones, then kidnap Santa to teach Martian children to have more fun. Hilarity, supposedly, ensues. <cite>Santa Claus Conquers the Martians</cite> is like an extra helping of Christmas turkey.</p>
<h3 id="scrooged-1988"><cite>Scrooged</cite> (1988)</h3>
<p>OK, I guess I've seen <em>one</em> film of <cite>A Christmas Carol</cite>, though I didn't count it because it's a loose adaptation and modernization in which the Scrooge character (Bill Murray) isn't a miserly, misanthropic businessman, but a selfish and cynical TV executive. (Bill Murray. Ghosts. Coincidence?) <cite>Scrooged</cite>, as I recall, is rather mean-spirited and coarse, but the thing I remember most is an unexpected cameo by Miles Davis as a street musician.</p>
<h3 id="white-christmas-1954"><cite>White Christmas</cite> (1954)</h3>
<p>The song "White Christmas" was such a runaway hit when Bing Crosby debuted it in <cite>Holiday Inn</cite>, they made a whole 'nother movie around it. This time, Crosby teams up with Danny Kaye as two Army buddies with a successful song-and-dance act, who learn that their beloved former general has fallen on hard times after leaving the service. Rosemary Clooney's in it, too. I enjoyed this movie more than <cite>Holiday Inn</cite>.</p>
<p>So apparently it's not an especially long list. As I said, I'm not particularly sentimental. But that's fine: it just means there's more to see in the future!</p>
<p>Merry Christmas, Faithful Readers. Until later.</p>
Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-43748527021322598872023-12-22T21:44:00.000-05:002023-12-22T21:44:42.930-05:00Friday in the Wild: December 22, 2023<p class="first" >Happy Friday! After a couple of dry weeks, and now being away from home for the Christmas season, I wasn’t sure that there’d be a Friday in the Wild this week, either. Nonetheless, the Internet came through.</p>
<p>In today’s A la Carte post, <a href="https://www.challies.com/">Tim Challies</a> linked to his <a href="https://www.challies.com/articles/the-2-kinds-of-blog/">2014 post</a> about the two kinds of blog—content <em>creation</em> and content <em>curation</em>—and why he started doing both. He writes, “I am a pretty normal person and have pretty normal tastes. If I find it interesting and worthy of a few minutes of time and attention, I suppose other people are likely to as well.” I highlight this because that’s basically my philosophy, also. If I find something interesting or helpful or funny, probably someone else will, too.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/">The Gospel Coalition</a> celebrates the 50th year of J. I. Packer’s <cite>Knowing God</cite>:</p>
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<p class="noindent"><cite>Knowing God</cite> is Packer’s attempt to tell us what Scripture says about God. It isn’t a technical dive into the doctrine of God, accessible only to seasoned theologians, but neither is it a merely anecdotal survey of God’s character and deeds. It’s substantive without being off-putting. It’s straightforward while avoiding the shallowness that characterizes so much contemporary writing about God.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/knowing-god-turns-50/">“Knowing God” Turns 50: Why We Still Need J. I. Packer’s Classic Book</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="noindent">Packer says that to know God, we need to know <em>about</em> God, and he has revealed himself in the Bible. If I’m ever asked what books (apart from the Bible itself) are essential for a new Christian, <cite>Knowing God</cite> tops my list.</p>
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<p>Some “Satanists” erected one of those moronic Baphomet statues in the Iowa legislature. Apparently, last week a Christian veteran knocked it down and beheaded it. To add insult to injury, someone further desecrated Our Lord Below by slapping a “Christ is Lord” sticker on him.</p>
<p><a href="https://dougwils.com/">Doug Wilson</a>, whose Canon Press happens to publish the stickers used in this, shall we say, direct action, wrote this:</p>
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<p class="noindent">Someone in the grip of fussy process concerns believes that if Jesus gets to call the Pharisees whited sepulchers then they need to be given equal time to call Him a demon-possessed drunkard. Because they are consumed with process, it does not concern them that what Jesus said was <em>true</em>, and what the Pharisees were saying about Jesus was <em>false</em>. True? False? These are strange words. Tell me more about this religion of yours.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/toppling-cartoon-satans.html">Toppling the Cosplay Satan</a>]</p>
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<p>There’s part of me that’s all for law and order. But the majority of me cheers on these modern-day Gideons who knock down the local idols. If Baphomet is so great, let him contend for himself. Some “Satanists” have called the act “cowardice” and a threat to free expression. Shut up, nerd. “Satanism” and their stupid statues exist only to disrupt Christian norms. Now we’re disrupting your norms. Pray we don’t disrupt them any further.</p>
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<p>If you’re having difficulty with one of the New Testament’more problematic passages—“baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21)—then Jesse Johnson at <a href="https://thecripplegate.com/">The Cripplegate</a> wrote a helpful post:</p>
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<p class="noindent">Despite the parallels with water, the main point of correspondence between the ark and baptism is that of faith. If baptism is “an appeal for a clean conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” then logically, this implies that the one being baptized has placed his or her faith in the death, burial, resurrection, and even ascension (1 Peter 3:22). Without that attendant faith, the baptism is a bath, and the water represents death and judgment, but not life, regeneration, sanctification, or hope.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://thecripplegate.com/baptism-now-saves-you/">“Baptism Now Saves You”</a>]</p>
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<p>In other words, baptism is a <em>symbol</em> that points to the reality: what saves is the “appeal for a clean conscience” it represents. Confusing the symbol and the substance (saying baptism removes sin and regenerates the sinner) or completely divorcing them (saying baptism is merely a testimony to faith) are both erroneous.</p>
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<p>At <a href="https://adfontesjournal.com/">Ad Fontes</a>, S. Mark Hamilton writes about those contemporary embellishments to traditional hymns:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="noindent">Evangelical worship artists have been adapting or modernizing ancient hymnody for a little over twenty years. <em>Musically</em> speaking, some of these adaptations are quite good. Others are wincingly bad. <em>Lyrically</em> speaking, on the other hand, most of these adaptations are, I’m sad to say, either substance-<em>less</em> to the point of nausea or substantive-<em>ish</em> but largely uninspired, almost cliché compared to the lyrical content of the original. Then there are those adaptations whose lyrics flirt with theological dangers. For reasons that should become clear in a moment, I refer to the former as lyrical chaff and the latter as lyrical wheat.</p>
<p>[Read <a href="https://adfontesjournal.com/web-exclusives/good-news-of-great-joy-that-will-malform-all-the-people/">Good News of Great Joy That Will Malform All the People</a>]</p>
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<p>My “favourite” example of what he calls “lyrical chaff” is actually quite old: the hymn “At the Cross,” originally by Isaac Watts, to which Ralph E. Hudson added the chorus:</p>
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<p class="noindent">At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, <br /> And the burden of my heart rolled away—<br /> It was there by faith I received my sight,<br /> And now I am happy all the day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There’s nothing particularly <em>wrong</em> with these lyrics, except that the original hymn is about godly sorrow, and “now I am happy all the day” is fluffy and cheerful: completely incongruous with Watts’s sentiment.</p>
<p>And that’s it for this pre-Christmas Friday. Until the next installment, Share and Enjoy.</p>
Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5578675.post-15156049695402571612023-12-15T16:51:00.002-05:002023-12-15T16:51:18.464-05:00Friday at home: December 15, 2023<p class="first">Last week I was unexpectedly out most of the day and evening and didn't get a chance to post. This week I spent a few days under the weather and in no condition to get out of bed, let alone look at blogs.</p>
<p>I'm trying, honest. Next week!</p>Scott McClarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16860823837991898060noreply@blogger.com0