Gloriana (novel)

Last updated

Gloriana
Gloriana, or The Unfulfill'd Queen (Michael Moorcock novel - cover art).jpg
Dust-jacket from the first edition
Author Michael Moorcock
Cover artistJill Riches
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy novel
Publisher Allison & Busby
Publication date
1978
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages348 pp
ISBN 0-85031-237-X
OCLC 4332081
823/.9/14
LC Class PZ4.M8185 Gl 1978 PR6063.O59

Gloriana, or The Unfulfill'd Queen is a work of literary fantasy by British novelist Michael Moorcock. It was first published in 1978 (London: Allison & Busby) and has remained in print ever since.

Contents

Genre

On the novel's title page and on its original cover, Moorcock calls Gloriana a romance and, indeed, its setting and characters resemble those of that popular literary genre of the Medieval and Renaissance periods—an imagined time of quests, jousts, and masques. Moorcock based his novel on elements of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene , an allegorical epic poem of the 1590s that praises Queen Elizabeth I in the character of Gloriana, queen of a mythical "Fairyland". But Gloriana is an anti-romance, "more a dialogue with Spenser of The Faerie Queene than a description of my own ideal State", [1] according to Moorcock.

Setting

Moorcock reimagines the realm of Queen Elizabeth I and her early modern England as that of Queen Gloriana I of Albion, ruler of an empire stretching from "Hindustan" and "Cathay" to the "great continent of Virginia (and Kansas)". The era is a century after the time of Elizabeth I: "I wrote the book as if it was being written in the late 17th century, closer to Defoe than Shakespeare, drawing on language and understanding from that far forward, as it were", says Moorcock. [2] Yuletide and Twelfth Night are celebrated within a pagan spirituality and pantheon that includes Mithras, Thor, and Zeus. Albion's capital is "Troynovante" (New Troy), which is an allusion to sixteenth-century mythologies about the alleged initial settlement of England by descendants of the sacked classical kingdom of Troy.

Albion's world is one of many parallel worlds of which Gloriana's people are just learning. Her Councillor of Philosophy, Doctor John Dee, tells her, "There are other Glorianas, other Dees, other Lord Chancellors, no doubt", from other spheres, perhaps separated by layers of ether. Gloriana's Thane of Hermiston has travelled to some of them, and Albion has been visited from other spheres by such as Cagliostro and Adolphus Hiddler, an Austrian who claimed to have conquered his own world.

The novel's atmosphere owes something to English writer Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels, published in the 1940s and 1950s, and Moorcock dedicated Gloriana to the memory of Peake, one of his literary heroes. Similar to the castle-city of Gormenghast, Gloriana's palace is riddled with abandoned chambers, apartments, hallways, passages, balconies, stairways, and caverns—"the walls"—within which live an underground community of runaways, escapees, and vagrants.

Characters

As in Spenser's allegory, certain of Moorcock's characters resemble real personages. Gloriana's Lord Chancellor, Perion Montfallcon, brings to mind Elizabeth's chief minister, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley; and Gloriana's swashbuckling privateer Sir Thomasin Ffyne takes after Elizabeth's maritime explorer and Favourite, Sir Walter Raleigh. The only character drawn from actual history is Gloriana's philosopher, Doctor Dee, who shares his royal position with Elizabeth I's court astrologer, also called John Dee.

At the center of attention is the 6-foot, 6-inch, flame-haired Empress Gloriana I. She is daughter to the tyrannical and syphilitic King Hern VI—an echo and darker version of Elizabeth I's father, King Henry VIII. Hern VI even raped his own daughter. She is the antithesis of the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I. Where Elizabeth was cool, self-controlled, and pragmatic, kind-hearted Gloriana is often overwhelmed by loneliness and despair, a slave to passions she can neither renounce or satisfy. By day a serene and benevolent monarch, by night the lonely queen is a bisexual adventurer who seeks release in all manner of debauchery but is always anorgasmic, perhaps due to Hern's aforementioned sexual abuse. She is the mother of nine bastard daughters fathered by nine different paramours. Behind the veneer of a new Golden Age, she suffocates under the burden of her duty and her enormous private distress.

The queen's best friend and confidante is Countess Una of Scaith. Described as "intelligent and warm", Una is a cheerful, adventurous noblewoman from the far north who bears at least a passing resemblance to Mary Queen of Scots. But unlike the real Elizabeth and her Scottish rival, Gloriana and Una are inseparable friends who do everything together. Una is also the queen's lover, though unlike her other lovers, she has a close place by Gloriana's side in the daytime as well. Countess Una appears to be an alternate version of Una Persson, a significant protagonist in Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius series.

Gloriana's downfall comes in the form of a bisexual assassin and spy, antihero Captain Arturo Quire. Elizabethan England certainly had its own Quires, but he is a character drawn not from history but from Moorcock's imagination.

Plot

The novel's plot concerns Lord Montfallcon and his contest for courtly influence against Captain Quire. Each man exploits Albion's shadowy network of espionage and deceit for his own ends, with Gloriana caught in the middle.

Montfallcon has maintained peace throughout Gloriana's 13-year reign using terror, oppression, and a network of informants. He is the power behind Gloriana's throne, one of the few survivors of King Hern's court, where he saw most of his family killed to entertain that tyrant king. Montfallcon's sole purpose in life is to keep Gloriana's Albion free of tyranny and corruption but, in so doing, he repeats the worst practices of Hern's henchmen. His own best henchman is Quire.

But when Quire feels Montfallcon has insulted him, he seeks revenge through seducing the frustrated Gloriana. He goes into the walls to spy on the court, to muster the rabble there into his personal army, and to make sorties into the court to commit murders and leave evidence that points to other courtiers. Finally Quire exits the walls and claims the role of Gloriana's court champion, later her lord chancellor, and ultimately her lover—threatening her place as sovereign and symbol of Albion. Ultimately, Una and Gloriana discover Flaya, Gloriana's long-lost mother, thought to have been murdered by Hern VI during one of his episodes of insanity, but still alive in an unexplored dungeon adjunct to the castle. After killing his insane daughter, Montfallcon battles Quire in a duel, leading to Montfallcon's death. Able to provide the queen with an orgasm, Quire ultimately weds her, serving as her new consort, Prince Arthur.

Controversy

Moorcock was criticized for Gloriana's original ending, in which Quire raped Gloriana to 'arouse' her, which led to feminist criticism of his work. Due to strong friendship with stalwart anti-pornography feminist Andrea Dworkin, he later altered the ending to reflect contemporary feminist-inflected comprehension of women's sexuality and eroticism. In the altered ending, Quire seduces and makes love to Gloriana and does not rape her.

Editions

Awards

Music

In 2008, The Entropy Tango & Gloriana Demo Sessions by Michael Moorcock & The Deep Fix was released. These were sessions for planned albums based on two Moorcock novels: Gloriana and The Entropy Tango. Two of the Gloriana tracks ("Inglesborough"and "Montfallcon") were reworked with additional musicians and appeared on the Spirits Burning CD Alien Injection, also released in 2008.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Spenser</span> English poet (1552–1599)

Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse, and he is considered one of the great poets in the English language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Moorcock</span> English writer, editor, critic (born 1939)

Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worked as an editor and is also a successful musician. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, which were a seminal influence on the field of fantasy in the 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elric of Melniboné</span> Fictional character

Elric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by English writer Michael Moorcock and the protagonist of a series of sword and sorcery stories taking place on an alternative Earth. The proper name and title of the character are Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné. Later stories by Moorcock marked Elric as a facet of the Eternal Champion.

<i>The Faerie Queene</i> English epic poem by Edmund Spenser

The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books I–III were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IV–VI. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 stanzas, it is one of the longest poems in the English language; it is also the work in which Spenser invented the verse form known as the Spenserian stanza. On a literal level, the poem follows several knights as a means to examine different virtues. The poem is also an allegorical work. As such, it can be read on several levels, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I. In Spenser's "Letter of the Authors", he states that the entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in Allegorical devices", and that the aim of publishing The Faerie Queene was to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline".

Gormenghast is a fantasy series by British author Mervyn Peake, about the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, Gothic structure. Originally conceived as a single on-going novel, the series was ended by Peake's death and comprises three novels: Titus Groan (1946), Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959); and a novella, Boy in Darkness (1956). Peake was writing a fourth novel, Titus Awakes, at the time of his death in 1968. The book was completed by Peake's widow Maeve Gilmore in the 1970s, but was not published until 2011 after it was discovered by their family.

Jerry Cornelius is a fictional character created by English author Michael Moorcock. The character is an urban adventurer and an incarnation of the author's Eternal Champion concept. Cornelius is a hipster of ambiguous and occasionally polymorphous gender. Many of the same characters feature in each of several Cornelius books, though the individual books have little connection with one another, having a more metafictional than causal relationship. The first Jerry Cornelius book, The Final Programme, was made into a 1973 film starring Jon Finch and Jenny Runacre. Notting Hill in London features prominently in the stories.

The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene (1590–96). Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single 'alexandrine' line in iambic hexameter. The rhyme scheme of these lines is ABABBCBCC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cordelia of Britain</span> Legendary Queen of the Britons

Cordelia was a legendary Queen of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. She came to power in 855BC.

<i>Gloriana</i> 1953 opera by Benjamin Britten

Gloriana, Op. 53, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten to an English libretto by William Plomer, based on Lytton Strachey's 1928 Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History. The first performance was presented at the Royal Opera House, London, in 1953 during the celebrations of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Gloriana was the name given by the 16th-century poet Edmund Spenser to his character representing Queen Elizabeth I in his poem The Faerie Queene. It became the popular name given to Elizabeth I.

Archimago is a sorcerer in The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. In the narrative, he is continually engaged in deceitful magics, as when he makes a false Una to tempt the Red-Cross Knight into lust, and when this fails, conjures another image, of a squire, to deceive the knight into believing that Una was false to him.

<i>The Broken Sword</i> 1954 fantasy novel Poul Anderson

The Broken Sword is a fantasy novel by American writer Poul Anderson, originally published on 5 November 1954. It was issued in a revised edition by Ballantine Books as the twenty-fourth volume of their Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in January 1971. The original text was returned to print by Gollancz in 2002. The novel is set during the Viking Age and the story contains many references to the Norse mythology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of Elizabeth I</span> Compilation of Queen Elizabeth I in fictional Media

Elizabeth I of England has inspired artistic and cultural works for over four centuries. The following lists cover various media, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture, film and fiction. The entries represent portrayals that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalogue.

<i>The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the 20th Century</i> 1976 novel by Michael Moorcock

The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the 20th Century: A Romance is a novel by British fantasy and science fiction writer Michael Moorcock. It is part of his long running Jerry Cornelius series. It was first published in 1976 by Quartet Books in the UK.

Una Persson is a recurring character in many of Michael Moorcock's 'multiverse' novels. She has also been used as a character in stories by other writers. She was the character Moorcock chose to start a round-robin story in The Guardian.

Gloriana is a 1953 opera by Benjamin Britten.

This is a bibliography of the works of Michael Moorcock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Spencer, Baroness Hunsdon</span> English noblewoman, scholar, and patron of the arts

Elizabeth Spencer, Baroness Hunsdon was an English noblewoman, scholar, and patron of the arts. She was the inspiration for Edmund Spenser's Muiopotmos, was commemorated in one of the poet's dedicatory sonnets to The Faerie Queene, and was represented as "Phyllis" in the latter's pastoral poem Colin Clouts Come Home Againe. She herself translated Petrarch. Her first husband was George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, grandson of Mary Boleyn, elder sister of Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Howard (painter)</span> English painter

Frank Howard (1805?–1866) was the son of Henry Howard, an artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Una and the Lion</span> British 5 pound gold coin

The Una and the Lion is a British £5 gold coin depicting Queen Victoria. It is recognized as one of the most beautiful British coins ever struck. It was designed by William Wyon in 1839, to commemorate the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign. The coins were first produced in 1839 and were probably intended for collector sets rather than for circulation. The production ran to a few hundred coins including a number of variations such as different metals, different hairbands on the depiction of the queen, different edge types, and a variation in the reverse inscription.

<i>The Mathematics of Magic</i> 1940 fantasy novella by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt

"The Mathematics of Magic" is a fantasy novella by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, the second story in their Harold Shea series. It was first published in the August 1940 issue of the fantasy pulp magazine Unknown. It first appeared in book form, together with the preceding novella, "The Roaring Trumpet", in the collection The Incomplete Enchanter, issued in hardcover by Henry Holt and Company in 1941, and in paperback by Pyramid Books in 1960. It has since been reprinted in various collections by numerous other publishers, including The Compleat Enchanter (1975), The Incompleat Enchanter (1979), The Complete Compleat Enchanter (1989), and The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt (2007). It has been translated into Dutch and Italian. In 2016, the story was shortlisted for the Retro Hugo Award for Best Novella.

References

  1. "Moorcock's Miscellany". 24 January 2004. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  2. "Moorcock's Miscellany". 26 November 2005. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  3. "Moorcock's Miscellany". multiverse.org. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  4. "1979 World Fantasy Award Winners and Nominees". worldfantasy.org. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
  5. "The John W. Campbell Memorial Award". University of Kansas Center for the Study of Science Fiction. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2009.