There once was a young sorcerer name Lihp who was from a small fishing village called Oprah on the Island of Danza. Lihp only knew a few minor spells, but his potential was clear to even the most novice of sorcerers. Lihp studied the books of DeGeneres in hopes that one day he would be able to sail to the outlying islands of Leno, Lauer and Roker. Roker was of course the home of the Lady of Tyra, the wealthiest woman of all the island communities, and it was rumored that he who was able to win her heart would also win her wealth. Lihp cared not about love, but with her wealth, he felt he be able to have all he wanted in this world. Now Lihp was coming towards his sixteenth year, and that is of course when he was to perform the ritual of the Colbert, wherein he retreats to the forest of Donahue for 30 days to prove his worth as a man. Before he begins, he must first meet with the chief of the town Elder Ferguson and receive a personal proverb from the book of Gifford written many generations before by the great sage Regis of Hasselbeck. So Lihp headed towards the hall of Arsenio at the center of the town in order to begin his new life as a man.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Adventures of Lihp, a novel by Joshua Correll
So the Earthsea books have inspired me to write my own fantasy novel. The only problem I had was coming up with all of the endless names for people and places that had to sound otherworldly. Then inspiration hit. Tell me what you think.
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I liked your satirical little story, but perhaps you're missing one point Ursula tries to make in her books. The fact that the names of things are so important, that simply speaking the true name of something gives one power over it. I also often felt like Ursula was just throwing names at us of islands, cities, etc., but I think she does it because we're supposed to remember that the names of things are vital. We're supposed to care, even if we don't. However, after finishing A Wizard of Earthsea, I would rather here more about this Lihp, his story sounds like a more interesting one.
ReplyDeleteI can see you're point about the "power of true names", but in Earthsea, I feel it just comes across as white noise. I'm probably a little bit biased, but when Tolkein uses all of his names (and he uses a lot of them) I feel like he is really pulling these from a history that is bigger than a single book of his. When Ursula does this, I feel like she's drawing names out of a hat.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you there. TolkIEn has clearly spent more time thinking about Middle Earth than Ursula has about Earthsea.
ReplyDeleteMan, I’ma disagree. The work of a fantasy or sci-fi novel is to create a new world. That new world has to have geography, and those places must be named, otherwise the characters will be adrift in the vagueness of it all, or will (spoiler alert!) be lost in a place that could be rolling dunes, or could be open sea. Names, even poorly made-up names, give a concreteness to the story, they make the place seem real. For example, here’s Josh’s story with all the names taken out.
ReplyDeleteThere once was a young sorcerer who was from a small fishing village on an island. He only knew a few minor spells, but his potential was clear to even the most novice of sorcerers. He studied books in hopes that one day he would be able to sail to the outlying islands. One of those was, of course, the home of a lady, the wealthiest woman of all the island communities, and it was rumored that he who was able to win her heart would also win her wealth. He cared not about love, but about her wealth, with which he felt he would be able to have all he wanted in the world. Now he was coming towards his sixteenth year, and that is, of course, when he was to perform the ritual, wherein he retreats to the forest for 30 days to prove his worth as a man. Before he begins, he must first meet with the chief of the town and receive a personal proverb from a book written many generations before by a great sage. So he headed towards a hall at the center of the town in order to begin his new life as a man.
Josh’s real story is much better, just because it has things in it that are named. “The Lady of Tyra” is much more interesting than “a lady”, the “ritual of the Colbert” is more intriguing than “the ritual”, the “hall of Arsenio” catches the reader’s attention more than “a hall” (though that might be because the Hall of Arsenio is filled with raucous applause and dog-barks all hours of the evening).
Yeah, Earthsea is a world filled with made-up names. So is Hyrule. As is the Star Wars universe. But those made-up names, are absolutely vital. Without that white noise, there’s no story.
I’m on a tear. Tolkien did clearly spend more time thinking about Middle Earth than Le Guin did about Earthsea. He spent his entire life thinking about it, in some way or another. That’s cuz Middle Earth is Europe, plain and simple, while Earthsea is some strange vision Le Guin conjured up while trying to think of something to write.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that “white noise” comes from the fact that places are named, but not explained. We can all agree that Minas Tirith’s towers are white, because they are described as so in the book. What do the towers on Roke look like? They’re not described, so we probably all have different visions of them. For a fictional place to feel real, it has to be named, and it has to be described. Le Guin names the islands of Earthsea, but does little to describe most of them save for with a map.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe that sense of placenessness in Earthsea comes from the fact that we’re not as familiar with Earthsea as we are with other fictional worlds. Say “Tatooine” to someone who’s seen Star Wars, and they instantly get a vision of a desert world with multiple suns. Say “Tatooine” to someone who hasn’t seen it, they’re likely to say “Gesundheit”.
ReplyDelete