Putting this fact aside, the story itself was well done. It is a typical children’s book, where the adults don’t play much of a role and if they do they are made to sound stupid (which I think is wrong). The four children find themselves in another world, and they are given artefacts to take care of in the real world. However, in the real world, the items cause problems with the power source and give off static electricity.

Alan Garner's writing stems from myth and fantasy, but he invariably chooses the darker side of Faery. Two of his natural successors are Philip Pullman and Graham Joyce, although both authors conform to the present taste for longer novels. Philip Pullman has also created an "other" universe which does not always adhere to conventional moral precepts. Graham Joyce's novels have a similar pagan feel to Alan Garner's. St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers, ed. David Pringle, London, St. James Press, 1996, ISBN 1-55862-205-5, (pp. 218-220). Elidor is a children's fantasy novel by the British author Alan Garner, published by Collins in 1965. Set primarily in modern Manchester, it features four English children who enter a fantasy world, fulfill a quest there, and return to find that the enemy has followed them into our world. Translations have been published in nine languages and it has been adapted for television and radio. Alan Garner OBE (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist who is best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. His work is firmly rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native county of Cheshire, North West England, being set in the region and making use of the native Cheshire dialect.The book is very much concerned with Roland and his search for identity, meaning and purpose in his life; he agrees to go into the mound of Vandwy to recover the treasures of Elidor for Malebron; but he gets the courage for this from his sense of loyalty to others. His brother and sister are trapped in the mound, and he feels he has no choice but to rescue them. Hence any dedication to the cause of “Good” here is unconscious and bound up in the specific act of rescuing his loved ones. It is only later than Roland begins to conceive of himself as in some way allied with Malebron in the battle between light and dark forces in Elidor. Nevertheless a quest has been undertaken, and in very traditional terms; to go into the Magic place – the place of death, the dark tower, the underworld – and rescue the good that is trapped there. In this quest, Roland is successful. He rescues Helen from the equivalent of Elfland, just as his original in the ballad does. [13] The darkness grew,' said Malebron. 'It is always there. We did not watch, and the power of night closed on Elidor. We had so much of ease that we did not mark the signs - a crop blighted, a spring failed, a man killed. Then it was too late - war, and siege, and betrayal, and the dying of the light.'[...] Catalogue Titles Authors Readers Unabridged Fiction Classic Fiction Modern Classics Contemporary Fiction Late in the book a dying unicorn sings a 'swan song' and by this act brings a restitution of light to Elidor. According to the medieval legend, only the calming presence of a virgin can tame the wild and ferocious nature of the unicorn and only thus may it be killed. [8] Recognition [ edit ] Reading the novel resulting from Alan Garner's script, it is possible to envisage how atmospheric the play must have been. The language is almost mystical in parts when read aloud, and with today's opportunities for excellence in cinematic special effects, it seems surprising that it has never been filmed.

While writing and getting published may not carry quite the same danger of universal destruction that the Watson children face in taking on the forces in Elidor, the decision of Roland and his brothers and sister to follow an uncertain path wherever it leads is an echo of Garner’s own courage. Four children find themselves almost randomly in an urban wasteland and pass through to another world. When they return they are carrying four Treasures which must be hidden and protected. As time goes on, the children begin to forget and rationalise their experience, but forces on Elidor are trying to break through, homing in on the Treasures themselves. Garner believes that the force of the magical elements will be stronger if they can be seen to affect events in the objective world. He is aware of the significance of place, of the need to belong, to find the right place, to fit into and to accept oneself. Poignancy is heightened in Garner to a tragic pitch by his protagonists’ ultimate failure to win the battle for self-acceptance and self-control. There is triumph at the end of Elidor, but it is qualified, mitigated by grief. Carnegie Medal Award". 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University ( CCSU). Retrieved 2012-08-13. There has been much discussion of the ending of Elidor. Elidor is gloriously safe; but Findhorn the Unicorn is horribly dead. Does this mean that Roland is irreparably damaged by his experience? Or is Garner has saying that no victory is without its price? At any event, this is undoubtedly a book about the formation of the self-concept and about the changes and developments necessary in the individual if she or he is to cope adequately with relationships and events. To that extent it puts to Roland the traditional question; “What are you like?” Garner’s presentation of a protagonist who cannot face up to this question, is his original and personal use of the traditional framework.

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And it was not just Garner who had trust in his own instinct. Elidor was his third book, following two previous fantasy novels – The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and its sequel The Moon of Gomrath. When he submitted Elidor to his publisher’s editor, he was told that this was the book they had been waiting for, the reason they had taken him on in the first place. This faith has been more than rewarded in the 40 or so years since. Quite apart from the strength of his fan-base and the longevity of his appeal, he has gone on to win awards in Britain and America, as well as receiving the OBE in 2001 for services to literature. Much of Alan Garner’s work has a deeply personal root, whether autobiographical or in terms of his areas of particular interest; but his imagination continues to resonate powerfully with generations of readers. The older children are oblivious to the signs, but the younger ones are not. So when the other world reaches out for the items, the children are not prepared and keep missing the signs. Naturally, things get worse before they get better, but the kids do end up having to take action and solve the riddle. Having said this, much of the novel has humour and a sense of fun. Many years later, a reader inevitably has a different perspective rereading a favourite novel. It is a tribute to Alan Garner's writing that he can switch from powerful fantastical scenes to humdrum family life in a suburban home of yesteryear - and carry the reader with him.

In Elidor, the mythical and legendary sources of the motifs are clear ; the wasteland and the maimed King are from the Grail legend, and the adventure which opens the book is based on the story of Childe Roland. Roland has allowed out into his relationships with the world and other people, something from the darkness of his inner self which is destructive and self-seeking. The name Elidor originates in a Welsh folktale whose title is commonly translated as Elidor and the Golden Ball, described by Giraldus Cambrensis in Itinerarium Cambriae, a record of his 1188 journey across the country. Elidor was a priest who as a boy was led by dwarves to a castle of gold in a land that, while beautiful, was not illuminated by the full light of the sun. [5] This compares with Garner's description of the golden walls of Gorias contrasting with the dull sky of the land of Elidor. Round, and round, his voice went, and through it came a noise. It was low and vibrant, like wind in a chimney. It grew louder, more taut, and the wall blurred, and the floor shook. The noise was in the fabric of the church: it pulsed with sound. Then he heard a heavy door open; and close; and the noise faded away. It was now too still in the church, and the footsteps were moving over the rubble in the passage downstairs. 'Who's that?' said Roland. The footsteps reached the stairs, and began to climb." ran from pool to pool of the street lamps and sometimes they glimpsed a shadow, and sometimes there was a tall silhouette; and there was always too much darkness. When they turned the corner the white fluorescence of the railway station at the end of the road was like a sanctuary. They drove themselves toward its glass and concrete, as if ...danger of spear-edge and shield-rim would be powerless in the neon glare."There is a quote I really like, I was surprised it wasn't included in the Elidor quotes on goodreads.