His motivation grows with each adventure. Shandon is an unwitting and, initially, unwilling participant in his own journey. This slow seduction is crucial to Silverlock’s plot. It’s a subtle process - the Commonwealth slowly seduces Shandon and builds his appreciation for the world of letters. He is making up for lost time the countryside allows him to absorb literature directly through experience. As he wanders through the Commonwealth, Shandon gradually opens his mind to possibilities beyond the commonplace. Golias arrives just in time to extricate Shandon, beginning his services as guide and explicator of the Commonwealth. His first encounter in the Commonwealth is with Circe, who (following her standard practice) turns him into a pig. Shandon starts the book ignorant of all things literary he is an eminently practical man. Myers deftly manages the incorporation of mythical characters from many different traditions into a single storyline while keeping the focus on the main character none of the literary figures really overshadows Shandon. Since he embodies a small community of singers and storytellers in himself (Taliesin and Orpheus are only two of his names), this comes as no surprise. The only list that dwarfs it is the one that accumulates through Golias’ name-dropping. Myers inserts a tremendous stream of literary, mythical, and historic characters into Silverlock - Brian Boru, Beowulf, Job, Don Quixote, Puck, the Green Knight, Tam Lin, Robin Hood, Odin, Oedipus, Anna Karenina, Cerberus, Captain Ahab, Prometheus - the list goes on and on. Along the way, Shandon picks up the nickname “Silverlock” due to the shock of white hair at the crown of his head. From that point, the literary and mythical allusions come so fast and thick, it’s almost impossible to keep up. After Golias rescues Shandon from a life as a pig (compliments of Circe), he and Shandon are thrown together with a Viking raiding party. This journey is one of self-discovery for Shandon, with the living literature he meets serving as the catalyst for his development. Golias saves Shandon’s life and becomes his guide and traveling companion through the strange country known as the Commonwealth. After the ship sinks, Shandon is thrown together with the mysterious Boyan Taliesin Golias. Already, Myers Myers is hinting at the primary component of the book - the Naglfar is the ship that Loki pilots to Ragnorak. The dreadfully dull A.Clarence Shandon (B.A., Business Administration) is on board the Naglfar (several days out of Baltimore) and threatened by shipwreck. His main character learns about himself by participating in the lives of other literary figures.Ī chance event and a preliminary literary allusion start the story in Silverlock. John Myers Myers takes a novel approach to this genre in Silverlock. These voyages speak to human beings’ desire to answer fundamental questions about their place in the world. The journey takes many forms: Gilgamesh searching for immortality Dante’s trips to Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory and Wyatt and Billy’s road trip in Easy Rider, among many others. Journeys of self-discovery appearing in every genre, teaching us about the main character as well as ourselves.
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