Friday, 22 November 2019

Colorful Evocative Titles

Redgauntlet by Walter Scott
The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
Greenmantle by John Buchan
The Golden Slave by Poul Anderson

What happened here was that I thought of three colorful titles, then wondered whether Poul Anderson could join the list, then realized that he could. The first three authors were all Scottish. Another candidate title is Rob Roy by Walter Scott because "Roy" means "Red." Rob Roy was a Scottish outlaw like Robin Hood.

These titles are noticeable and memorable even by anyone who has not read the novels.

Hugh Redgauntlet tries to lead a third Jacobite Rebellion.
The Black Arrow is an outlaw gang.
Greenmantle is a fictional Muslim prophet.
The "Golden Slave" is the historical prototype of Odin.

(I found several good images for Redgauntlet.)

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I've tried to think of some evocative titles of works by Anderson. Esp. at times when he had more control over what his stories would be called. THE GAME OF EMPIRE comes to mind, and THE FLEET OF STARS.

A fictional Muslim prophet in "succession" to Mohammed? Now that would really upset many Muslims! Their belief is that Mohammed was the "seal of the prophets," meaning there would be, could NOT be any more prophets.

Ad astra! Sean