He's gone..
Jack Vance passed away last Sunday - in his sleep - at the age of 96. This was announced about two hours ago.
What are dreams? Ordinary experience is a dream. The eyes, the ears, the nose: they present pictures on the brain, and these pictures are called “reality”. At night, when we dream, other pictures, of source unknown, are impinged. Sometimes the dream-images are more real than “reality”. Which is solid, which illusion? Why trouble to make the distinction?”
- Jack Vance, The Lyonesse, Suldrun's Garden (p. 262)
A blessed age, all things considered, but an icon has passed on.
To me Jack Vance was an inspiration, an example to look up to. To read when wonder, to love and to be amazed by what he offered. I have read many fantasy authors in my life, but nobody could come near to the quality of Jack Vance.
'I must turn that page, oh and another.' To be so fully immersed in his worlds... His prose was sublime, he showed me how a rhythm could be very well balanced with great characters, and layers to layers that makes you want to start again once you finished it. His world building, betimes casually introducing things like technology of a spaceship and then utterly ignoring (by both the writer and the character) if that thing will ever fly as he did in his novel 'The Dirdir' shows his strength: he simply gets away with it because you are too imersed. Only later on you may wonder... how did it actually work?
My most beloved work and a perfect work in the genre of High Fantasy is the Lyonesse Trilogy (Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc). I think I was quite spoiled when I read that work so many years ago. No, not even Tolkien. With Lyonesse (an (lost) island located West of France, South of Ireland), Vance simply plunges you in an epic tale with warring kingdoms, fairies, trolls, quests, wizards and magic swords. The dialogue is an absolute treat to read, and the characters are distinct and well-written. Vance remains in command of his prose, he has this skill of writing to deliver a good novel (or short story for that matter) that I yet have never seen matched or better done. Oh yes, he sets the bar very high. It is just not that, Vance can make you love rogueish protagonists, can set up intricately imagined societies filled with bizarre rules and customs that makes you ponder.
Oh I could go on!
“Conversation! Supple sentences, with first and second meanings and overtones beyond, outrageous challenges with cleverly planned slip-points, rebuttals of elegant brevity; deceptions and guiles, patient explanations of the obvious, fleeting allusions to the unthinkable. As a preliminary, the conversationalist must gauge the mood, the intelligence and the verbal facility of the company. To this end, a few words of pedantic exposition often prove invaluable.”
― Jack Vance, Marune: Alastor 933
Often, as I would read his works, I told myself: yes, this is how it should be done, how does he do it? In 1997 he was rightfully so named a SFWA Grand Master.
Edited to add this perfectly illustrates as to the why:
To quote from the Times profile:
Dan Simmons, the best-selling writer of horror and fantasy, described discovering Vance as “a revelation for me, like coming to Proust or Henry James. Suddenly you’re in the deep end of the pool. He gives you glimpses of entire worlds with just perfectly turned language. If he’d been born south of the border, he’d be up for a Nobel Prize.” Michael Chabon, whose distinguished literary reputation allows him to employ popular formulas without being labeled a genre writer, told me: “Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this insurmountable barrier.”
“Candor is never indiscreet. Truth, which is to say, the reflection of life, is beautiful.”
― Jack Vance, The Demon Princes, Volume One: The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love
Jack Vance left behind an amazing heritage, I hope many will discover this great author and will enjoy his works as much as I have.
What are dreams? Ordinary experience is a dream. The eyes, the ears, the nose: they present pictures on the brain, and these pictures are called “reality”. At night, when we dream, other pictures, of source unknown, are impinged. Sometimes the dream-images are more real than “reality”. Which is solid, which illusion? Why trouble to make the distinction?”
- Jack Vance, The Lyonesse, Suldrun's Garden (p. 262)
A blessed age, all things considered, but an icon has passed on.
To me Jack Vance was an inspiration, an example to look up to. To read when wonder, to love and to be amazed by what he offered. I have read many fantasy authors in my life, but nobody could come near to the quality of Jack Vance.
'I must turn that page, oh and another.' To be so fully immersed in his worlds... His prose was sublime, he showed me how a rhythm could be very well balanced with great characters, and layers to layers that makes you want to start again once you finished it. His world building, betimes casually introducing things like technology of a spaceship and then utterly ignoring (by both the writer and the character) if that thing will ever fly as he did in his novel 'The Dirdir' shows his strength: he simply gets away with it because you are too imersed. Only later on you may wonder... how did it actually work?
My most beloved work and a perfect work in the genre of High Fantasy is the Lyonesse Trilogy (Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc). I think I was quite spoiled when I read that work so many years ago. No, not even Tolkien. With Lyonesse (an (lost) island located West of France, South of Ireland), Vance simply plunges you in an epic tale with warring kingdoms, fairies, trolls, quests, wizards and magic swords. The dialogue is an absolute treat to read, and the characters are distinct and well-written. Vance remains in command of his prose, he has this skill of writing to deliver a good novel (or short story for that matter) that I yet have never seen matched or better done. Oh yes, he sets the bar very high. It is just not that, Vance can make you love rogueish protagonists, can set up intricately imagined societies filled with bizarre rules and customs that makes you ponder.
Oh I could go on!
“Conversation! Supple sentences, with first and second meanings and overtones beyond, outrageous challenges with cleverly planned slip-points, rebuttals of elegant brevity; deceptions and guiles, patient explanations of the obvious, fleeting allusions to the unthinkable. As a preliminary, the conversationalist must gauge the mood, the intelligence and the verbal facility of the company. To this end, a few words of pedantic exposition often prove invaluable.”
― Jack Vance, Marune: Alastor 933
Often, as I would read his works, I told myself: yes, this is how it should be done, how does he do it? In 1997 he was rightfully so named a SFWA Grand Master.
Edited to add this perfectly illustrates as to the why:
To quote from the Times profile:
Dan Simmons, the best-selling writer of horror and fantasy, described discovering Vance as “a revelation for me, like coming to Proust or Henry James. Suddenly you’re in the deep end of the pool. He gives you glimpses of entire worlds with just perfectly turned language. If he’d been born south of the border, he’d be up for a Nobel Prize.” Michael Chabon, whose distinguished literary reputation allows him to employ popular formulas without being labeled a genre writer, told me: “Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this insurmountable barrier.”
“Candor is never indiscreet. Truth, which is to say, the reflection of life, is beautiful.”
― Jack Vance, The Demon Princes, Volume One: The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love
Jack Vance left behind an amazing heritage, I hope many will discover this great author and will enjoy his works as much as I have.