The Zimiamvian Trilogy is a series of
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
novels by English author
E. R. Eddison
Eric Rücker Eddison, CB, CMG (24 November 1882 – 18 August 1945) was an English civil servant and author, writing epic fantasy novels under the name E. R. Eddison. His notable works include ''The Worm Ouroboros'' (1922) and the Zimiamvian T ...
.
*''
Mistress of Mistresses
''Mistress of Mistresses'' is a fantasy novel by English writer E. R. Eddison, the first in his Zimiamvian Trilogy
The Zimiamvian Trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by English author E. R. Eddison.
*''Mistress of Mistresses'' (1935)
*'' A F ...
'' (1935)
*''
A Fish Dinner in Memison'' (1941)
*''
The Mezentian Gate'' (1958)
Some chapters in each of the novels take place on Earth in the 20th century, but the novels are largely set in a parallel world named Zimiamvia, which primarily comprises the Three Kingdoms of Fingiswold, Meszria and Rerek (though other lands, such as Akkamma, are also referred to).
The internal chronology of the books is the reverse of the order in which they were written and published, and they can be read in any way, since each book stands by itself.
Scholarship
Literary critic
Don D'Ammassa has claimed that the Zimiamvian trilogy has "powerfully drawn" characters,
especially the villains. He notes that none of the protagonists, with the exception of Lessingham, comes across as
"entirely admirable".
All the books contain a romantic ethic of fame, fate and eternal recurrence, in which the supreme value is chivalry, both in the sense of heroism and in the sense of idealization of women.
[ Flieger, Verlyn (Summer 1989) "The Ouroboros Principle: Time and Love in Zimiamvia" '' Mythlore'' 15(4):43-46. (No. 58)] In ''Mistress of Mistresses'' the underlying philosophy is a
pantheism
Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...
similar to that espoised by
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...
, pantheism mysteriously combined with
polytheism
Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the ...
(characters routinely swear by "the Gods"). There are both a supreme male God, named as
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D ...
in ''The Mezentian Gate'', whose avatars include Duke Barganax and Lessingham, and a supreme Goddess, identified with the
eternal feminine
The eternal feminine, a concept first introduced by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his play ''Faust'' (1832), is a transcendental ideality of the feminine or womanly abstracted from the attributes, traits and behaviors of a large number of women a ...
and with
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...
, and temporarily incarnated in the two queens whom Lessingham serves.
References
{{E. R. Eddison, state=collapsed
Fantasy novels by fictional universe
Fantasy novel trilogies
Novels about the afterlife