"now that I can see the writing on the walls / I can finally understand I'm not lost at all"

[larryhammer]

Wonderment! Wonderment, I tell you.

Howard Pyle is best known today as the founder of the Brandywine School of artists, and as such the teacher of N.C. Wyeth among others. In his day, he was a bestselling author of pirate histories and novels in medieval settings, and his retelling of the Robin Hood stories, the first to rework the ballads into a unified cycle, remains in print today (all too often without his illustrations, to which I say, Prtt!). But what I grew up on was his fairy tales, rereading them to the point that they are etched into hindbrain as deeply as Just So Stories as exemplifying how wonder stories ought to be told. My first published story is one written in a Pyle-pastiche voice, and it's not the only one I've written. Pepper & Salt is the book of my boyish heart, but The Wonder Clock was also a treasure. And still is.

So imagine, if you will, my astonishment and delight to discover Twilight Land, a collection of tales I had never heard of. The structural conceit of this one is that each story is told in Mother Goose's taproom by a public domain character from another traditional wonder tale, such as Cinderella, the seven-at-one-blow tailor, and so on. Which provides an interesting perspective and commentary on the original stories, as well.

But enough -- if you'll pardon me, I have some wonder to repeatedly immerse myself in. Or, wonderment.

---L.

Comments

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Ooooooh.

[larryhammer]

YES

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

There was a Dover edition of that, but I haven't seen it in years.

[larryhammer]

Seems to be very firmly OOP. But in among the various editions available on Amazon, most of them based on the Gutenberg text (though there's a couple that seem to be scans of the original edition a la Dover's usual practice) is one from Random House with the original illos. To which I say, Hello.

---L.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

I have, and adore, The Wonder Clock. Will look for Twilight Land.

Thank you.

[larryhammer]

Also look for Pepper & Salt with the original illos -- there's lots of tasty sidebar material contained therein.

---L.

[(Anonymous)]

Woah, that first story in the collection is like a grittier take on the ideas in Enid Blyton's Wishing Chair series. (Would Blyton have been reading Pyle? Sounds like it, from your capsule summary.) --Matt

[larryhammer]

It is entirely possible she was -- Pyle was better known in the States, but I have seen a UK edition of one of his books. He's also known for bringing a more gritty realism to medieval romances, such as in Otto of the Silver Hand. But I also have to say, I've yet to see him use an original trope in any of his wonder tales -- he was more a codifier of manner than innovator of matter, for the genre.

As for the grittier, in general, this collection is more pessimistic about human nature than his others -- and the frame narrative even lampshades this, with audience commenting on how grim some of the stories are -- while still maintaining the needed light tone. It is rather startling.

---L.