The Phoenix And The Mirror (1983) - Plot & Excerpts
The premise of this book is amazing: In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the Roman poet Vergil was a magician. What if he really had been?As you can probably tell, I think this is the best idea for a plot ever.Set in a strange alternate Europe (I am not sure what time period it is supposed to be) where various kinds of magic and mythological creatures are real, this book details Vergil the alchemist's quest to make a Virgin Speculum, which is a magic mirror that is created by making a mirror no one has ever looked into before out of ore that has never been in any other form. Naturally his quest takes him everywhere, and by "everywhere" I mostly mean "Cyprus," which is apparently where copper comes from.The plot is interesting in that it's really not much of a plot, as these things go. If I had to describe it I would call it basically an acid trip through Roman mythology: also included are things like the cult of Cybele, shapeshifters (the werewolves of the Satyricon are mentioned), and of course phoenixes. (Phoenices? What's the plural? Well, there's only one phoenix, anyway.) I don't think that knowing much about Vergil or the Aeneid is actually necessary; it doesn't really come up. I wish that it actually had been relevant, because otherwise Vergil could really have been anyone; perhaps it will become relevant in the later books.Davidson's prose is lushly written to the extent where it almost doesn't matter what happens because you want to roll around in the words; there were lots of words that even I didn't know. (I suspect some of them may have been OCR errors in the ebook format, and I wish I knew which ones weren't words; some of the Latin that happens to be actual quotations is also bad, which makes me think it must be some kind of scanning artifact, as I think the author shouldn't have gotten those wrong. On the other hand, some of the invented Latin was also ungrammatical in ways that definitely weren't OCR errors. But anyway, this is just nitpicking.)I am really of two minds about this book: I like the writing and the dreamy nature of the plot to a certain extent, but at the same time I wish it had maybe been a little clearer and more straightforward and more traditional plot-like events had occurred. I guess I can't quite decide whether I like the style or not. It reminds me a lot of what I have read by John M. Ford, especially The Dragon Waiting -- it has that same kind of clever, well-researched alternate-history feel to it, and it manages to induce that "I really like this but I have no clue what is going on" feeling in a way that few other books do. (Because, well, if I don't understand a book, usually I dislike it.)I do really like the premise, though -- can you tell? -- and as the other two books in this series were ridiculously cheap for the Kindle I will definitely try them next, and hope that I don't burn out on the prose before I finish them.
I wanted to like this book way more than I did like it. Among connoisseurs of fantastic literature, The Phoenix and the Mirror by Avram Davidson has the reputation of a neglected classic. I was primed to be impressed.Unfortunately, I found myself slightly bored through most of the book. I hypothesize that the problem is the detached point of view of most of the narrative. The reader is seldom allowed to see anything from the interior viewpoint of the protagonist, Vergil Magus. We, the readers, aren't allowed to know what the great wizard cares about, so we don't know what we should care about.Also, a few incidents in the book happen without adequate explanation. Something happens, and the reader is left wondering just what it was. Only later is it explained. Note that these aren't mysteries that are supposed to be left unexplained until the end; these are merely confusing events that could have been rendered much less confusing with an introductory sentence.Finally, among the faults, there are two coincidences essential to the plot that are never explained. This is simply bad plotting. An author is allowed one big coincidence to get the story rolling, but leaving any other unexplained is unsatisfying to the reader. The book isn't all bad. The creation of the magic mirror referred to in the title is a good scene. So are a couple of encounters with legendary creatures. The author displays impressive erudition about myths, legends, and mysticism, and Davidson is noted for his style and precise diction.I just wish the book were as good as its reputation.
What do You think about The Phoenix And The Mirror (1983)?
In the Middle Ages, it was thought that the poet Vergil was also a magician. Davidson takes this medieval belief as his jumping-off point and creates a Vergil who truly is a mage, in a fantastical alternate ancient world, full of sorcery, erudition, mysticism, and alchemy, where Vergil must construct a magical mirror and defeat the demonic powers which are after him. This is the first Davidson I've read, and I loved his language; this is the first paragraph of Chapter Three:"Westward into the sea the last rose strokes of sunset painted the sky. Smoke of wood and charcoal drifted up to Vergil leaning over the parapet on his roof. Fish and squid, lentil and turnip, bread and oil and garlic, and a little meat -- Naples was having its supper before retiring for the night; though few in Naples would have all of these for supper. A few horses still thumped their way down the street below, and a single heavy cart rumbled. Horses and cart were probably heading for the great stable at the foot of the hill. Women spoke in tired voices, filling their amphoras at the Fountain of Cleo. A baby cried somewhere, the sounds of its wailing thin upon the cool air. The lights of tiny oil lamps flickered like fireflies, and here and there the mouth of a brazier glowed, redly and briefly, as someone fanned the embers or blew upon them through a wooden tube. From the Bay came the faint thump-thump of a galley bailiff beating out the rhythm for the rowers as the ship put into port."The whole book is full of this kind of wonderful word painting. I hope I run across the other book in the series, Vergil in Averno, soon.
—Margaret
This was one of those odd books where I liked the story but was put off by the writing. The premise of the book involves Virgil (the Roman poet) as medieval society conceived of him--an alchemist and a sorcerer--getting caught up in a mythical conflict that he doesn't even begin to understand until near the end of the story. Some pretty intriguing stuff.Unfortunately, Davidson's prose reads like an attempt at mimicking classical prose, but it only succeeds in sounding dull, confusing, and pedantic. Sifting the story out of the prose was a mildly frustrating experience, so I'm only giving this 3 stars.
—Verity Brown
I'm really not sure what to think of this. It reminds me of John M. Ford's The Dragon Waiting, somehow; something about the style, the density of it and allusiveness. I'm sure I missed some things by not being aware of the Vergil stories, not picking up on all the mythological references properly -- and I have a pretty good background in that sort of thing, since I took Classics.It's a slightly different style than expected, too, I think. It slides seamlessly between scenes without any transition, it slips from direct speech into reported speech -- it doesn't make things easy. I quite liked the writing style, for the most part, but I wouldn't like it to be a common one, if that makes any sense.The story itself... it's a quest narrative, but the quest is more about knowledge than action, at its heart. It's about making a magical object, in a context where magic isn't easy, isn't a shortcut as it can be in other fantasy works. It's a long slow process, like any other way to make something, and it requires sacrifices and effort. It's an interesting take on it.I wasn't overwhelmingly fond of the portrayal of women -- Cornelia, Phyllis and Laura seemed pretty nebulous, and the love aspect was just flung in there -- but The Phoenix and the Mirror was something a little different to my usual fare. It just wasn't as good as I'd hoped.
—Nikki
