A Midsummer Tempest
LC Class | PZ4.A549 Mi PS3551.N378 |
A Midsummer Tempest is a 1974
Plot introduction
The setting is in a
Although various plays are alluded to, the plot is chiefly shaped by A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest.
As part of the homage to Shakespeare, the nobler characters speak in blank verse and at least one sonnet, printed as prose.
Plot summary
Rupert, fleeing Roundheads, finds refuge in a magical inn, The Old Phoenix, which proves to be a nexus between parallel worlds. Inside the tavern, he meets Valeria Matuchek, who is from an alternate history twentieth-century America (Anderson's 1971 novel Operation Chaos, in which her parents meet). Holger Carlsen is another guest, born in a world where the Matter of France is history, and later trapped in "our own" twentieth-century America (the hero of Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions). Valeria explains what will happen in the English Civil War in "our" timeline, including the king's execution, strengthening Rupert's determination to change events here. He finds a Spanish ship that will transport him; it is carrying an ambassador and his wife.
Jennifer's
They retrieve the books and magically bear them back to England. Charles I has taken up a position near Glastonbury Tor for reasons he does not understand. Rupert attempts the magic; Will Fairweather is possessed by a spirit of England and stirs up the magic of the land. The Roundheads are defeated, and Charles I wins the English Civil War.
At the Old Phoenix, Valeria believes that even if "romantic reactionaries" like Charles I won the English Civil War here, there is still the prospect of technological advance in North America. However, the fairies believed differently—they supported the Cavalier cause to delay the disenchantment of this world.
Rupert and Jennifer return the rings to Oberon and Titania, and retire to a peaceful married life.
Reception
Lester del Rey found Anderson's invention to be "a lovely conceit" and reported the novel to be "a fantasy I can recommend with pleasure."[3] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reviewer Diana Yates described the novel as "an intriguing 'what-if' story ... that could never be considered historical but is indeed fanciful."[4]
Trivia
The Old Phoenix appears in several of Poul Anderson's short stories as a nexus between worlds.
One of the guards sent to escort Jennifer when she is being used as bait in a trap for the catching of Prince Rupert is named "Nehemiah Scudder". That was the name of the First Prophet in Heinlein's "
References
- ^ "Publication: A Midsummer Tempest". The Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
- ^ a b "1975 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
- ^ "Reading Room", If, August 1974, pp.147
- ^ "Book Review", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 26, 1978, p.29
External links
- A Midsummer Tempest title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- A Midsummer Tempest at Worlds Without End