Some books are optional. "The Worm Ouroboros", by E. R. Eddison, is not. It is more than just the birth of high fantasy writing as we know it. It is a tale that connects with imagination and wonder in a way that books today simply don't do. When you read "The Worm Ouroboros" you'll realize that modern writers produce stories, but they don't tell Stories. Since the English language fails to provide me with adequate superlatives...
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As a youngster I devoured fantasy greedily, any fantasy (there was not a fantasy-genre industry in those days, and fantasy was hard to come by.) Much of what I liked then I can no longer read: too much bombast and adolescent wish-fulfilment But Eddison improves with each rereading.His prose is beautiful, as everyone remarks. If you don't have the patience for sentences of more than two clauses, or if you have a prim horror...
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