The Last Unicorn von Peter S. Beagle

Kategorie: Bücher
Seiten / Format: 320 S
Erscheinungsjahr: 1991
Verlag: Penguin US
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN: 9780451450524

Praise for Peter S. Beagle andThe Last Unicorn<br><br>Comes alive and stays alive on bright intensity of imagination.The New York Times Book Review<br><br>Written in lyrical prose and rife with both whimsical humor and philosophical ruminations on what it means to be human, Beagle spins a quasi-medieval fairy tale that remains timeless.Time<br><br>The Last Unicornis the best book I have ever read. You need to read it. If you've already read it, you need to read it again. Patrick Rothfuss<br><br>Peter S. Beagle is (in no particular order) a wonderful writer, a fine human being, and a bandit prince out to steal readers hearts. Tad Williams<br> <br>Almost as if it were the last fairy tale, come out of lonely hiding in the forests of childhood,The Last Unicornis as full of enchantment as any of the favorite tales readers may choose to recall...A delicate, sensitive, yet powerful rendering of all the intangibles that make a fairy tale unforgettable.St. Louis Post-Dispatch<br><br>Beagle...has been compared, not unreasonably, with Lewis Carroll and J.R.R. Tolkien, but he stands squarely and triumphantly on his own feet...The book is rich, not only in comic bits but also in passages of uncommon beauty. Beagle is a true magician with words, a master of prose and a deft practitioner in verse.The Saturday Review<br> <br>The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam, but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.<br><br><br>She did not look anything like a horned horse, as unicorns are often pictured, being smaller and cloven-hoofed, and possessing that oldest, wildest grace that horses have never had, that deer have only in a shy, thin imitation and goats in dancing mockery. Her neck was long and slender, making her head seem smaller than it was, and the mane that fell almost to the middle of her back was as soft as dandelion fluff and as fine as cirrus. She had pointed ears and thin legs, with feathers of white hair at the ankles; and the long horn above her eyes shone and shivered with its own seashell light even in the deepest midnight. She had killed dragons with it, and healed a king whose poisoned wound would not close, and knocked down ripe chestnuts for bear cubs.<br><br>Unicorns are immortal. It is their nature to live alone in one place: usually a forest where there is a pool clear enough for them to see themselves-for they are a little vain, knowing themselves to be the most beautiful creatures in all the world, and magic besides. They mate very rarely, and no place is more enchanted than one where a unicorn has been born. The last time she had seen another unicorn the young virgins who still came seeking her now and then had called to her in a different tongue; but then, she had no idea of months and years and centuries, or even of seasons. It was always spring in her forest, because she lived there, and she wandered all day among the great beech trees, keeping watch over the animals that lived in the ground and under bushes, in nests and caves, earths and treetops. Generation after generation, wolves and rabbits alike, they hunted and loved and had children and died, and as the unicorn did none of these things, she never grew tired of watching them.<br><br>One day it happened that two men with long bows rode through her forest, hunting for deer. The unicorn followed them, moving so warily that not even the horses knew she was near. The sight of men filled her with an old, slow, strange mixture of tenderness and terror. She never let one see her if she could help it, but she liked to watch them ride by and hear them talking.<br><br>"I mislike the feel of this forest,"the elder of the two hunters grumbled."Creatures that live in a unicorn's wood learn a little magic of their own in time, mainly concerned with disappearing. We'll find no game here."<br><br>"Unicorns are long gone,"the second man said."If, indeed, they ever were. This is a forest like any other."<br><br>"Then why do the leaves never fall here, or the snow? I tell you, there is one unicorn left in the world-good luck to the lonely old thing, I say-and as long as it lives in this forest, there won't be a hunter who takes so much as a titmouse home at his saddle. Ride on, ride on, you'll see. I know their ways, unicorns."<br><br>"From books,"answered the other."Only from books and tales and songs. Not in the reign of three kings has there been even a whisper of a unicorn seen in this country or any other. You know no more about unicorns than I do, for I've read the same books and heard the same stories, and I've never seen one either."<br><br>The first hunter was silent for a time, and the second whistled sourly to himself. Then the first said,"My great-grandmother saw a unicorn once. She used to tell me about it when I was little."<br><br>"Oh, indeed? And did she capture it with a golden bridle?"<br><br>"No. She didn't have one. You don't have to have a golden bridle to catch a unicorn; that part's the fairy tale. You need only to be pure of heart."<br><br>"Yes, yes."The younger man chuckled."Did she ride her unicorn, then? Bareback, undeINCLUDES A NEW INTRODUCTION BY PATRICK ROTHFUSS<br><br>Experience one of the most enduring classics of the twentieth century and the book thatThe Atlantichas called one of the best fantasy novels ever.<br><br>The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone...<br><br>...so she ventured out from the safety of the enchanted forest on a quest for others of her kind. Joined along the way by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the indomitable Molly Grue, the unicorn learns all about the joys and sorrows of life and love before meeting her destiny in the castle of a despondent monarch and confronting the creature that would drive her kind to extinction....<br><br>InThe Last Unicorn, renowned and beloved novelist Peter S. Beagle spins a poignant tale of love, loss, and wonder that has resonated with millions of readers around the world.<br><br>Peter S. Beagle illuminates with his own particular magic. Ursula K. Le Guin<br>2USPeter S. Beaglewas born in 1939 and raised in the Bronx, just a few blocks from Woodlawn Cemetery, the inspiration for his first novel,A Fine and Private Place. Today, thanks to classic works such asThe Last Unicorn,TamsinandThe Innkeeper s Song, along with his forthcoming novel I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons,he is acknowledged as America s greatest living fantasy author; and his dazzling abilities with language, characters, and magical storytelling have earned him many millions of fans around the world.<br> <br>In addition to stories and novels Beagle has written numerous teleplays and screenplays, including the animated versions ofThe Lord of the RingsandThe Last Unicorn, plus the fan-favorite Sarek episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation. His nonfiction bookI See By My Outfit, which recounts a 1963 journey across America on motor scooter, is considered a classic of American travel writing; and he is also a gifted poet, lyricist, and singer/songwriter.

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