Thomas Burnett Swann
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Thomas Burnett Swann | |
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Born | October 12, 1928 |
Died | May 5, 1976 | (aged 47)
Occupation | Poet Critic Author |
Genre | Fantasy |
Thomas Burnett Swann (October 12, 1928 – May 5, 1976) was an American poet, critic and fantasy author. His criticism includes works on the poetry of H.D. and Christina Rossetti. Swann died of cancer and several of his novels were published posthumously.
Poetry
Swann's poetry consists largely of short, whimsical pieces evoking a naive innocence. Many of them were later incorporated into his novels and placed in the mouths of his characters - sometimes the same poem is spoken by two or three different characters in novels set centuries and continents apart.
Poets also frequently appear as characters in his novels, always on the side of
Fiction
Science fiction
Swann began writing fiction in 1958 with "Winged Victory", a science fiction story based on the famous headless statue known as the Winged Victory of Samothrace. In Swann's story the statue's head is discovered and found to have been modeled upon an alien visitor whom the sculptor took for a goddess.
Extraterrestrials also feature in "The Painter", in which the painter
Fantasy
Most of Swann's fiction was outright fantasy. The early story "The Dryad-tree" is set in contemporary Florida and features a woman's reaction to the knowledge that her new husband's garden contains a tree possessed by a jealous dryad. The story was adapted as a short film in 2017.[1]
The bulk of Swann's fantasy fits into a rough chronology that begins in
Sexuality as a topic
An undercurrent of sexuality runs through all of these stories. Many of Swann's characters are sexually adventurous and regard sexual repression as spiritually damaging. Casual and sometimes permanent nudity is common. Homosexual relationships between both male and female characters are often hinted at, although seldom made explicit.
The most openly homosexual relationship in Swann's stories is also the most controversial. His novel How Are the Mighty Fallen (1974) depicts the
Works (excluding non-fiction and poetry)
The Minotaur Trilogy
(Written in reverse order. Swann claimed that he would correct the inconsistencies between the two earlier books if there was a second edition, but in the event there was not.)
- Cry Silver Bells (1977)
- The Forest of Forever (1971)
- The Day of the Minotaur (1966; previously serialized in 1964-1965 as The Blue Monkeys in Science Fantasy)
The three novels were collected as The Minotaur Trilogy (1997)
The Latium Trilogy
(Not Swann's title; also written largely in reverse)
- Queens Walk in the Dusk (1977)
- Formerly Swann's rarest novel, only published in a limited edition of 2000 copies. It has since been reprinted in both hardcover and paperback editions.
- Green Phoenix: The Last Stand of the Prehumans (1972; based on the novella "Love Is A Dragonfly" published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March 1972)
- Lady of the Bees (1976; expanded from the 1962 Science Fantasy story "Where is the Bird of Fire?")
Others
- The Weirwoods (1967; serialized in Science Fantasy 1965)
- Moondust (1968)
- The Goat Without Horns (1971)
- Wolfwinter (1972)
- How Are the Mighty Fallen (1974)
- Will-o-the-Wisp (1976; serialized in Fantastic in 1974); the book seems to have been typeset directly from the magazine, resulting in part of the synopsis of part 1 being erroneously included in the book. The cover design, depicting a woman riding a giant insect, also seems to have been inspired by the cover of the magazine issue containing part 1, although this actually had no connection with Swann's story.
- The Not-World (1975)
- The Gods Abide (1976)
- The Tournament of Thorns (1976, assembled from two stories in F&SF; The Manor Of Roses [1966] and The Stalking Trees [January 1973])
- The Minikins of Yam (1976). This novel's prologue is printed before the title page, opposite the inside front cover where promotional text would normally be placed.
Short story collections
- The Dolphin and the Deep (1968)
- Where is the Bird of Fire? (1970)
References
- ^ "The Dryad Tree (2017) - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
Further reading
- Lin Carter. Imaginary Worlds: The Art of Fantasy NY: Ballantine, 1973, pp 168–69.
External links
- Steven Saylor's Thomas Burnett Swann pages
- The Old Gods Never Die - a page of Swann quotations compiled by Hermester Barrington
- Thomas Burnett Swann at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database