Remembering Robert Jordan

Last summer I recommended an essay by Mark Oppenheimer on the virtues of the "medium town," which appeared in a journal he'd co-founded called the New Haven Review of Books - a "medium town" answer to the decline of book reviewing, consisting of literary essays by Elm City natives. Now I'm pleased to recommend the second issue as well, not least because they asked me - a New Havenite in exile - to contribute a piece on the late fantasy author Robert Jordan, who was once upon a time my favorite living novelist.

While I'm at it, I should also recommend the NHRB website, where every Monday they're trying to publish a short review of an unfairly neglected book - as well as this profile of the review and its founders, which appeared in my (former) hometown rag.

Comments

well done. alas, i could never make it past book 7, but i read 1 through 3 one each day for 3 days during the days of yore....

Posted by razib | June 2, 2008 9:00 AM

Robert ... shoot, we're talking about the guy from _For Whom the Bell Tolls_, right?

Posted by Sanjay | June 2, 2008 9:03 AM

I love those books, but they're the literary version of modern blockbuster movies in that the successful author/director has far too much power. There is no good reason for Superman or King Kong to be 3 hours long, and there is no reason WoT should be 11 books long (there is at least a book and a half of Aes Sedai smoothing out their dresses as they nervously reflect on this or that totally irrelevant thing).

This comes from someone who has not only read every book the day it came out (most of them twice) but who also went back and read Jordan's Conan pastiche novels while waiting for the next WoT books. I'm really very sad he died and was really looking forward to the "Shogun-like" series he kept hinting was to come.

Posted by matthewcc | June 2, 2008 10:13 AM

I hope you don't mind me speaking ill of the dead, but Robert Jordan was a potentially good novelist who completely lost control of his creation until he became more of a laughing-stock than anything else. I read until book 7 or 8, then gave up in disgust, just like most of my friends. He started off so well, but in the end the books tanked in quality, and they became a big giant albatross around the neck of the entire genre, which Jordan ended up doing enormous damage to.

Posted by Zak | June 2, 2008 10:14 AM

I hope you don't mind me speaking ill of the dead, but Robert Jordan was a potentially good novelist who completely lost control of his creation until he became more of a laughing-stock than anything else. I read until book 7 or 8, then gave up in disgust, just like most of my friends. He started off so well, but in the end the books tanked in quality, and they became a big giant albatross around the neck of the entire genre, which Jordan ended up doing enormous damage to.
(Hopefully George RR Martin can undo some of the damage!)

Posted by Zak | June 2, 2008 10:16 AM

So this is Bennett Lovett-Graff writing, publisher of the New Haven Review (howdy, Ross!), and I was tickled by the article as well having read all but the very last Wheel of Time titles. My initial enthusiasm flagged, too, under the slowing grind of that Wheel. The additional problem of layering ever more far-flung characters--some of which just refused to die, you know, like permanently, began to raise the red flag of a truly neverending story.

This is unfortunate because as Bildungsroman fantasy goes, WoT started beautifully. (I should add that I'm reading a few others right now and I'm pretty disappointed.)

Posted by Bennett Lovett-Graff | June 2, 2008 2:19 PM

So this is Bennett Lovett-Graff writing, publisher of the New Haven Review (howdy, Ross!), and I was tickled by the article as well having read all but the very last Wheel of Time titles. My initial enthusiasm flagged, too, under the slowing grind of that Wheel. The additional problem of layering ever more far-flung characters--some of which just refused to die, you know, like permanently, began to raise the red flag of a truly neverending story.

This is unfortunate because as Bildungsroman fantasy goes, WoT started beautifully. (I should add that I'm reading a few others right now and I'm pretty disappointed.)

Posted by Bennett Lovett-Graff | June 2, 2008 2:19 PM

Was this a time, perhaps, when you were in high school? I was -- and still am -- wildly impressed with "Eye of the World" a dozen years ago or more while laid up post-surgery in high school. I still maintain that the first three books are some of the finest fantasy books around. Unfortunately, after "Dragon Reborn," the series began to slide, and after "Lord of Chaos" became essentially unreadable. I recall reading somewhere that around that time, Jordan pulled a Dumas -- outlining plots and leaving the writing to ghostwriters. Of course, if I'm remembering correctly, then it's likely it was for health reasons, given the nature of his passing.

If you're looking for truly awesome fantasy writing for grown-ups, I cannot recommend enough Steven Erikson's series, "The Malazan Book of the Fallen."

Posted by James F. Elliott | June 2, 2008 8:52 PM

Re: Hopefully George RR Martin can undo some of the damage

Martin's "Ice and Fire" series is every bit as much out of control, perhaps more so. The sprawl in this series makes LA look compact and tidy. Worse, his writing slowed down to a glacial pace. There was a five year lag between books 3 and 4, and now book 5, due out in Sepetmber (after a 3 year lag) is probably going to be delayed as well.

Posted by JonF | June 3, 2008 11:58 AM

Re: Hopefully George RR Martin can undo some of the damage

Martin's "Ice and Fire" series is every bit as much out of control, perhaps more so. The sprawl in this series makes LA look compact and tidy. Worse, his writing slowed down to a glacial pace. There was a five year lag between books 3 and 4, and now book 5, due out in Sepetmber (after a 3 year lag) is probably going to be delayed as well."

I agree that Martin is heading there, but he hasn't quite reached the depths of plot paralysis that Jordan did. And, his characters haven't fallen into the annoying, emotionally retarded state that all of Jordan's did.

What does worry me about Martin is that, if you look at his website, he's involved in every conceivable cheesy cross-promotion (fake swords, etc.) of his books short of Happy Meals. I think his books will soon become about a decade apart.

One more suggestion for good, thoughtful adult fantasy is Guy Gavriel Kay. Fionavar Tapestry, Tigana, etc.

Posted by Zak | June 3, 2008 8:17 PM

Re: One more suggestion for good, thoughtful adult fantasy is Guy Gavriel Kay.

Kay is an exceptionally good writer in being able to use language to powerful effect. In one of his books a major character is killed off unexpectedly and the funeral scene was written with such austere yet sterling beauty that I ended up in tears. Yet-- his stories are not well plotted. He does great at the perfect set-piece (like the above-mentioned funeral), but the overall story doesn't quite work. In the Fionvar Tapestry he ended up hauling in King Arthur and Guinevere (in a world that had nothing to do with them) and for me the story totally jumped the shark, completely ruining its original promise.

Posted by JonF | June 4, 2008 10:17 PM

I can see where you're coming from, and if someone had described the plot of the books to me, including the Arthur subplot, I have to agree it would sound corny (then again this holds true for lots of fantasy books). Still, I think Kay manages to pull it off. And, I think The Darkest Road (last book in the series) is probably the most beautifully written fantasy book ever.

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