The Corn King and the Spring Queen (Virago Modern Classics) [Paperback]

Naomi Mitchison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 1983 | Series: Virago Modern Classics

Introduced by Naomi Mitchison. Set over two thousand years ago on the clam and fertile shores of the Black Sea, Naomi Mitchison's The Corn King and the Spring Queen tells of ancient civilisations where tenderness, beauty and love vie with brutality and dark magic. Erif Der, a young witch, is compelled by her father to marry his powerful rival, Tarrik the Corn King, so becoming the Spring Queen. Forced by her father, she uses her magic spells to try and break Tarrik's power. But one night Tarrik rescues Sphaeros, an Hellenic philosopher, from a shipwreck. Sphaeros in turn rescues Tarrik from near death and so breaks the enchantment that has bound him. And so begins for Tarrik a Quest - a fabulous voyage of discovery which will bring him new knowledge and which will reunite him with his beautiful Spring Queen.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A novel ahead of its time (1931) in many ways due to its quiet feminism and its insistence that women could have fun, and quest-plots, as well as men, this was acclaimed as one of the most important books of the year it was published. Mythical and historical at once, the story follows Erif Der in her journeys through the world of her time as she searches for atonement, reconciliation and cleansing. Lyrical descriptive writing, lucid treatments of politics and war and intensely intimate observation of the needs and deeds of human beings fill this book, which manages to be earthy and transcendent at once. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in 1931, this dense, epic-length fantasy is a quest story cunningly woven of history and myth. Erif Der, a witch in a Black Sea land, falls in love with the king whom she was supposed to topple. As Spring Queen, she takes revenge on her scheming father, introduces death into the cycle of the seasons and must seek purification of her soul. Another seeker is Kleomenes, rebel king of Sparta, who is willing to put up his own children and his mother as hostages for the sake of the revolution in which he fervently believes. Berris Der, brother of Erif and an adventurous painter-sculptor hopelessly in love with a Spartan woman, represents a third type of quester. There are many others in a crowded canvas stretching from Asia Minor to Egypt. In scenes of beauty and power, Mitchison breathes life into such perennial themes as courage, forgiveness, the search for meaning, and self-sacrifice.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 714 pages
• Publisher: Virago Press Ltd (September 8, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0860683842
• ISBN-13: 978-0860683841
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,002,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A magical book which is as brutal as it is dreamy, May 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Corn King and the Spring Queen (The Hera Series) (Paperback)

Naomi Mitchisonšs masterful recreation of ancient Scythia must surely stand as one of the most enduring historical novels of the century. In clear, pristine prose (which reminds me of Ursula LeGuin), Mitchison describes the mystical, sometimes horrible, world of her protagonist Erif Der (Red fire backwards). I first stumbled across this long novel in 1988 while at university. Rereading it last year was a sheer pleasure. The old-fashioned, very British, tone of the writing is not in the slightest bit off-putting. Here is a remarkable writer at the height of her powers. Like Ursula LeGuin, again, Mitchison has the uncanny ability to transport her readers to alien cutures and to make these foreign worlds, and the people who live there, as relevant as they are mesmerising. If you havenšt experienced Naomi Mitchison before, then I canšt think of a better place to start than with The Corn King and the Spring Queen.