"The dim splendour of the castle which was also a barren tor, the sorceries adrift through its eternal warm twilight, the presences that haunted hills and woods and waters - oppressed [Freda] with strangeness." (p. 86)
See also:
Here again, Poul Anderson's text expresses two levels of reality or perception. People saw tors and imagined or interpreted them as elven castles. They saw hills, woods and waters and sensed haunting presences. I do not expect to meet a ghost in a wood but I do expect to experience some of what our ancestors felt as twilight deepened in such places. We must follow the narrative and also feel its atmosphere.
"Go with G - !" Well, no. Freda cannot say that in Elfheugh. But the Faerie realms are fading or withdrawing...
2 comments:
It's a melancholy passage.
Kaor, to Both!
One thing I noticed reading the original version of THE BROKEN SWORD was mention being made of the boredom felt by the elves as centuries passed. Everything that could be done had been done over and over again, ending with ennui.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment