Description: Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, was aged thirty at the time this book was first published. He praised it in print, writing that he enjoyed Eddison's books 'for their sheer literary merit'. Eddison, Tolkien stated, was 'the greatest and most convincing writer of invented worlds' he had ever read.
Brief description: Eric Rücker Eddison, CB, CMG (24 November 1882 - 18 August 1945) was an English civil servant and author, writing under the name "E.R. Eddison." Eddison is best known for the early romance The Worm Ouroboros (1922) and for three volumes set in the imaginary world Zimiamvia, known as the Zimiamvian Trilogy: Mistress of Mistresses (1935), A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941), and The Mezentian Gate (1958). These early works of high fantasy drew strong praise from J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and later, Ursula K. Le Guin. Tolkien generally approved Eddison's literary style, but found the underlying philosophy rebarbative; while Eddison in turn thought Tolkien's views "soft". Other admirers of Eddison's work included James Stephens, who wrote the introduction to the 1922 edition; Robert Silverberg, who described The Worm Ouroboros as "the greatest high fantasy of them all"; and Clive Barker.
Review Quotes:
I enjoyed the book and was anxious to continue after intervals away. The style wasn't off- putting to me, any more than Dicken's period speech is. Also, liked the Professor's Bookshelf edition.
Stephen A. Degray