One of the series I read after The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings was Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain.
I owe my sense of Wales as a magical place almost entirely to Mr. Alexander's books.
When I read the entire series to my son several years ago, I saw with my adult eyes that they are perhaps not the pinnacle of literary expression but they still spoke to me. They spoke to me in a powerful way when I read them for the first time as a young person. I was captivated by Taran's journey from assistant pig-keeper to King of Prydain. I think the theme of growing and becoming resonated strongly with me as I undertook my own journey through the great between we call the teenage years.
Perhaps that's why the fourth volume, Taran' Wanderer is my favorite. The story of Taran's attempts to find his place in the world through a series of apprenticeships directly addressed my own hopes and fears. As I followed along with Taran, it was almost as if I were reading a guide to maturation and an introduction to manly virtues.
I think this is more a commentary on me and what I brought to the books than on the books themselves. But isn't that what makes a work influential: what you bring to and take away from the experience of the work?
Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
For some reason I'd forgotten the main character's name was Taran. I loved those books too. I also had a slightly different experience when I read them to my kids as an adult, but the apprenticeship portions stuck with me too. Maybe that is why the name Taren was so appealing when we named baby #6.
ReplyDelete