3,568 words

Part 4 of 4 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here)

E. R. Eddison
The Worm Ouroboros
Charleston, S.C.: BiblioBazaar, 2008

We have reserved this mystery for the final part of our review: the question of the meaning of ouroboros, sign and signal of the book we have set ourselves to contemplate. (more…)

E. R. Eddison, 1922

2,810 words

Part 3 of 4 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here)

E. R. Eddison
The Worm Ouroboros
Charleston, S.C.: BiblioBazaar, 2008

The blood which binds one to one’s family and to one’s people is treated throughout The Worm Ouroboros as one of the strongest and least questionable motivators of human action, and proves to be finally decisive in all the characters to whom we are presented. (more…)

2,661 words

Part 2 of 4 (Part 1 here)

E. R. Eddison
The Worm Ouroboros
Charleston, S.C.: BiblioBazaar, 2008

We lovers of the Occident are in a hard battle; before the end of it, we will be tried in ways we might not even now imagine. All of us, I think, perceive as much. (more…)

2,077 words

Part 1 of 4

E. R. Eddison
The Worm Ouroboros
Charleston, S.C.: BiblioBazaar, 2008

Long would I hesitate before calling any literary work of the past century great. That word, so abused in our day, seems to me best reserved for the highest prose and poetry of the literary sphere, and I am of the opinion that precious little of such is to be found in these latter days. (more…)