In Search of Fiorinda: E. R. Eddison and Supernatural Women in Fantasy

Described as 'The Man Who Loved Women' by Verlyn Flieger, E.R. Eddison occupies a unique position among Fantasy novelists of the early-mid twentieth century on account of the active part played by woman characters on the stage of his fabled land of Zimiamvia.

Described as 'The Man Who Loved Women' by Verlyn Flieger, E.R. Eddison occupies a unique position among Fantasy novelists of the early-mid twentieth century on account of the active part played by woman characters on the stage of his fabled land of Zimiamvia. Preeminent among Eddison's woman characters is the formidable Fiorinda.  Despite being excoriated by Eddison's friends and critics as the proverbial femme fatale, Fiorinda is in fact a composite character, none other than Aphrodite Herself. Looking behind her function in the plot, this talk by Professor Marc Rolland (LCO, Université Littoral Côte Opale, Boulogne-sur-Merwill) see how she is one of several incarnations of the goddess, how her type of character did not appear out of the blue but harkens back to writers such as H. Rider-Haggard and William Morris. Professor Rolland's talk will lead to the specific portraits that Eddison had in mind for Fiorinda, leaving clues here and there that point to enigmatic paintings of the sixteenth and eighteenth century. 

This meeting of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Literary Studies is a hybrid event, taking place on campus and on Zoom.  Join the Zoom meeting here.