Stardust (Gaiman novel): Difference between revisions
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Tristran meets a small hairy man who helps him through the woods. After Tristran helps them escape deadly trees called serewood, he learns he has the [[ability]] to find any location in Faerie. Tristran is taunted by tiny faeries, who say that he is "soon to face his true love's scorn". The hairy man gives Tristran a new outfit, a [[silver]] chain like the one used to imprison Una, and a candle-stub which allows one to travel great distances quickly while it burns, which he explains by referencing the nursery rhyme "[[How Many Miles to Babylon?]]". |
Tristran meets a small hairy man who helps him through the woods. After Tristran helps them escape deadly trees called serewood, he learns he has the [[ability]] to find any location in Faerie. Tristran is taunted by tiny faeries, who say that he is "soon to face his true love's scorn". The hairy man gives Tristran a new outfit, a [[silver]] chain like the one used to imprison Una, and a candle-stub which allows one to travel great distances quickly while it burns, which he explains by referencing the nursery rhyme "[[How Many Miles to Babylon?]]". |
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Tristran uses the candle to quickly reach the fallen star, but is surprised to find that the star is a young woman with a broken |
Tristran uses the candle to quickly reach the fallen star, but is surprised to find that the star is a [[Yvaine|young woman with a broken leg]], who hurls mud at him and continuously insults him. He resolves to bring her to Victoria anyway, tying her to him with the chain. However, the candle goes out before he can return, so the two sleep for the night. |
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===Book [[3]]=== |
===Book [[3]]=== |
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Revision as of 19:21, 27 August 2007
 First UK edition cover | |
| Author | Neil Gaiman |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Charles Vess |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy fiction |
| Publisher | Avon Books |
Publication date | February 1, 1999 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Hardback, Paperback, Audiobook (Read by the author) |
| Pages | 256 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0-380-97728-4 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
Stardust (1998) is the second solo prose novel by Neil Gaiman. It is usually published as a novel with illustrations by Charles Vess. Stardust has a different tone and style than most of Gaiman's prose fiction, being consciously written in the tradition of pre-Tolkien English fantasy, following in the footsteps of authors such as Lord Dunsany. It is concerned with the adventures of a young man from the village of Wall, which borders the magical land of Faerie.
In 2007, a film based on the book was released to generally positive reviews.[1] Gaiman has also occasionally made references to writing a sequel, or at least another book concerning the village of Wall.[2]
Setting
Stardust begins in a small English town named Wall, located a night's drive away from London. Wall is named for an old rock wall to its east, in which is a small opening leading to a forest. This opening is a portal to the magical world of Faerie. It is carefully guarded by two watchmen at all times, except once every nine years on May Day, when a market comes to the meadow just past the wall.
Faerie, a world also featured in many of Gaiman's other works, such as The Sandman and The Books of Magic, is composed of "each land that has been forced off the map by explorers and the brave going out and proving it wasn't there", and thus features many mythic creatures and objects. Most of Stardust takes place in Stormhold, a kingdom within Faerie named for the Stormhold, a fortress carved from Mount Huon.
The story begins in late April 1839, as Henry Draper had just photographed the Moon and Charles Dickens was serializing Oliver Twist. The majority of the book takes place seventeen years later, around October 1856.
Characters
The book's main character is Tristran Thorn (renamed "Tristan" in the movie adaptation). Tristran is an awkward, "painfully shy" boy with one pointed (fairylike) ear and one rounded (human) ear. Tristran's father is Dunstan Thorn, a businesslike man who married his boyhood sweetheart, Daisy Hempstock. Daisy rarely speaks to Tristran, and she and Dunstan's daughter, Louisa, frequently tease him.
Victoria Forester is a resident of Wall described as "the most beautiful girl for a hundred miles around". She is the daughter of Bridget Comfrey and Tommy Forester, who brawls with an Arab named Alum Bey at the beginning of Stardust.
The eighty-first Lord of Stormhold is an old man who rules Stormhold until his death. At the beginning of Stardust, he has four dead sons (Secundus, Quintus, Quartus, and Sextus) and three living ones (Primus, Tertius, and Septimus), in addition to his long-lost daughter Una. The dead sons appear as ghostly observers, while the living sons plot constantly to kill each other and succeed their father.
The Lilim are three old women of great power. The oldest of the three is called "the witch-queen", though they are also called by this title collectively. They are never named, as they lost their names long ago, but the oldest adopts the alias "Morwanneg" at one point.
Tristran's biological mother is a cat-eared faerie girl who is revealed at the end of Stardust to be Lady Una, the daughter of the Lord of Stormhold. Until then, she works as a slave for Madame Semele, a member of the sisterhood to which the Lilim belong. The witch-queen knew Semele as Ditchwater Sal when she was "a young chit of a thing".
At the beginning and end of Stardust, an unnamed foreigner in a top hat meets Dunstan and Tristran, respectively. It is implied that he somehow caused the two to find their "Heart's Desire". Another unnamed character, a small, hairy man, assists Tristran early in his journey, and is seen in one of Vess's illustrations accompanying the man in the top hat. Tristran suspects that the bestial man is not human, and speculates that his name might be "Charmed".
Plot synopsis
Book 1
On the eve of the Faerie Market, foreigners flood into Wall. Dunstan Thorn, a young local, rents out his cottage to a stranger in exchange for his "Heart's Desire". A small hairy man spends the night as well. The next day, the stranger leads Dunstan to the market, where he meets Una, a princess imprisoned by the witch called Semele. He purchases a glass snowdrop from her with a kiss, and gives the flower to his fiancé Daisy. That night, Dunstan meets Una in the woods and makes love to her. A month later, Dunstan marries Daisy. In February, he receives a baby in a basket—his and Una's son, Tristran Thorn.
Eighteen years later, Tristran seeks the love of Victoria Forester, the town beauty. One night, while Tristran is walking her home from the shop where he works, she sees a shooting star land in Faerie, and he vows to bring it to her in exchange for a kiss, and perhaps her hand in marriage. Dunstan gives Tristran the snowdrop and helps him pass the guards at the wall by alluding to his faerie heritage, at which Tristran enters Faerie.
Book 2
At the Stormhold, the Lord of Stormhold gathers his sons to determine who will be his heir, and has his three living sons go to the window. Septimus sees a star; his father hurls the Power of Stormhold, a topaz that makes its bearer ruler of the land, into the sky, knocking the star from the heavens. He then dies, and his sons leave together. Septimus departs on his own after poisoning Tertius at a nearby inn.
In a small grey house in the woods, three ancient and mighty witches known as the Lilim learn of the fallen star by reading the entrails, and the oldest of the Lilim consumes their last reserve of a star's heart to become young again. She meets a farm boy, Brevis, at a crossroads, takes his goat, and transforms him into a second goat, using the two animals to pull a chariot wherein she travels.
Tristran meets a small hairy man who helps him through the woods. After Tristran helps them escape deadly trees called serewood, he learns he has the ability to find any location in Faerie. Tristran is taunted by tiny faeries, who say that he is "soon to face his true love's scorn". The hairy man gives Tristran a new outfit, a silver chain like the one used to imprison Una, and a candle-stub which allows one to travel great distances quickly while it burns, which he explains by referencing the nursery rhyme "How Many Miles to Babylon?".
Tristran uses the candle to quickly reach the fallen star, but is surprised to find that the star is a young woman with a broken leg, who hurls mud at him and continuously insults him. He resolves to bring her to Victoria anyway, tying her to him with the chain. However, the candle goes out before he can return, so the two sleep for the night.
Book 3
Book 4
Publication history
Stardust was originally conceived by Gaiman and Vess as a "story book with pictures", created by both, and to be published by DC Comics. Initially it was released in 1997 in what is known in the medium of comics as a "prestige" format four-issue mini-series. This means it came out once a month in a square-bound high-gloss "comics pamphlet" of sorts with high grade paper, high quality color and no advertisements.
Gaiman and Vess originally intended the story to be released complete, as a single book, which would better reproduce the painted illustrations of Vess and be a "story book" for all ages, and a release in this format was made in 1998. There was both a hardback (ISBN 1-56389-431-9) and a trade paperback edition (ISBN 1-56389-470-X). It is more accurately titled Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust (Being A Romance Within The Realm of Faerie). The hardback edition is quarter-bound in faux leather with the author's names, title and several stars inlaid in foil. It also has reproductions of the comic book covers and many sketches by Vess. The trade paperback has a very different cover design and illustrations by Vess, and has subsequently been reprinted with another different cover design.
Gaiman retains the copyright to the text and in 1999 decided, encouraged by publisher Avon, to publish Stardust as a conventional novel in hardback without illustrations. There was also a subsequent UK hardcover edition, from Headline. The book also proved popular with readers of the "romance" genre, although it is generally considered part of the fantasy genre. Thus the paperback publication was originally given three different covers which when placed side by side had one background image and a different primary image including a handsome man holding a woman in a passionate embrace, although this cover concept was never used.
In 1999, Charles Vess' Green Man Press produced a portfolio as a benefit for Charles Vess' wife Karen, injured in a car accident, titled A Fall of Stardust, which contained two chapbooks and a series of art plates. The first chapbook, written by Gaiman, comprised of "Wall: A Prologue" short story, "Septimus' Triolet" poem, "Song Of The Little Hairy Man", and "The Old Warlock's Reverie: A Pantoum" poem. The second chapbook was a short story entitled The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse by Susanna Clarke. Art plates were illustrated by William Stout, Mike Mignola, Terri Windling, Bryan Talbot, Jill Thompson, Paul Chadwick, P. Craig Russell, Mark Crilley, Elizabeth Johns, Michael Zulli, Robin Mullins, Lisa Snellings, Terry Moore, Tony DiTerlizzi, Linda Medley, Lorenzo Mattotti, Zander Cannon, Dave McKean, Jeff Smith, Trina Robins & Steve Leialoha, Gary Gianni, Janine Johnston, Stan Sakai, Michael Kaluta, Moebius, Rebecca Guay, Geoff Darrow, Brian Froud and Charles Vess. Those who order this collection directly from Green Man Press received an additional art plate by Sergio Aragones. [3]
In July of 2007, a new hardcover edition was published by Vertigo containing approximately fifty pages of new material, including new artwork and information on the production of the book.
Trivia
 | This August contains a list of miscellaneous information. |
- One of the characters in Stardust is a large tree with red leaves that talks. The character was based on singer/songwriter (and friend of Gaiman) Tori Amos. She references this in the song "Horses" on her 1996 album Boys For Pele. She sings "And if there is a way to find you I will find you/but will you find me if Neil makes me a tree?"
Awards
The original DC comic series was a top votegetter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards for Favorite Limited Series for 1998 and 1999. The collected edition of the series was a top votegetter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album for 1999.
In 1999, the Mythopoeic Society awarded Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for Stardust.
In 2000, it received the Alex Award from the American Library Association, which called it one of the "top ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults".
Citations
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stardust/
- ^ January 5th 2007, chat with Barnes and Noble, http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780060934712&displayonly=ITV&z=y
- ^ "Neil Gaiman Bibliography: A Fall Of Stardust". Retrieved 2007-04-22.
External links
