Neil Gaiman. Creativity, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

One of the brightest writers of our time is undoubtedly Neil Gaiman. The sandman comic book series brought him fame, but in his homeland he is more appreciated as an unusually talented storyteller. Neil Gaiman's books embody the best traditions of fairy tales in English literature, based on an appeal to mythology.

Neil Gaiman is a science fiction writer

The mythology of England penetrates the works of Neil Gaiman in various ways, for example, the author borrows its plots and images, creates his own system of myths, conveying his unique understanding to readers. Almost all of Neil Gaiman's works are devoted to the formation of the personality of the protagonist, everything is permeated with folklore motifs.

The great-grandfather of the future writer lived in Eastern Europe, before the outbreak of the First World War, he moved to Holland, and then emigrated to England. Gaiman's grandfather settled in Portsmouth, where he opened a small chain of grocery stores. David (his son) continued the development of the family business. The writer's mother Sheila (nee Goldman) served as a pharmacist. Sheila and David had three children: Neil and his younger sisters Lizzy and Claire. Neil Gaiman, whose books later became bestsellers, said that he was a child with oddities,and jokingly added that he was very lucky, since the parents had no one to compare their son with until their younger children were born, so no one noticed that something was wrong with Neil.

Neil Gaiman's entire work cannot be covered and analyzed in one article, but I would like to take a short digression through several of his books and scripts.

"The Sandman" (1989)

Neil Gaiman The Sandman was conceived as a ten-volume comic book series. It was the only comic to win a World Fantasy Award. The comics tell about Morpheus, the lord of dreams, who was captured by a sorcerer. The sorcerer planned to catch Death itself, but during the ritual something went wrong, and Morpheus was locked in the pentagram. Refusing not only to help the occultist, but also to talk to him, the Sandman was locked up for seventy years. Having escaped from captivity, Morpheus noticed that the world had changed a lot, and he himself was no longer the same as before. As always in his work, Neil Gaiman created a new, amazing reality, a kind of synthesis of reality and the world of various gods of ancient states.

"Good Omens" (1990)

Good Omens is a joint project by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett in the genre of urban comedy fantasy. It should be noted that for Neil Gaiman this was the first major work. In general, a humorous novel about the coming end of the world received positive reviews from critics and won several awards.

"The door"(1996)

Neil Gaiman's urban fantasy “Through the Door” is a novelization of his own script and the writer's first solo project. The plot of the novel was created in the best traditions of Gaiman: Richard's life changed radically when he decided to help a stranger named D'Ver - two assassins were chasing her. From the girl's story, Richard learns amazing things. It turns out that under the streets of London there is another, completely different from the real world, which people are not even aware of. In this world, the word is a real power, but you can get there only if you manage to open the Door. A world full of danger, inhabited by angels and saints, monsters and murderers, is right under the feet of the people of London.

After this meeting, Richard noticed that he was disappearing from life: records about him disappeared, and his acquaintances did not remember him, so the guy was forced to become a companion of an unusual girl who has the ability to open any doors, and help her solve the mystery of the death of her parents. After all the adventures and completing his mission, Richard returns home. But the former life seems to him dull and gray. Unable to resist the temptation, the hero returns to the mysterious world of Under-London.

"Smoke and Mirrors" (1998)

Neil Gaiman "Smoke and Mirrors" was written in the form of a collection of short stories, each of which begins with a short essay - a kind of creation story. The collection contains several large stories, but mostly the stories are small: there are those that fit on one page. Well, the author proved that a goodthe idea does not have to be spread over several pages.

All stories from the collection are surprisingly easy to read: for each writer creates his own world, separate from the rest, but each has a surreal atmosphere. The Holy Grail can be found in Second Hand at a reasonable price, and a werewolf becomes a detective… In this collection, Neil Gaiman also acts as a poet, however, it is better to read the poems in the original.

Stardust (1998)

Neil Gaiman's Stardust differs from his other writings in its writing style, as the author attempted to follow the tradition of pre-Tolkien fantasy writers such as James Branch Cabell.

The plot starts from the village of Zastenye, which borders on the magical world, where the young man Tristan goes in search of a fallen star for his girlfriend Victoria. To do this, the guy secretly enters the world of fairies and wizards, which is “with its own character”: it has its own rules and laws. Who knew that the star would turn out to be not a cobblestone, but a living girl? Or the fact that evil witches hunt for a pretty girl, for whom she is a source of eternal youth and beauty?

Neil Gaiman wrote Stardust as a fairy tale in its traditional sense. It contains actions, it contains living heroes: they learn, grow up, fall in love, become wiser. The courage of the protagonist leads readers to the idea that risk is a noble cause, and everyone will be rewarded according to their deserts.

Neil Gaiman, as always, distinguished himself by originality: unusual plot twists lurereaders into the book world again and again. Even for fantasy, the story looks unusual.

All new fairy tales

Neil Gaiman co-authored All New Tales with Al Sarrantonio is a collection of scary stories. The authors-compilers have collected in it the best stories and fairy tales in the genre of suspense and horror, written by masters of the English word. Contributors include Michael Moorcock, Michael Swanwick, Chuck Palahniuk, W alter Mosley and others. All New Tales is a collection of subtle, gripping, smart and genuinely scary stories.

"American Gods" (2001)

Neil Gaiman created American Gods in the form of a novel. One of the author's best works was written under the influence of the writer's emigration to America. The events of the novel tell about the confrontation between the gods of the Old World, who emigrated to America, and the recently appeared deities of the New World: television, telephone, Internet. The plot of the novel begins rather harmlessly. The shadow, which was released from prison ahead of schedule, falls into the artfully woven nets of Odin (the god of war and victory among the ancient Scandinavians), the reincarnation of the latter is the harmless Mr. Wednesday. The shadow will have to travel all over America in order to find all the reincarnations of the ancient gods: Bastet, Loki, Chernobog, Anansi and others.

"Coraline" (2002)

The novel "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman was conceived as a bedtime story for his daughter, but later the writer published this amazing story. Manycritics draw an analogy with the fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland", but we can safely say that the writer did not recycle Carroll's ideas, but created his own, unique, unlike any other scary tale. The plot of the book is that the brave girl Coraline, dissatisfied with her boring life, after moving to a new house, finds an unusual door. Having unlocked it, she literally finds herself in a parallel world, and everything in this world is better: mom cooks better, dad is happy to tinker in the garden, a friend does not talk so much. The catch is that in order to stay in this world forever, Coraline will have to sew on buttons instead of eyes.

Girl demonstrates amazing courage, flexible mind, decision-making skills and boundless imagination to young readers.

The moral of this story is to appreciate everything you have and be grateful for it. And Coraline realizes this as a result of all the adventures that have happened to her.

"The Graveyard Story" (2008)

Neil Gaiman's science fiction children's novel The Graveyard Story begins with a mysterious man murdering Nobody's parents and a boy taking refuge in a graveyard. Raised by ghosts, werewolves and vampires, the boy grows up and finds friends, but still remembers that the one who killed his family lives behind the cemetery fence…

The atmosphere of the book is quite unusual: it is a little sad and gloomy, on the one hand, and it is very easy to read (and about some of the boy's adventuresyou read with bated breath) - on the other. Like any good children's book, "The Graveyard Story" is equally easy to digest for both children and adults, but for some reason does not cause a feeling of naivety at all.

The author does not hide the fact that he drew plots from the books “Mowgli” and “Harry Potter” familiar to many, but this does not spoil the impression of his work. As in Coraline, Neil Gaiman manages to construct a new, unlike any other, exciting world. It is safe to say that in this book the author shows the best side of his talent.

Based on a brief analysis of the main works of Neil Gaiman, the main features of this author can be identified:

• The ability to unobtrusively intertwine reality and the world of the gods: biblical, pagan, mythological and modern.
• Borrowing the plot from already written books and changing it so that the result is more than a unique and inimitable work.
• The gloomy and sad atmosphere created by the author does not put pressure on readers, as a result of which books are perceived quite easily.
• Author's ability to create books that are accessible and interesting to all age groups.
• Special harsh and dry language of narration.