Viriconium!

eldritch00

eldritch00

Mystic
I've just finished reading M. John Harrison's Viriconium, and I just thought that some of you here might find it of interest. I'm just as certain that some of you here have read it anyway, and I'd love to be illuminated on some aspects of it.

It's a brilliant brilliant exploration of fantasy, and an utter joy to read. It's probably the only book I've read where I enjoyed it immensely even if I didn't understand every thing that was going on (hence the illumination I require!).

While there are close and obvious parallels, thematically speaking, to Ligotti's own "assault" on sword-and-sorcery, "Masquerade of a Dead Sword: A Tragedie" (another TL story I love), it's the city of Viriconium itself that reminded me most of Ligotti: a decaying dream-city. And it's populated by decadent artists in ways similar to the Teatro Grottesco cycle, too.
 
I'm a huge fan of M. John Harrison, and I'm in the process of reading the collected Viriconium stories now. I can definitely second eldritchoo's recommendation.

Harrison's general short stories (outside the Viriconium cycle) are very worthwhile as well - Nightshade Books put out a collection of his stories called Things That Never Happen, and it has quickly become one of my all-time favorite books. Unfortunately, it looks like that book has slipped out of print, but I'm sure there are used copies to be had.

Harrison's story "Egnaro" is especially powerful and haunting, although it's by no means a horror story. I would recommend that as a starting place if you've never read anything by Harrison.
 
I've seen Viriconium at my recent trips to Borders and the like and have thought of picking it up numerous times. I may just have to!
 
I've read a few short stories of Harrison's that I've liked, and I've been intrigued by the Viriconium stuff for a few years now. Maybe I'll take this as a cue to break down and get it.

Unfortunately, as my first Harrison purchase, I picked up a more recent novel, Light, and I couldn't even get through the first few chapters. Pretty bad.

I'd love to hear more impressions of Viriconium, or of Harrison's other work.
 
I've only read a handful of M. John Harrison's stories over the years. Most of those were originally published in Michael Moorcock's New Worlds. I have yet to be disappointed by Harrison's work. His novel The Centauri Device has sat here unread for years. I need to amend this oversight. If anything bad was written about the Viriconium works, I do not recall reading it. Those novels and stories deserve my attention as well. Based upon what I have read, Harrison ranks with the very best of the British speculative fiction writers. I put him there with Brian W. Aldiss, Michael Moorcock, J. G. Ballard, and Christopher Priest, among others.
 
Hmm, I wonder if Light might be worth slogging through, then? I think my main problem with it was the preponderance of sexual content... not that I'm prudish about these things, but whenever I encounter sex in fiction (especially speculative fiction) it usually strikes me as being somehow gratuitous or smug.

I wonder if anyone else has this experience? A lot of my favorite fiction has implicit sexual themes, so maybe I just prefer for those things to remain behind the curtain. I do, however, support miniskirts on certain women in public.
 
I read some of the Viriconium stories (I don't think the book I have is the full collection) earlier this year and would also recommend them. I also noticed some parallels between those Viriconium stories and TL's work; the atomoshpere and tone are very similar. Harrison's worldwview seems to be quite bleak as well.

I have a copy of "Light" but haven't had a chance to read it. I don't imagine it would be the best place for TL fans to start as it is straight up SF, of the space opera variety. Perhaps not exactly "straight up", Harrison doesn't seem to write "straight up" anything but am sure you all know what I mean.
 
Nice to see M. John Harrison getting a mention, and some recommendations, here. I count him as one of my five or so favourite weird writers, along with Aickman, de la Mare, Lovecraft and Ligotti. I've read most of Harrison's books several times and continue to make new discoveries in every reading. Harrison isn't just a great fantasy writer: he's a great writer period. I remember reading one blurb that described him as a "Zen master of prose", and that for me sums up his extrordinary talents.
The peak of his art is the Viriconium cycle and some of his other more realist fantasies such as "Climbers" and "The Course of the Heart". I can't recommend this last book enough: poetically elusive, grimy and yet majestic, and with a kind of hopeless transcendence that is in the final analysis utterly tragic. The final story of the Viriconium sequence, "A Young Man's Journey to Viriconium", gives some of the flavour of "The Course", and several of the other short stories collected in "Things That Never Happen" are sketches for scenes in the novel. If there's a connection between Harrison and Ligotti, it has to do primarily with the intensity of their prose and the atmosphere of decay that pervades the work of each. "Light" was something of a mixed bag, but give me that over the vast bulk of contemporary sci-fi any day. If anything, "Light" reminded me of the work of Cordwainer Smith, another brilliant and yet unsung sci-fi master.
 
dear skeptic, Thanks for the recomendation. M. John Harrion is news to me. I always liked Cordwainer Smith so I'll read some of Harrison.
 
I've been told wonders about this book and its author, but I haven't had the chance of finding them anywhere.

Another book I've been told is somewhat similar, although with some humor thrown in, is Jeff Vandermeer's "City of Saints and Madmen". I have that book, although I'm still not done with it so I have no idea how comparable to Viriconium it is.
 
I agree with skeptic's assessment of M. John Harrison as a writer - in my estimation, Harrison ranks up there with TL himself as one of the greatest living writers working in English. His prose is hypnotically beautiful at times, and his fiction is a pure joy to read. Highly recommended!
 
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