Lavondyss
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lavondyss | |
 First edition cover |
|
| Author | Robert Holdstock |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Alan Lee |
| Cover artist | Alan Lee |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Mythago Wood series |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz Ltd |
| Publication date | 1988 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 367 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0575043741 |
Lavondyss also titled Lavondyss: Journey to an Unknown Region is the second fantasy novel of the Mythago Wood series by award winning author Robert Holdstock and was originally published in 1988. Despite primarily featuring new characters, it is a sequel to Mythago Wood because several characters provide a link between the two novels. The events in the previous novel set into motion the events that drive the actions of the main protagonist in Lavondyss.
Lavondyss is significant because it has both won and been nominated for fantasy literature awards.
Reading the novel Mythago Wood will illuminate Lavondyss for first time readers. Reading the Wikipedia article on Mythago Wood will help in understanding issues and terminology in this article.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
Tallis Keeton, the younger sister of Harry Keeton (from Mythago Wood), is the protagonist of the story. Lavondyss starts with Tallis's grandfather and his efforts to write down some of his encounters with the mythagos from the nearby Ryhope Wood; Tallis is still a baby at this point. The story soon jumps forward a few years to where Tallis and her development are concentrated upon - it is at this point that the story shows her developing relationship with the land around her house and the mythagos emerging from Ryhope wood. This development continues throughout the book as periods in her life from baby to child to teenager to young woman are shown to the reader. As Tallis' shamanistic powers grow, she undertakes a quest in Ryhope wood to find her lost brother and undergoes a metamorphosis of her own.
Lavondyss is different than Mythago Wood in several ways. Lavondyss has a 'darker tone' due to its relentless focus "on the earth, stone, blood, dung, and death that are the necessary roots of the story."[1] Lavondyss is set in the 1950s and has a third person narrative viewpoint; Mythago Wood is set in the 1940s with the first person narrative viewpoint.
[edit] Plot summary
During her formative years, Tallis encounters the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (not a mythago, but real flesh and blood). Tallis sings him a song that she thinks she has made up herself, but the composer identifies its tune as that of a folk song he has collected personally in Norfolk. Slowly Tallis's links with the wood intensify. She makes ten wooden masks, each of which represents one of the ten first legends in Ryhope wood. Within the context of the story, these masks are talismans that help to engage certain parts of her subconscious and so link her with the characters and landscapes which are forming within the wood. When properly used (especially later in the book), these masks allow Tallis to see things that cannot be seen without them, and they can also be used to create 'Hollowings' — pathways in space and time which allow her to step into far-off places within the wood which would otherwise take days, weeks, or even months to travel to on foot. Tallis makes the masks in the following order:
- The Hollower — made from elm, this female mask is painted red & white.
- Gaberlungi — made from oak and painted white, this mask is known as "memory of the land".
- Skogen — made from hazel and painted green, this mask is known as "shadow of the forest".
- Lament — made from willow bark, this simple mask is painted gray.
- Falkenna — the first of three journey masks is painted like a hawk; this mask is known as "the flight of a bird into an unknown region".
- Silvering — the second of three journey masks is painted in colored circles; this mask is known as "the movement of a salmon into the rivers of an unknown region". The Silvering is also the name of a short story included in Merlin's Wood.
- Cunhaval — the third of three journey masks is made from elder wood; this mask is known as "the running of a hunting dog through the forest tracks of an unknown region".
- Moondream — made from beechwood, this mask is painted with moon symbols on its face. This mask plays a prominent role in The Hollowing.
- Sinisalo — made from wych elm and painted white and azure, this mask is known as "seeing the child in the land".
- Morndun — this mask appears dead from the front, but alive from behind and is known as "the first journey of a ghost into an unknown region".
Before setting foot in the wood, Tallis has one particular encounter that has major repercussions through the rest of the story: with the 'help' of one of the mythagos, she 'hollows' (creates a Hollowing) and observes Scathach, a young warrior, dying on a battlefield beneath a tree. Tallis' misdirected magic used to help this young warrior changes both her story and Harry Keeton's story in Ryhope wood.
Deep within Ryhope wood Tallis eventually meets up with Edward Wynne-Jones (human, not mythago) who was only mentioned in Mythago Wood. He is now living in the wood as a shaman to a small village of ancient people. Through his understanding of the wood (which he studied with the scientist George Huxley from the first book), Tallis herself gains an understanding of her connections with all that surrounds her; most importantly, she asks him how she might find her lost brother Harry Keeton.[2][3][4][5]
[edit] Human Characters
- Edward Gaunt
- An older man who is a gardener and keeper of livestock who tends to the Keeton's farm. He is familiar with Ryhope wood and lives in a nearby cottage.
- Harry Keeton
- A local ex-RAF pilot whose whereabouts in Rhyhope wood are unknown at the conclusion of Mythago Wood.
- James Keeton
- Father to Harry and Tallis. James plays a prominent role in The Hollowing, a sequel to Lavondyss.
- Margaret Keeton
- Tallis' mother and James Keeton's wife.
- Owen Keeton
- Grandfather to Harry and Tallis. Owen dies when Tallis is an infant, but leaves behind a book with important notes for her.
- Tallis Keeton
- Younger half sister of Harry Keeton and protagonist of the story. Tallis is precocious and has innate shamanistic powers, even as a child. Tallis was born in 1944 and is named after the early Welsh poet Taliesin.
- Ralph Vaughan Williams
- The composer appears as himself, aged eighty-four when Tallis is thirteen.
- Edward Wynne-Jones
- A researcher in historical anthropology who teaches at Oxford University. Wynne-Jones is a diminutive and fussy man who smokes a pipe. He is approximately the same age as George Huxley. Together Wynne-Jones and George Huxley study Ryhope Wood extensively in the 1930s. Wynne-Jones makes scientific equipment designed to interact with the paranormal in Ryhope Wood. Wynne-Jones disappears into Ryhope Wood in April of 1942.
[edit] Mythagos
- Broken Boy
- This mythago is great stag of local legend. Broken Boy always appears in an injured state, being lame due to an arrow inflicted wound.
- Scathach
- This male mythago is the youngest of three brothers. His older brothers are Mordred and Arthur. This mythago is of romantic interest to Tallis and she intervenes in his mythological role.
- Tig
- This male mythago appeared briefly in a neolithic village in Mythago Wood and reappears with a more significant role in Lavondyss.
[edit] Critical Commentary and Awards
Mythago Wood and Lavondyss have been described as being significant because they are pure fantasy works that take place in an innovative, yet startlingly ordinary realm. Holdstock’s writing in these works has been described as an impressive mixture of poetic style and sensitivity. The Rhyhope wood series is considered to be "one of the landmark fantasy series of the late twentieth century." [6]
Mythago Wood and Lavondyss have been described by Michael D. C. Drout as being two of Holdstock’s best works which, as fantasies, have an internally consistent framework of principles. These works are noted as dealing with the traditions of the British Isles with originality and deftness by incorporating its unwritten culture, including the Morris dances, the Green Man, Shamanism, Neolithic tribespeople, and pre-Roman Celtic traditions. Death and mortal remains are also prominent and disturbing parts of these works. [7]
Lavondyss has won a number of awards including the BSFA Award for Best Novel in 1988.
[edit] Books in the Mythago Cycle
- Mythago Wood (1984)
- Lavondyss (1988)
- The Bone Forest (1991), a novella and collection of short stories
- The Hollowing (1993)
- Merlin's Wood (1994), a novel and two short stories (only published in the UK)
- Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn (1997)
- Avilion (expected February 2009)
Note: the order in which the works were written/published does not necessarily correspond to the order of events within the realm of the Mythago Wood cycle. For example, Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn and the novella The Bone Forest are prequels to Mythago Wood even though they were published at a later date. The novel Merlin's Wood and short stories in The Bone Forest and Merlin's Wood have little bearing on the events in the Ryhope wood. See the table below for a chronology of events within Ryhope wood.
| Preceded by: | Chronology of Events in Ryhope Wood: |
Followed by: |
|---|---|---|
| Avilion | Lavondyss | The Hollowing |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Langford, David Supernatural Fiction Writers, Second Edition, Volume 1, ed. Richard Bleiler (New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003), pages 449.
- ^ Newman, Kim St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers, ed. David Pringle (Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1996), pages 285-286.
- ^ Larson, Eugene Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, ed. Fiona Kelleghan (Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2002), pages 381-384.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, eds. John Clute and John Grant (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1997), pages 474-475, 674.
- ^ Langford, David Supernatural Fiction Writers, Second Edition, Volume 1, ed. Richard Bleiler (New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003), pages 448-453.
- ^ Mathews, Richard. Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination. (New York: Routledge, 2002), pages 34-35, 188.
- ^ Drout, Michael D.C. Of Sorcerers and Men: Tolkien and the Roots of Modern Fantasy Literature. (China: Barnes & Noble, 2006), page 56.
[edit] References
- Clute, John (1997). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, 1st ed., New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312198695.
- Clute, John (1995). Look at the Evidence, 1st ed., Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-0934933065.
- Drout, Michael (2006). Of Sorcerers and Men: Tolkien and the Roots of Modern Fantasy Literature, 1st ed., China: Barnes & Noble. ISBN 978-0760785232.
- Holdstock, Robert (1988). Lavondyss, 1st ed., London: Victor Gollancz. ISBN 978-057503475X.
- Holdstock, Robert (1984). Mythago Wood, 1st ed., London: Victor Gollancz. ISBN 978-0575034963.
- Holdstock, Robert (1991). The Bone Forest, 1st ed., London: Grafton. ISBN 978-0246138330.
- Holdstock, Robert (1993). The Hollowing, 1st ed., London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-000224201X.
- Holdstock, Robert (1994). Merlin's Wood, 1st ed., London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0002246031.
- Holdstock, Robert (1997). Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn, 1st ed., New York: Roc Books. ISBN 978-0451455703.
- Langford, David (2003). Supernatural Fiction Writers, 2nd ed., New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 978-0684312514.
- Larson, Eugene (2002). Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, 1st ed., Pasadena: Salem Press. ISBN 978-1587650512.
- Mathews, Richard (2002). Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination, 1st ed., New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415938902.
- Newman, Kim (1996). St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers, 1st ed., Detroit: St. James Press. ISBN 978-1558622050.
