"Chronicles of Amber" by R. Zelazny
Nov. 7th, 2007 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shvarzПрочитал первые два тома. Вот здесь хорошо про Амбер написано.
With most well loved literary works in any genre, a direct line can be traced backward from each generation to the one before it, on and on into the dim past. This is no less true for Zelazny's Amber books. He himself openly acknowledged the inspiration provided to him by Philip Jose Farmer, and particularly his World of Tiers books. In the introduction Zelazny wrote for the third Tiersnovel, he specifically notes this influence, including his appreciation for Farmer's invention of a godlike family of squabbling siblings with an all-powerful, absentee father. Zelazny even dedicates one of the original Amber books to characters from Tiers!
Farmer, in turn, acknowledges his debt to Edgar Rice Burroughs, going so far as to include a Tarzan scene in the first Tiersnovel. And Burroughs came straight out of the pulps of the early twentieth century, along with Robert E. Howard and so many others.
Burroughs took the early pulps, knew he could do better, and gave us vivid, widescreen action on a grand scale, with a vast imagination and creativity. Farmer took up the reins and modernized it all, adding richer characterization and situations at once more real and more fantastic. Zelazny picked up precisely where Farmer's abilities left off, making of this modernized pulp a lilting, soaring prose poetry that rose far above its antecedents. Where Burroughs and Farmer described for us a scene, Zelazny lived it, breathed it, and conveyed it to us with lyricism and panache, aching beauty and delightful humor.
This handing-down of style and substance, with each generation adding something new and original to the mix, resulted in the unique style so prevalent in the works of Zelazny, finding its most accessible and widely appealing form in the Amber novels, with their unique combination of high fantasy and Raymond Chandler-esque grit and noir.
От себя добавлю, что Фармер, при всей его ограниченности как писателя, обрисовал "богоподобную семейку" несколько лучше, чем Желязны. Я гораздо больше верю тому, что люди с неограниченной жизнью и возможностями будут заниматься искусством и охотой друг на друга, чем... чем там занимались герои Желязны?
В целом, конечно, получилась неплохая героическая фэнтези. Первая книга к прочтению рекомендуется, а дальше - по желанию.
Upd: Еще интересное мнение:
The success of Amber was a mixed blessing for Zelazny and his readers.Prior to this, Zelazny was the heart of the American New Wave of SF,writing stories that blended myth, adventure, mature emotions, catchyspeculations and a breezy yet poetic style into award-winning signpoststoward a new kind of science fiction. With Amber, he moved more intothe realm of science fantasy, where magic and swordplay, althoughrigorously codified, replaced the sands of Mars or the maps of thehuman mind. Although Corwin's deadly elitist game-playing was gripping,his problems and nature bore little resemblance to Everyman. Somethingwas gained, but something was inevitably lost.
With most well loved literary works in any genre, a direct line can be traced backward from each generation to the one before it, on and on into the dim past. This is no less true for Zelazny's Amber books. He himself openly acknowledged the inspiration provided to him by Philip Jose Farmer, and particularly his World of Tiers books. In the introduction Zelazny wrote for the third Tiersnovel, he specifically notes this influence, including his appreciation for Farmer's invention of a godlike family of squabbling siblings with an all-powerful, absentee father. Zelazny even dedicates one of the original Amber books to characters from Tiers!
Farmer, in turn, acknowledges his debt to Edgar Rice Burroughs, going so far as to include a Tarzan scene in the first Tiersnovel. And Burroughs came straight out of the pulps of the early twentieth century, along with Robert E. Howard and so many others.
Burroughs took the early pulps, knew he could do better, and gave us vivid, widescreen action on a grand scale, with a vast imagination and creativity. Farmer took up the reins and modernized it all, adding richer characterization and situations at once more real and more fantastic. Zelazny picked up precisely where Farmer's abilities left off, making of this modernized pulp a lilting, soaring prose poetry that rose far above its antecedents. Where Burroughs and Farmer described for us a scene, Zelazny lived it, breathed it, and conveyed it to us with lyricism and panache, aching beauty and delightful humor.
This handing-down of style and substance, with each generation adding something new and original to the mix, resulted in the unique style so prevalent in the works of Zelazny, finding its most accessible and widely appealing form in the Amber novels, with their unique combination of high fantasy and Raymond Chandler-esque grit and noir.
От себя добавлю, что Фармер, при всей его ограниченности как писателя, обрисовал "богоподобную семейку" несколько лучше, чем Желязны. Я гораздо больше верю тому, что люди с неограниченной жизнью и возможностями будут заниматься искусством и охотой друг на друга, чем... чем там занимались герои Желязны?
В целом, конечно, получилась неплохая героическая фэнтези. Первая книга к прочтению рекомендуется, а дальше - по желанию.
Upd: Еще интересное мнение:
The success of Amber was a mixed blessing for Zelazny and his readers.Prior to this, Zelazny was the heart of the American New Wave of SF,writing stories that blended myth, adventure, mature emotions, catchyspeculations and a breezy yet poetic style into award-winning signpoststoward a new kind of science fiction. With Amber, he moved more intothe realm of science fantasy, where magic and swordplay, althoughrigorously codified, replaced the sands of Mars or the maps of thehuman mind. Although Corwin's deadly elitist game-playing was gripping,his problems and nature bore little resemblance to Everyman. Somethingwas gained, but something was inevitably lost.
