Posted by Rodger Whitlock on November 30, 1998 at 13:16:48:
In Reply to: Historical date of Lyonesse trilogy posted by Rohan on November 29, 1998 at 12:33:42:
Rohan wrote:
: I have noticed some people here are using the Lyonesse trilogy
: as part of their role-playing campaign.
[snip]
: Does anyone know the approximate year that these were supposed
: to take place?
: There are few clues with contradictions:
[snip rest]
You may never come to a satisfactory conclusion because the
evidence may contain internal contradictions that cannot be
resolved. If you read Vance's books closely, it is easy to find
innumerable inconsistencies and contradictions. For example, I
re-reading the Lyonesse trilogy and note that the text sometimes
says that Dhrun's one year in Thripsey Shee is equivalent to ten
years of normal life, but in other places says that it is nine
years. Another example is the oubliette in which Aillas was im-
prisoned: when he escapes he rolls out onto the pavement, yet
Maduoc inspects the opening, the text notes a three-foot high
wellhead around the opening.
Let me emphasize, however, that these are only minor things and
in no way diminish Jack Vance's stature as a great writer of
imaginative fiction. In fact, I view them as evidence that he is
not obsessed by detailed consistency (unlike, say, Tolkien) and
is more interested in the narrative flow.
WRT to the precise chronology of Lyonesse, I think you are doomed
to failure because the narrative is tied to King Arthur's dates
-- and he, of course, is a mythical person. Even if there were
a specific chieftain who gave rise to the KA legends, his dates
are only vaguely ascertainable within "real" history.
Don't worry about it. If you must, take the view that the Lyonesse
narrative occurs in an alternate universe which is not, chrono-
logically speaking, in one-to-one correspondence with our own.
Here's to Jack Vance, Prince of Writers! Long may he live!