On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Craig Brewer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Speaking of fantasy novels, there's a short story by science fiction
writer/editor L. Sprague de Camp set in the world of the
Faerie Queene. It's called "The Mathematics of Magic." The heroes
travel into Ariosto's world as well, bringing Belpheobe and Florimell
with them as wives.

Gene Wolfe's _Book of the New Sun_ and _Book of the Long Sun_ have
much in them that seems Spenserian -- even the blurb writer on the
back noticed it. The closest direct allusion might be robots called
"Talos" (as well as one android named Dr. Talos who writes an
allegorical play-within-the-novel), although they might just as well
point to the Greek story as Spenser. I asked him once at a book
signing about Spenser's influence and got only a wry smile in response
(but he's apparently shy of answering direct questions).

I've often wondered if there's much of Malbecco in Tolkien's Gollum
(thought Terri Krier may have first put that idea in my head).

There are also plenty of elusive allusions in Lewis' Narnia books. And
speaking of...when I saw the first Narnia movie, I thought I caught a
glimpse of a portrait of Spenser when the kids are wandering around
the house at the beginning. (It looked like the Charles Knight
engraving, but large and framed.) I've never gone back to check.


On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 2:21 AM, Julia Staykova <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> One more reference, unsophisticated and later:
>
> Roger Zelazny, writer of fantasy novels, did Elizabethan and Jacobean lit.
> at Columbia University. One of the key characters in his romance series, the
> Chronicles of Amber (1970s-1990s), is named Florimel, not to mention that
> his plot-making techniques have The Faerie Queene written all over them.
>
> Julia
>