The Way Home … Into the Archives

 

The Way Home, by Peter S. Beagle, contains ‘Two Novellas from the World of The Last Unicorn’. My copy arrived in the mail yesterday. The first novella, ‘Two Hearts’, I had already read quite recently in the short story Beagle omnibus Magic Kingdoms and found it to be something of a masterpiece. I’m in the middle of reading the second novella, ‘Soos’ (named after the main character of the tale), and so far, finding it (though it’s never fair to give a final judgement until you’ve finished a work) only so-so. It’s giving off The Folk of the Air vibes, which is not a good sign for me.

I see it is paired with a matching edition of The Last Unicorn, which has set me pondering why I have never bought any other copy of it since my first. It is undoubtedly a classic and certainly worthy of having a hardback presence in my library. But I’ve never found an edition that evoked my consideration. They are either too plain or too abstract. Even Darrell K. Sweet's cover is too 'realistic'.

There is something about that old Del Rey printing, with its stylized Gervasio Gallardo cover, that seems to perfectly fit the age when Beagle wrote it, with its poetic, pedantic, scatterbrained butterfly, its sitcom young couple of birds, its folk singing thieves and tramps. These admittedly fade away when the story enters true fairy tale territory, but the book – my edition – is a relic of that age. Perhaps I am afraid that any other printing will diminish the charm of the book for me.  And would I even bother to read it there?

While ordering The Way Home, I saw that I needed only to spend about a dollar and a half more for free shipping. While I knew I would never find a book that cheap, I went looking through Dover Thrift books, to see if I could find something I wanted. While I would be spending a little more money, I would be getting something solid back. I found The Classic Tradition of Haiku: An Anthology, edited by Faubion Bowers, a slim little book of 77 pages for $3. Even just dipping into it a bit, I found, like Kerin of Nointel, already at least ‘one thing which is wholly true.’ It is a translation of a haiku by an anonymous poet from the Basho era (17th Century Japan):

“I regret picking

And not picking

Violets.”     

Strangely enough, I belive that sentiment alone easily worth the three dollars.