Words that make me want to fly...
Because of a thread on ellen_kushner's FB page, about books that people who liked Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond books would like, I started reading Edith Pargeter's The Heaven Tree Trilogy...
AND JUST SEE THIS! THIS, FROM THE INTRODUCTION! And when I began chapter one, the promise of the writing is already FULFILLED! I am so happy and excited to be reading this!!! BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME! THIS INTRO! THIS ONE! DOESN'T IT MAKE YOU WANT TO FLY???!!!
(I kept wanting to excerpt it, but every line was important.)
(All it makes me want to do is write.)
(Well, write and fly.)
***
Edith Pargeter's The Heaven Tree Trilogy, Introduction
"The Heaven Tree, the first volume of this trilogy, came to birth as the incidental offspring of a course of lectures on the nature of art. Discussion set me thinking of large questions. What is an artist? And beyond that: What is a great artist? And what must it be like to be a great artist, with that special perception of harmony, proportion and balance which identifies greatness, in a world which never so far distinguished itself by conspicuous display of any of these qualities? So I set out to discover whether I could create a truly great artist, make him convincing, and set him firmly in his own society, whenever and where that might turn out to be.
Since I wanted greatness, I went for the highest achievement I could think of, and found it in the exquisite churches of the purest period of Early English architecture, around 1200 to 1250, the relatively brief period of the peculiarly English style of carving referred to as "stiff leaf." So England had to be the scene, round about 1220 the time, my own country and the Welsh border of the place.
In a world arbitrarily organized into hierarchies, whether determined by feudal blood, commercial wealth, land-holding or force of arms, I suspected and found that the artist must always be to some degree a displaced person, outlawed by and contemptuous of the flawed system that makes artificial differences between men. Conflict began early for my artist, and stayed with him lifelong, as I had always suspected it must. Whether great work is achieved in spite of this, or is molten into resplendent and indignant shape because of it, I am not a great enough artist to determine.
One book only was intended, but time and place had drawn into the story a number of figures, some historical, some my own, whom I could not dismiss from my mind. It was a year or more before I began work on the remaining two books, which were originally conceived as one but outgrew the conception. The truth was, I could not leave my remaining characters dispersed and uncompleted. I had to find out what became of them. They mattered to me far too much to be abandoned.
So here they are, the artist who creates, the turbulent world that destroys, and the communicable passion that proves indestructible.
It is my own personal conviction that this trilogy is the best thing I have done. The best piece of writing, the story best worth telling, the characters most formidably alive, the theme best worth pursuing to the end: The work that came nearest what I wanted it to be."
***
AND JUST SEE THIS! THIS, FROM THE INTRODUCTION! And when I began chapter one, the promise of the writing is already FULFILLED! I am so happy and excited to be reading this!!! BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME! THIS INTRO! THIS ONE! DOESN'T IT MAKE YOU WANT TO FLY???!!!
(I kept wanting to excerpt it, but every line was important.)
(All it makes me want to do is write.)
(Well, write and fly.)
***
Edith Pargeter's The Heaven Tree Trilogy, Introduction
"The Heaven Tree, the first volume of this trilogy, came to birth as the incidental offspring of a course of lectures on the nature of art. Discussion set me thinking of large questions. What is an artist? And beyond that: What is a great artist? And what must it be like to be a great artist, with that special perception of harmony, proportion and balance which identifies greatness, in a world which never so far distinguished itself by conspicuous display of any of these qualities? So I set out to discover whether I could create a truly great artist, make him convincing, and set him firmly in his own society, whenever and where that might turn out to be.
Since I wanted greatness, I went for the highest achievement I could think of, and found it in the exquisite churches of the purest period of Early English architecture, around 1200 to 1250, the relatively brief period of the peculiarly English style of carving referred to as "stiff leaf." So England had to be the scene, round about 1220 the time, my own country and the Welsh border of the place.
In a world arbitrarily organized into hierarchies, whether determined by feudal blood, commercial wealth, land-holding or force of arms, I suspected and found that the artist must always be to some degree a displaced person, outlawed by and contemptuous of the flawed system that makes artificial differences between men. Conflict began early for my artist, and stayed with him lifelong, as I had always suspected it must. Whether great work is achieved in spite of this, or is molten into resplendent and indignant shape because of it, I am not a great enough artist to determine.
One book only was intended, but time and place had drawn into the story a number of figures, some historical, some my own, whom I could not dismiss from my mind. It was a year or more before I began work on the remaining two books, which were originally conceived as one but outgrew the conception. The truth was, I could not leave my remaining characters dispersed and uncompleted. I had to find out what became of them. They mattered to me far too much to be abandoned.
So here they are, the artist who creates, the turbulent world that destroys, and the communicable passion that proves indestructible.
It is my own personal conviction that this trilogy is the best thing I have done. The best piece of writing, the story best worth telling, the characters most formidably alive, the theme best worth pursuing to the end: The work that came nearest what I wanted it to be."
***