[& Sword] Source Material Question

[jburneko]

Hello,

I've been reading the material listed in Sorcerer & Sword pretty heavily recently.  I've read 4 out 5 of the Kane books.  I've re-read all the Conan stories I had previously read plus a few more including Hour of the Dragon.  I've also read Jirel of Joiry.

www.abebooks.com is my friend.

Anyway, I was flipping through Sorcerer & Sword and I happened to notice that there was something else listed next to Michael Moorcock's name other than the Elric books.  The supplement calls it, "The Book of Swords Trilogy."  I got curious and did some web searching but I couldn't find anything called "The Book of Swords Trilogy."  I did find something just called "The Swords Trilogy" consisting of "The Knight of Swords" "The Queen of Swords" and "The King of Swords."  These are the Corum stories.

I assumed that that these were the books Sorcerer & Sword was refering to.  I also discovered that I already own these books in compendium format published by White Wolf via their Eternal Champion encylcopedia-esq series.

On Friday, while waiting around for jury duty, I read The Knight of Swords in its entirety.  I noticed that The Knight of Swords turns out to be Arioch who has with him a sword that resemembles the description for Stormbringer.  There is also much discussion of the battle between Law and Chaos and all that.

I've seen other threads around here that mention the fact that Moorcock practiced self revision to retro fit his stories into the Eternal Champion mythology.  I was wondering if the above mentioned features of this first Corum book represents those retro-fits or if this book was written after the whole Eternal Champion thing was beginning ot form in Moorcock's head and thus these elements are original to this story?

Any info would be much appreciated.

Jesse

[talysman]

I haven't seen early versions versus later versions of any Moorcock stories to be able to say for certain, but my understanding is that he retrofits the storylines, but not individual stories.

for example, Moorcock originally wrote the whole Elric saga as basically three parts: the first conflict with Yrkoon, the eventual fall of Imryyr, and the destruction of the world. so, basically, Elric of Melniboné, Weird of the White Wolf, and Stormbringer were the first books written (although they were published as 6-8 stories instead of as books.) he did something similar with Corum and Hawkmoon, although I don't know the details on that.

he later went back and filled in events between other stories. during that time, he linked together the various sagas, creating the Eternal Champion idea and describing how Corum and Elric met.

I think some elements were there right from the beginning. it wouldn't surprise me that he used Arioch's name in the original Corum stories as well as the Elric stories. he just integrated things a little further later on.

[jburneko]

Huh, okay.  I had been under the impression that Moorcock inserted some new scenes to older material but I may have been mistaken.  I'll be glad if I'm wrong because it means I won't have to track down older editions of the Swords books.  Thanks for the info.

Jesse

[talysman]

well, I was wrong about the Eternal Champion; apparently, he developed that idea right from the start. according to this page, he wrote a story called "The Eternal Champion" that was published professionally in 1962 and may have appeared in a fanzine as early as 1956. "The Dreaming City" was published in 1961, while the stories from Stormbringer (where Elric dies) were published in 1963-64. the bulk of the Elric stories were published later.

I think he does some revision of the older stories when they are republished, but the main themes were always there.

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

Actually, guys, the publishing context of the 1960s is so messy and complicated, especially for the community Moorcock was writing in, that there's no real answer to this question.

The modern sense of published books or even "series" was just beginning for SF and fantasy. It was still emphatically lodged in the pulp and fanzine mentality. The very idea of canon was nothing like it is today.

Think of dozens of fanzines, newsletters, and APAs. Think of album liner notes, for chrissakes. Think of short stories published here, there, and everywhere, sometimes repeatedly, in ways that you and I would think of as drafts, alphas, and final versions, then re-tooled for anthologies. Think of stories published with hero A, then re-published with hero B because hero B hit it big with another story.

Especially for Moorcock and other members of the self-described British New Wave. These guys were proto-Deconstructionist. They thought nothing of changing their minds about their topics and continuously rewriting, retrofitting, and redefining; if Elric was "supposed" to be a manifestation of the Eternal Champion, then he could be written as such in the next story, and so what? If the whole thing was supposed to be "explained" in the lyrics of Hawkwind songs, then there they were, and forgotten tomorrow when an editor offered a big advance for "five more Elric stories, like the last one!"

Just because there was an early story called The Eternal Champion doesn't mean Elric was written to be part of it. But given the publishing context (not to mention all the drugs, sex, and rock'n'roll), that doesn't mean he wasn't part of it, either, especially if, y'know man, it all seemed to fit later, you know? Man? Wowww.

So good luck, Jesse. My advice is simply to read the DAW editions of Elric of Melnibone, The Weird of the White Wolf, and Stormbringer (books 1, 3, and 6 of those publications), to get the core seventies version of Elric. That way, anything before, during, and after those can be referred to them as the "center," and that's probably the only stability or basis that you'll be able to find.

And Jesse? Knowing you, I suggest avoiding anything to do with the character Jerry Cornelius.

Best,
Ron

[jburneko]

Ahh, I see.  So, I could spend a lifetime pouring through back issues and reprints and basically become a "Moorcock Scholar" with enough material to fill an entire archive with a historical "timeline" of the man's work.  Great.  I'll pass.

So, I'll just stick to the book I have for the Corum stuff.  For what it's worth the editions I'm reading for the Elric stuff is the Ace paperbacks from the eighties of the three volumes you mention.

It's funny you mention Cornelius.  The "Cornelius Quartet" is one of the few Moorcock things still in print and easily obtained.  I see it in my local bookstores all the time.  I keep picking it up, looking it over, putting it back, picking it up, putting it gack again.  But now you have me intregued.  I can be masochistic.  But thanks for the, um, "warning."

Jesse