Land of Unreason

by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt

Book Overview

On Midsummer's Eve, as everybody knows, you should leave a bowl of milk out for the fairies. Unfortunately - or fortunately - Fred Barber, an American diplomat convalescing in Yorkshire, didn't take... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440147360
• ISBN13: 9780440147367
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Dell Publishing Company
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A fairytale for adults

Fred Barber is an American diplomat posted to the U.S. embassy in Spain at the beginning of World War 2. Although the U.S. is still a neutral country Barber is wounded in an explosion and sent to the British countryside to recuperate. From his temporary billet in Yorkshire, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Gurton, Barber can hear the German bombs shattering the near-by city of Leeds. At nighttime the sky glows red in the distance where the city burns. Unable to relax or sleep easily Barber uses sleeping pills to nurse himself into a calmer state. Then on St John's Eve Barber finds himself in the house alone, except for the Gurton's baby who sleeps in his room peacefully. Determined not to resort to pills again Barber reaches instead for the scotch bottle. Wandering around the house Barber comes upon a saucer of milk, which Mrs. Gurton has left on the front doorstep. Intrigued Barber remembers that he has read in The Golden Bough that superstitious people believe that on certain nights of the year a tribute of milk should be left out for the fairies. Not to do so will result in the child of the household being stolen away and a changeling left in its place. In a slightly tipsy state Barber is amused by his find. He decides to drink the milk and leave his scotch in its place. The milk has a soporific effect and Barber happily goes to bed. In the middle of the night Barber thinks he dreams of a strange creature, with a huge smile, entering his room. Later in the night Barber awakes and finds himself out of doors in a very strange land surrounded by a crowd of very strange beings. Much to his surprise Barber finds that he has been transported to Fairyland, to the court of King Oberon and Queen Titania. Just how did he get here, Barber wonders, and how is he going to get back to Yorkshire? The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung taught that we should play more attention to dreams, myths, folktales and stories of the extraordinary. These fantastic narrations are often dismissed as 'mere fancy', of no value except to entertain children and the weak-minded. But according to Jung the fantastic appeals to the unconscious. It provides an outlet for the less logical, more intuitive, side of ourselves. The unconscious is often neglected and suppressed in our ultra-logical, materialist, conscious world. If ignored for too long our unconscious will break out in rebellion, resulting in psychological disturbance. So if you find the stress of modern life too much De Camp and Pratt's book may be just what the doctor ordered. The authors have drawn heavily on folklore to create a strange, dream-like world that is entertaining, intriguing and sure to make you smile. The book is called and this is indeed a place where worker-day logic does not hold. The unconscious can find plenty of events here that don't obey conscious reason, but none-the-less have an intuitive rightness, a hidden order of their own. This is certainly not a book for children. The h

A fairytale for adults

Fred Barber is an American diplomat posted to the U.S. embassy in Spain at the beginning of World War 2. Although the U.S. is still a neutral country Barber is wounded in an explosion and sent to the British countryside to recuperate. From his temporary billet in Yorkshire, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Gurton, Barber can hear the German bombs shattering the near-by city of Leeds. At nighttime the sky glows red in the distance where the city burns. Unable to relax or sleep easily Barber uses sleeping pills to nurse himself into a calmer state. Then on St John's Eve Barber finds himself in the house alone, except for the Gurton's baby who sleeps in his room peacefully. Determined not to resort to pills again Barber reaches instead for the scotch bottle. Wandering around the house Barber comes upon a saucer of milk, which Mrs. Gurton has left on the front doorstep. Intrigued Barber remembers that he has read in The Golden Bough that superstitious people believe that on certain nights of the year a tribute of milk should be left out for the fairies. Not to do so will result in the child of the household being stolen away and a changeling left in its place. In a slightly tipsy state Barber is amused by his find. He decides to drink the milk and leave his scotch in its place. The milk has a soporific effect and Barber happily goes to bed. In the middle of the night Barber thinks he dreams of a strange creature, with a huge smile, entering his room. Later in the night Barber awakes and finds himself out of doors in a very strange land surrounded by a crowd of very strange beings. Much to his surprise Barber finds that he has been transported to Fairyland, to the court of King Oberon and Queen Titania. Just how did he get here, Barber wonders, and how is he going to get back to Yorkshire? The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung taught that we should play more attention to dreams, myths, folktales and stories of the extraordinary. These fantastic narrations are often dismissed as 'mere fancy', of no value except to entertain children and the weak-minded. But according to Jung the fantastic appeals to the unconscious. It provides an outlet for the less logical, more intuitive, side of ourselves. The unconscious is often neglected and suppressed in our ultra-logical, materialist, conscious world. If ignored for too long our unconscious will break out in rebellion, resulting in psychological disturbance. So if you find the stress of modern life too much De Camp and Pratt's book may be just what the doctor ordered. The authors have drawn heavily on folklore to create a strange, dream-like world that is entertaining, intriguing and sure to make you smile. The book is called and this is indeed a place where worker-day logic does not hold. The unconscious can find plenty of events here that don't obey conscious reason, but none-the-less have an intuitive rightness, a hidden order of their own. This is certainly not a book for children. The h