Nebakenezzer posted:

I think the idea that the Unicorn, by being immortal/close to some kind of metaphysical entity and therefore doesn't understand certain basic aspects of humanity makes total sense. This is why the Unicorn can defeat the Reb Red Bull in the end when no other unicorn could. It sounds like immortal creatures are kinda rational in a way that mortals are not. They somehow knew they couldn't defeat the Red Bull, and so gave up. The titular unicorn could be fueled by mortal emotions, and therefore when the Bull murk Leir (sp?) it produces a completely irrational response of white hot rage.

I realize the Red Bull is a smart fantasy character in its conception; because aside from the obvious stuff it remains mysterious. It reminds me a bit of Moby Dick, in that Melville has whales at the edge of human understanding, and thus, in some ways unknowable.

Gertrude Perkins posted:

I love the film but haven't read the book yet. (I will, I want to!) A friend met Peter S. Beagle once (at a furry convention of all places) and said he was awfully nice.

(Also kudos for the lyric in the thread title!)

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

That tapestry is boss

quote:

We are raised to honor all the wrong explorers and discoverers—thieves planting flags, murderers carrying crosses. Let us at last praise the colonizers of dreams.”
― Peter S. Beagle, The Tolkien Reader

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Dapper_Swindler posted:

i also like how alot of stuff just remains a mystery in the book. i feel like too much fantasy/sci-fi, even the classics, get to much into the weeds of how everything works and the landscape and etc. last unicorn doesnt really do that even though its gorgeously descriptive. it doesnt give a poo poo about world building in the best way possible.

BeastOfTheEdelwood posted:

I loving love The Last Unicorn.

I agree. This is one of the book's strongest points, in my opinion. I love the ambiguity of the setting, where you're not sure if this is a fantasy version of our world or some completely made up world. Like, we have references to Robin Hood, Arabia, and a bunch of other stuff, but despite all of those references there isn't anything to really place the story in a specific place or time. Combined with the overall melancholic tone, the subtle tongue-in-cheek humor, and the tasteful metafictional elements, it just works so well. That last point about the elements of metafiction is also really interesting. I think it takes a lot of skill as a writer to do that without it coming off as a really clumsy, intro-to-creative-writing level, TVTroper-esque attempt at humor. The fact that Beagle pulls it off so well is really impressive.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

thought this was neat


https://x.com/helenewecker/status/1566476097964761088?s=20

Mad Hamish posted:

I love this book. My favourite part has always been Mommy Fortuna and the harpy. The way Schmendrick is showing the unicorn all the various exhibits at the Midnight Carnival (creatures of the night, brought to light) , but then she stops in front of its cage and just says "That one is real. That is the harpy Celaeno." and how she described, with the silver hair falling like moonlight around the hating human face, and how she just lets the moon come out again. Mommy Fortuna somehow caught and caged her, and Fortuna knows that someday Celaeno will get out and kill her in vengeance for that indignity, but Fortuna doesn't care because she did it, she caught a goddamned harpy and put it in a cage to exhibit to rubes for money. Absolute legend.

Anyone read A Fine And Private Place?

The_Other posted:

So I've been meaning to post in this thread since The Last Unicorn is a favorite of mine and this year (2023) I've read two books and saw one movie related to Beagle's classic. Posting now while there's still a few hours left in 2023.

First I read The Last Unicorn The Lost Journey which was Beagle's original first draft of The Last Unicorn. He wrote it in his early twenties and never finished it, and a few years ago they published it as a special edition (it currently goes for over $100 used, so you might want to try getting though your library). The book follows the basic plot of Beagle's finished piece, but the setting is explicitly modern and the characters of Schmendrick and Molly are absent, replaced by a two-headed demon. It was an interesting read that I couldn't really judge as it was an unfinished first draft. Beagle writes an afterword in which he describes what his life was like when working on the book.

I also read the new book The Way Home, which has the previously published coda Two Hearts as well as a new story, Sooz. I actually had read Two Hearts years ago and I do like it, as I enjoyed getting to see the characters from Last Unicorn again, and I did enjoy the bittersweet ending. Sooz, a new story that takes place ten years after Two Hearts and follows the protagonist of that tale, I can't say I enjoyed. I honestly had trouble focusing on the story, which can't have been a good sign, and maybe felt like it was too far removed from Last Unicorn. I'm probably not being fair to it and should try reading it again.

Tangentially related to The Last Unicorn, this year I watched the 1983 film The Return of Captain Invincible, an Australian superhero-musical-comedy in which the titular Captain, a now washed-up alcoholic, is called out of retirement to confront his old nemesis, Mr. Midnight. What does this have to do with The Last Unicorn? Well Captain Invincible is played by Alan Arkin and Mr. Midnight is played by Christopher Lee, so it's as if Schmendrick is facing off against King Haggard once again. That said, the movie isn't great and doesn't really pick up until the last half hour, although the scenes with Lee are always good as he was an expert at playing villains. Also the film didn't really need to be a musical, although Lee's final song Name Your Poison at the end of the film is terrific.

Finally I wanted to recommend to anyone who isn't reading it to try out the comic strip Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson. It's a relatively new strip at only ten years old (most newspaper comics are old enough to collect social security), has been posted in the Newspaper Comics thread in BSS. As the name suggests, the strip focuses on a young girl named Phoebe who befriends a unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils (the strip was actually titled Heavenly Nostrils when it ran as a webcomic). It has a lot of Calvin and Hobbes energy , but also manages to stand on its own. Furthermore Beagle actually wrote an introduction to the first collected edition of the comic strip. Again worth checking out.