HW: The Time Of The Hawklords

[ciwsolutions]

At 06:31 03/05/00, you wrote:
>Jon Jarrett wrote:
>
> >         I've had the Moorcock argument with a few people and I think it
> > comes down to this - you can't dispute the grandeur of his imagination or
> > his prolific output. But it seems to me that it's only in the last
> > fifteen years or so that his ability with words has really caught up with
> > what he's imagining - the extra Elric that introduces the Rose (I forget
> > its name) is maybe the best of the lot, and does a much better job of
> > conveying Elric's internal torment than any of the `first round'.
>
>I must disagree! The Dancers at the End of Time trilogy (early 70s) is
>astonishingly well written. Same for the Cornelius novels, though they're
>hard to
>really judge I guess. His character development is extraordinarily good as
>well
>for most of his early material (Gloriana, Behold the Man, Jerry Cornelius)- I
>can't think of many authors who can match him in that field.

I must admit I haven't re-read them since they came out, but I thought the
"Dancers" were a little overdone, though I grant you they were more
polished than the older stuff, they also lacked the visceral drive of the
earlier stuff.  Personally I find the Cornelius tetralogy(?) a fascinating
view of the author maturing - from the self-pastiche of "The Final
Programme" through to the multi-stranded wonder of "The Condition of Muzak"
(it didn't win the Guardian fiction prize for nowt!).  I don't really think
that you can call "Gloriana" an "early" work though - I think it's more a
flowering of the broad, mature writer that went on to produce "Mother
London" & the Pyat sequence.

> >         And then of course there's _Blood_ :-) I think it's brilliant but
> > I understand very little of it, which is probably the point. I do think
> > you'd have to be a genius to write it though.

I love it, and "Southern Harbours" - the man's imagination just keeps
amazing me *g*

My 2p worth...

ChrisW
NP:Radio 3 - Late junction