Posted by Robert Ruork on December 16, 1997 at 12:04:55:
In Reply to: Re: "The Pilgrims" : A Canterbury Tale? posted by iotar on December 16, 1997 at 10:05:19:
: : : Does anyone know if any of Jack Vance's mystery novels eg Main in the Cage have ever appeared in print in the UK, and if so, a source? Nothing to do with Cugel at all, really
: : : : Can anyone help me out? I love Cugel's Saga, does Cugel appear in any other Vance books? Or is this it for him?
: : : : Thanks.
: : First try "Green Magic: The Fantasy Realms of Jack Vance", TOR Books,USA,1979, or, for the more intrepid, the orginal "The Pilgrims" in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction,Mercury Press,USA ,1966. This is Cugel in yet another attempt to return from banishment -- he struggles.
: THE PILGRIMS, isn't that the story in "Cugel's Saga" about the caravan journey?
: If it is (Soz, I'm at work, can't check!) has anyone else noticed a similarity to Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" in this story. Similarly some earlier sections (Soz, same problem!) also present similarities to Homer's "Odyssey".
: Is "Cugel's Saga" really a journey through the history of literature and the idea of the quest where one returns to the point of departure to "know the place for the first time"?
: I'll probably re-read this over Yule and post further thoughts on this subject.
: I'd be interested to hear other opinions on this novel, or indeed "The Eyes of the Overworld"(Which I remember less well.) and the character of the Wayfarer in Vance.
: Ta muchly,
: IOTAR.
::The caravan to which you refer is similar, but in that Cugel tows his stolen Ship...I believe his "pilgrimage" in the episode (supra) is from one of the earlier banishments perpetrated on him by Iucounu. I could be wrong, indeed I am accustomed to it.
::R.R.