A CAVALCADE OF DRAGONS

by Roger Lancelyn -- Ed. Green ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1971

For the stout of mind, a classic(al) syllabus: ancient and medieval legends -- ""Jason and the Dragon of Colchis"" (the Golden Fleece), some fables, rewrites of Sigurd and Beowulf, Arthurian stories including Sir Thomas Malory's ""Sir Launcelot""; Dragons of Folklore -- three Joseph Jacobs tales, one Grimm, and six of the sort in the Manning-Sanders Book of Dragons retold by the editor from several Fairy Book versions; original latter-day poetry and prose selections -- Lewis Carroll's ""Jabberwocky,"" C. S. Lewis' ""The Dragon Speaks"" (excerpted from The Pilgrim's Regress), a Lang, a Nesbit, Tolkien's ""Hoard,"" a G. K. Chesterton. . . and lastly, styled ""Epilogue,"" seven verses (Chapter XX) from The Revelation of St. John the Divine. Mr. Green takes his material seriously, documents it very thoroughly, and introduces it with what he rightly calls a Just So story of his own tracing the probable progenitors of the whole mythology; also in the Introduction he refers to literary works of greater length ""which would be spoilt by having their Dragons cut out and served separately"" and commends them most infectiously to our attention. Many of the treasures here appear in other treasuries in other forms and A Book of Magical Beasts (1970, Ruth Manning-Sanders--Ed.), comes most immediately to mind: whereas that's the quintessential boon-book to a home library, readable alone and aloud and good for dipping into at whim, this consciously (and somewhat stuffily in contrast) represents the dragon-lore Tradition; entertainment is therefore coincident with, sometimes even subordinate to exemplification.

Pub Date: March 1, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Walck

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION