Any Questions?

[knifeedgefic]

Well, it's over. I'm not sure what the actual final word count is (I'm still compiling chapters and ditching author's notes to get an accurate tally), but the sites I've posted it on put it at anywhere between 361,000 words to 404,000 words (though it might be counting html script, too). Either way, it's a monster. I started "West of the Moon" back

Comments

[deborahc]

The first time I read the Cupid and Psyche myth - In the Golden Branch Bough, IIRC - I immediately connected it to East of the Sun. The girl married to a prince or god who comes to her only at night and whom she's forbidden to look upon, is persuaded to disobey and look at him while he's sleeping. She's caught, he's banished to a terrible fate, she's bereft and goes through hell performing seemingly impossible tasks to free him. That was the immediate connection I drew between the two. I remember thinking 'So, this is where East of the Sun came from', surmising it had been spun into that form from the old myth. I've always thought it was a unique, later version of the same story, or I guess an outgrowth of it. I've never studied these things so I'm speaking as a general reader, not an expert. It reminds me of all the various versions of old of folk songs; i.e. "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" and "Silver Dagger" etc...

...OMG, I just now got up to look through my old story book for the version of East' I know, and the illustration above its title "East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon" is of the girl riding on a great polar bear. I'd forgotten about that. Now I really do want to read it afresh and then follow up with a second reading of your story. I'll also look for "East" by Edith Pattou at the library; it would be interesting to compare the two versions.

Btw, ever since I was a HS sophomore and randomly plucked it from the shelf of my school library, one of all time favorite books has been "Til We Have Faces" by CS Lewis, his novelization of the Cupid and Psyche myth. If by any chance you've not read it before, I strongly recommend it.