From Elfland to the Collegium Imago mailroom

There’s this classic essay by Ursula LeGuin, “From Elfland to Poughkeepsie,” in which she completely shreds one of Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni books for scenes in which the language she uses for dialogue about political strategizing could have been used equally well if the books had been set in the modern United States. LeGuin would rather that fantasy writers used styles that better conveyed the essential strangeness of their worlds. I don’t know that I agree; it’s the juxtaposition of familiarity and strangeness that best makes the effect, in my opinion, but anyway, that essay is pretty well stuck in my head for good now.

So when I read a scene in Modesitt’s Imager – which I am quite enjoying, since I like his usual practice of showing characters starting new magical careers and going through their day-to-day lives while they figure out what’s going on – when I read a scene in which our main character is instructed on how to find the mailboxes, how to recognize which one is his, and how often he should check it, I had to be glad for him that LeGuin had already written her essay...