Wednesday 5 May 2021

Parallel Reading: Rescues From Hell

See:

 
Both Poul Anderson's "Operation Changeling" in his Operation Chaos and Alan Moore's "Down Amongst The Dead Men" in his Swamp Thing: Love And Death recount the rescue of an innocent from Hell although every detail differs when two imaginative authors address a common archetypal concept.
 
The figure in the attached Operation Chaos cover image remarkably resembles a demonized Swamp Thing.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

There's also Dante's journey thru Hell with Virgil as his guide. And Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven's INFERNO and ESCAPE FROM HELL, using Dante's work as a template.

I've tried, including reading it all the way thru once and partway a second time, but I gave up on Milton's PARADISE LOST. Unlike Dante's poem, I found Milton's effort heavy, ponderous, boring.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

The particular comparison that I was drawing was between rescues of innocents from Hell. In orthodox terms, innocents should not wind up in Hell but fantasy writers make their own rules.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Puul!

Dang! I missed that obvious point!

Ad astra! Sean