The Art Trilogy
Cover for The Great and Secret Show, the first Book of the Art
|
|
| Author | Clive Barker |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Published | 1989 - current |
| Media type | Print, e-book |
Books of the Art or The Art Trilogy is an incomplete trilogy of novels by Clive Barker, of which only the first two have been published. The first book, The Great and Secret Show, was first published in 1989 and was followed by the second book, Everville, in 1994. The third book has yet to be written and there is currently no schedule for its release. Of plans for the third book, Barker has stated that the book will be "a big book when it comes" and that he wants to write it with "as much feeling as possible."
The trilogy has been cited as an example of Barker's use of magic as a motif to "comment upon the work of the creator of art" and Barker himself has used the term to describe transformative magic that is used as "windows through which to glimpse the miraculous". The series thus far has been compared to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
The Great and Secret Show follows Fletcher and Jaffe, two humans that have transcended reality and to become super-human. The two initially worked together but became adversaries when it became clear that Jaffe was intent on gaining control of Quiddity, a dream sea that humans can access only three times in their lives. The two men end up siring children by raping four teenage girls with the intention that they will continue their battles, only for two of their children to fall in love.
Everville delves deeper into the mythology of the cosm (essentially, Earth) and the metacosm (another plane of existence containing the dream sea Quiddity). The character Harry D'Amour appears in the novel as a main character and some of the characters from the previous novel also make appearances.
As Barker has yet to write the third book he has yet to confirm any concrete plot but has stated some of its basic themes.
I think what the third book will concern itself with is what the very origins of Quiddity, what the connection between humanity's origin and the origin of the conscience—the dream consciousness—that is there in the Sea of Quiddity, what that connection is. I've always believed in the idea of a collective unconscious, and Quiddity is really that. It's the sea we enter, as the mythology goes, where we enter once on the night when we are born, once on the night when we first kiss, and fall in love with the world, and once at the time we die. At the most serious and profound moments in our lives, we are given a moment to enter this place of pure dreaming, and that's fascinating, my fascination with dreaming. My dreams are mirrors of my soul. I'm hoping that will all be reflected in the third and final book.
...
Wikipedia