Ahira's Hangar

This is pretty neat
books.guardian.co.uk/depa...28,00.html ____________
Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something very much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.<i></i>

interesting interview ...!!! but now I worry a bit about the sci-fi movie <i></i>

Heh. I was worried in the first place. How some things get approved is beyond me. Why doesn't Ursula have the power to veto the script, or change it? Why can't she oversee various aspects of production? If she couldn't stand that the other thing had Ged pronounced "Jed" why didn't she have the power to make them do it right? (LOL I've always pronounced it "Jed" even though I know it's wrong, and wouldn't produce it that way. It's just the way I automatically said it when I first read it.) ____________
Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something very much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.<i></i>

Wow!! How about this?! In this interview, Ursula says:Quote:The dark, dry, changeless world after death of Earthsea comes (in so far as I am conscious of its sources) from the Greco-Roman idea of Hades' realm, from certain images in Dante, and from one of Rilke's Elegies. A realm of shadow, dust, where nothing changes and "lovers pass each other in silence"
I was introduced to Rilke a few years ago, and I think he's maybe the best poet who ever lived. Just a judgement call, of course. Well, I've been looking at his Duino Elegies, hoping to find what she was referring to. My best guess is that it's from the end of the 5th:Quote:Angel! Were there an unknown place
where, upon an uncanny carpet, lovers
could disport themselves in ways
here inconceivable-daring ariel maneuvers
of the heart, scaling high plateaus of passion,
ladders leaning one against the other,
planted trembling upon the void...
Were there such a place, would their
performance prove convincing to an audience
of the innumerable and silent dead?
Would not these dead toss down their
final, hoarded, secret coins of joy,
legal tender of eternity, before the
couple smiling on that detumescent carpet,
fully satisfied?"the innumerable and silent dead" sound about right, neh?


But wait, there's more!! Here's from the 10th Elegy:Quote:And higher, the stars. New.
Stars of the Land of Lament.
Slowly the elder names their names:
"Look there: the Rider, the Staff,
and that larger constellation
they call the Fruit Garland.
Higher still, toward the Pole,
the Cradle, the Path, the
Burning Book, the Doll, the Window.
In the southern sky,
clearcut as the lines within
a consecrated hand,
sparkles the luminous M
denoting Mothers."Could this be where she got the idea for her constellations in the dry land?? The Door, the Sheaf, the Tree, the One Who Turns.


And finally, from the same Elegy:Quote:They stand at the mountain's foot.
Weeping, she embraces him.

Alone, he starts his climb
up the peak of Primal Pain.
Not once do his footsteps echo
from this soundless path of fate.What was the name of the mountain range in Le Guin's land of the dead? Pain!! ____________
Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something very much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.<i></i>

At least I have the anwers for two questions about pronounciation. Le Guin and Ged. I always pronounced Ged in a Polish way ("g" like in "gun"). I also had doubt whether it was correct. Now I see it was. <i></i>