‘Medusa’s Ankles,’ a Choice of A.S. Byatt’s Wildly Imagined Tales Throughout Three Many years
The princess story — its title is “Chilly” — is right here. This delicate younger girl marries a desert prince who, fearing she’ll soften within the staring solar, builds for her an underground palace made from spun glass. A narrative titled “Dragons’ Breath” is about monumental wormlike creatures, shades of “Dune,” that slide down a mountain, sucking down unfortunate goats and duck ponds and flattening the homes of their path.
“Heavenly Our bodies” is a few singer named Lucy Furnix and a tycoon named Brad Macmamman. Lucy, or her avatar, is changed into a glowing “skywoman” with “softly heaving breasts” and “harem pants” who fills the evening sky. The world gawks. This sort of factor is certain to present Grimes and Elon Musk, and their couple’s counselor, concepts; at the very least till Lucy is ripped aside by extra venerable heavenly our bodies.
“The Djinn within the Nightingale’s Eye” is a few middle-age girl, a “narratologist” named Gillian, who uncorks an antique-shop bottle and, shazam, finds a good-looking genie in her resort room. The genie does Helmut Kohl and Donald Duck imitations, makes recent figs seem and grants her three needs.
Their lovemaking — “Gillian appeared to swim throughout his physique ceaselessly like a dolphin in an infinite inexperienced sea, in order that she turned arching tunnels underneath mountains by way of which he pierced and rushed, or caverns by which he lay curled like dragons” — is for the ages, and sounds excellent when learn aloud to pan flute music.
Different tales fly a bit nearer to earth, although hardly ever do you sense you’re studying about beings you may care about, or that something in any respect is at stake. They’re top-heavy, compelled in a hothouse.
There are various tales inside tales. If such tales have been good, they wouldn’t be inside a special one. Whereas studying, I continuously glanced at my spouse throughout the room and made that sensible new worldwide hand signal which means “assist me.”
A human theme does emerge from this guide. Byatt is a perceptive author about getting old, about what it’s wish to really feel such as you’re disappearing, like Homer Simpson into that hedge, from the brighter world.