Thomas Burnett Swann
Encyclopedia
Thomas Burnett Swann was an American
poet
, critic
and fantasy
author.
His criticism includes works on the poetry of H.D.
and Christina Rossetti
.
Poets also frequently appear as characters in his novels, always on the side of good: Sappho
in Wolfwinter (1972); Robert Herrick
in Will-o-the-Wisp (1977, serialized 1974); a fictionalized Charles Sorley
in The Goat Without Horns (1971); and Thomas Chatterton
in The Not-World (1975).
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 Hieronymous Bosch is abducted by hideous aliens and forced to paint them, thereby providing the inspiration for the grotesque images in his painting The Garden of Earthly Delights
. This and many other early stories appeared in the British
magazine Science Fantasy
. Some stories also appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
(F&SF).
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 bulk of Swann's fantasy fits into a rough chronology that begins in ancient Egypt
around 2500 BC and chronicles the steady decline of magic
and mythological races such as dryad
s, centaur
s, satyr
s, selkie
s and minotaur
s. The coming of more "advanced" civilisations constantly threatens to destroy their pre-industrial world, and they must continually seek refuge wherever they can. They see the advent of Christianity
as a major tragedy; the Christians regard magic and mythological beings as evil
and seek to destroy the surviving creatures, although some manage to survive and preserve some of their old ways through medieval
times down to the late 19th Century and perhaps the 20th.
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 Biblical
Jonathan and David as lovers, and furthermore suggests that Jonathan was himself a member of an ancient winged half-human race. The book appeared from Swann's regular publisher DAW Books
, but only after DAW's founder and chief executive Donald A. Wollheim
fought to prevent distributor New American Library
from banning it. However, Swann was reportedly unhappy with George Barr
's cover artwork, which showed two of the characters being chased by a cyclops
, because he felt it misrepresented the style of the novel.
Swann died of cancer
in 1976. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, critic
Criticism
Criticism is the judgement of the merits and faults of the work or actions of an individual or group by another . To criticize does not necessarily imply to find fault, but the word is often taken to mean the simple expression of an objection against prejudice, or a disapproval.Another meaning of...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
author.
His criticism includes works on the poetry of H.D.
H.D.
H.D. was an American poet, novelist and memoirist known for her association with the early 20th century avant-garde Imagist group of poets such as Ezra Pound and Richard Aldington...
and Christina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems...
.
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 good: Sappho
Sappho
Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...
in Wolfwinter (1972); Robert Herrick
Robert Herrick (poet)
Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English poet.-Early life:Born in Cheapside, London, he was the seventh child and fourth son of Julia Stone and Nicholas Herrick, a prosperous goldsmith....
in Will-o-the-Wisp (1977, serialized 1974); a fictionalized Charles Sorley
Charles Sorley
Charles Hamilton Sorley was a British poet of World War I.Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he was the son of William Ritchie Sorley. He was educated, like Siegfried Sassoon, at Marlborough College...
in The Goat Without Horns (1971); and Thomas Chatterton
Thomas Chatterton
Thomas Chatterton was an English poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry. He died of arsenic poisoning, either from a suicide attempt or self-medication for a venereal disease.-Childhood:...
in The Not-World (1975).
Fiction
Swann began writing fiction in 1958 with "Winged Victory", a science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
story based on the famous headless statue
Statue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
known as the Winged Victory of Samothrace
Winged Victory of Samothrace
The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike . Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.-Description:The Nike of Samothrace,...
. In Swann's story the statue's head is discovered and found to have been modeled upon an alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
visitor whom the sculptor took for a goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
.
Extraterrestrials also feature in "The Painter", in which the painter Hieronymous Bosch is abducted by hideous aliens and forced to paint them, thereby providing the inspiration for the grotesque images in his painting The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych painted by the early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch , housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Dating from between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was about 40 or 50 years old, it is his best-known and most ambitious work...
. This and many other early stories appeared in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
magazine Science Fantasy
Science Fantasy (magazine)
Science Fantasy, which also appeared under the titles Impulse and SF Impulse, was a British fantasy and science fiction magazine, launched in 1950 by Nova Publications as a companion to Nova's New Worlds. Walter Gillings was editor for the first two issues, and was then replaced by John Carnell,...
. Some stories also appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
(F&SF).
Most of Swann's fiction was outright fantasy. The early story "The Dryad-tree" is set in contemporary Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and features a woman's reaction to the knowledge that her new husband's garden contains a tree possessed by a jealous dryad
Dryad
Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...
.
The bulk of Swann's fantasy fits into a rough chronology that begins in ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
around 2500 BC and chronicles the steady decline of magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
and mythological races such as dryad
Dryad
Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...
s, centaur
Centaur
In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...
s, satyr
Satyr
In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....
s, selkie
Selkie
Selkies are mythological creatures that are found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore....
s and minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
s. The coming of more "advanced" civilisations constantly threatens to destroy their pre-industrial world, and they must continually seek refuge wherever they can. They see the advent of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
as a major tragedy; the Christians regard magic and mythological beings as evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
and seek to destroy the surviving creatures, although some manage to survive and preserve some of their old ways through medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
times down to the late 19th Century and perhaps the 20th.
An undercurrent of sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
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
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
is common. Homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
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 Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
Jonathan and David as lovers, and furthermore suggests that Jonathan was himself a member of an ancient winged half-human race. The book appeared from Swann's regular publisher DAW Books
DAW Books
DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
, but only after DAW's founder and chief executive Donald A. Wollheim
Donald A. Wollheim
Donald Allen Wollheim was an American science fiction ' editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell....
fought to prevent distributor New American Library
New American Library
New American Library is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948; it produced affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works, as well as popular, pulp, and "hard-boiled" fiction. Non-fiction, original, and hardcopy issues were also produced.Victor Weybright and Kurt...
from banning it. However, Swann was reportedly unhappy with George Barr
George Barr (artist)
George Barr is a US science fiction and fantasy artist.-Career:Barr's work shows influences from Arthur Rackham, Hannes Bok and Virgil Finlay. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes him as one of the least appreciated SF/fantasy artists. His work is often romantic and whimsical...
's cover artwork, which showed two of the characters being chased by a cyclops
Cyclops
A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...
, because he felt it misrepresented the style of the novel.
Swann died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 1976. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
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)
- Day of the Minotaur (1966; previously serialized as The Blue Monkeys, 1964 - 5 Science Fantasy)
- Collected as The Minotaur Trilogy (1997)
The Latium Trilogy
(Not Swann's title; also written largely in reverse)- Queens Walk in the Dusk (1977)
- Swann's rarest novel, only published in a limited editionSpecial editionThe terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
of 2000 copies
- Swann's rarest novel, only published in a limited edition
- Green Phoenix (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)
- Green Phoenix: The Last Stand of the Prehumans (1972)
- Wolfwinter (1972)
- How Are the Mighty Fallen (1974)
- Will-o-the-Wisp (UK1976; serialized in FantasticFantastic (magazine)Fantastic was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by Ziff-Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Early sales were good, and Ziff-Davis quickly decided to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest, and to cease...
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 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 Minikins of Yam (1976)
- Note: this novel's Prologue is printed opposite the inside front cover where it might be overlooked.
Short story collections
- The Dolphin and the Deep (1968)
- Where is the Bird of Fire? (1970)
External links
- Steven Saylor's Thomas Burnett Swann pages
- The Old Gods Never Die - a page of Swann quotations compiled by Hermester Barrington