Navarth
Encyclopedia
Navarth, generally referred to as 'the mad poet', is a character in The Palace of Love
(pub. 1967), the third of the Demon Princes
novels by Jack Vance
, though his writings are occasionally referred to in other, unrelated novels by Vance (e.g. Araminta Station). Navarth in person appears more eccentric than mad, a Salvador Dalí
-ish petulant extrovert and creator of 'happenings', one of the more amiable in a long line of Vance's self-absorbed egotists. We first encounter him on Earth, old and forgotten, living in reduced circumstances on a canal-boat in the ancient (but fictitious) city of Rollingshaven: apparently a Vanceian conflation of Rotterdam
, Antwerp and Hamburg
. The chief protagonist of the novel-sequence, Kirth Gersen
, induces Navarth to help him in his quest to find the galactic master criminal Viole Falushe (with whom Navarth was long ago involved when the criminal was merely the schoolboy Vogel Filschner), and the pair eventually travel through space to Falushe’s notorious Palace of Love in the far Beyond.
Navarth published a volume of poetry called Pullulations (cf Throy, Chapter 6); another (presumably posthumous) volume in circulation was The Lyrics of Mad Navarth (cf Araminta Station, Chapter 9). The most extended example of his verse that is presented to the reader, the bouncily sinister ballad 'Tim R. Mortiss', appears as an epigraph to Chapter 5 of The Palace of Love and is a rather fetching absurdist reworking of the 'Lament for the Makars' by the 15th-century Scottish poet William Dunbar
. Other complete poems quoted are ‘The Girl I met in Eridu’ (POL Chapter 7) and ‘Avis rara, black mascara’ (POL Ch.12). Some titles of other poems are given in POL Ch.7: ‘A Growl for Gruel’, ‘The Juices I have Tramped’, ‘I am a Darting Minstrel’, ‘They Pass!’, ‘Drusilla’s Dream’, and ‘Castles in the Clouds and the Anxieties of Those Who Live Directly Below by Reason of Falling Objects and Wastes’.
A sample of his verse:
(from Navarth, ‘Avis rara, black mascara’)
According to The Book of Dreams
, Chapter 19, one Carol Lewis (the reference is obvious) wrote a book of Chronicles of Navarth, from which two anecdotes are quoted.
The Palace of Love
The Palace of Love ia science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, the third in his Demon Princes series.-Plot summary:...
(pub. 1967), the third of the Demon Princes
Demon Princes
The Demon Princes is a five-book series of science fiction novels by Jack Vance, which cumulatively relate the story of one Kirth Gersen as he exacts his revenge on five notorious criminals, collectively known as the Demon Princes, who carried his village off into slavery during his childhood...
novels by Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...
, though his writings are occasionally referred to in other, unrelated novels by Vance (e.g. Araminta Station). Navarth in person appears more eccentric than mad, a Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
-ish petulant extrovert and creator of 'happenings', one of the more amiable in a long line of Vance's self-absorbed egotists. We first encounter him on Earth, old and forgotten, living in reduced circumstances on a canal-boat in the ancient (but fictitious) city of Rollingshaven: apparently a Vanceian conflation of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, Antwerp and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. The chief protagonist of the novel-sequence, Kirth Gersen
Kirth Gersen
Kirth Gersen is the protagonist of the five Demon Princes novels by Jack Vance, set approximately 1500 years in the future. When he was a boy, he and his grandfather were the only members of a peaceful and harmless space colony to escape a massacre and slave raid perpetrated by pirates led by five...
, induces Navarth to help him in his quest to find the galactic master criminal Viole Falushe (with whom Navarth was long ago involved when the criminal was merely the schoolboy Vogel Filschner), and the pair eventually travel through space to Falushe’s notorious Palace of Love in the far Beyond.
Navarth published a volume of poetry called Pullulations (cf Throy, Chapter 6); another (presumably posthumous) volume in circulation was The Lyrics of Mad Navarth (cf Araminta Station, Chapter 9). The most extended example of his verse that is presented to the reader, the bouncily sinister ballad 'Tim R. Mortiss', appears as an epigraph to Chapter 5 of The Palace of Love and is a rather fetching absurdist reworking of the 'Lament for the Makars' by the 15th-century Scottish poet William Dunbar
William Dunbar
William Dunbar was a Scottish poet. He was probably a native of East Lothian, as assumed from a satirical reference in the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie , where, too, it is hinted that he was a member of the noble house of Dunbar....
. Other complete poems quoted are ‘The Girl I met in Eridu’ (POL Chapter 7) and ‘Avis rara, black mascara’ (POL Ch.12). Some titles of other poems are given in POL Ch.7: ‘A Growl for Gruel’, ‘The Juices I have Tramped’, ‘I am a Darting Minstrel’, ‘They Pass!’, ‘Drusilla’s Dream’, and ‘Castles in the Clouds and the Anxieties of Those Who Live Directly Below by Reason of Falling Objects and Wastes’.
A sample of his verse:
- This dainty tray of cloisonné
- Contains my finest patchouli.
- Aha, my dear! What have we here?
- A dead mouse in the potpourri.
(from Navarth, ‘Avis rara, black mascara’)
According to The Book of Dreams
The Book of Dreams
The Book of Dreams is a science fiction book by American author Jack Vance, the fifth and last novel in the "Demon Princes" series.-Synopsis:...
, Chapter 19, one Carol Lewis (the reference is obvious) wrote a book of Chronicles of Navarth, from which two anecdotes are quoted.