the sundered worlds

[legion505]

after readin the book a few years ago, it always made me wonder if asquiol and renark were both eternal champions? i had read that book before i had read any von bek books, and didnt know the backgroud. but he had seemed like the main character, so i was surprised when he died.
but asquiol seemed to take on an omnipotent personality afterward.
so i wonder how did that work?

[Michael Moorcock]

Actually in the omnibus version of The Sundered Worlds, only available in the US, you'll see that von Bek is there. Originally, let's say, he appeared under a pseudonym!
The Sundered Worlds isn't currently in print in the UK. I'm hoping to set that to rights when all the various problems with publishers are sorted out.

[lordmarioh]

Really! who was he? (or who you made him be)

[Michael Moorcock]

Von Bek is Renark. There is a certain amount of clarification in the US edition. Or rewriting, to put it another way :)

[lordmarioh]

Returning to this book (one of my favorites), I was just wondering how biblical the story is... First I thought of Moses and his Exodus, but the I thought about Jesus and his followers. Renark is Jesus and the first part of the book is his Gospel. After his sacrifice, we see his friends and followers' journey, just like the book of Acts.

I haven't read the Von Bek version... But I think the Renark version is already perfect.

[Michael Moorcock]

Well, I can't deny the influence of the Bible (or Shakespeare) on that kind of work. British visionaries are all indebted to the Bible, whether they want to be or not -- and there's a great tradition from Bunyan onwards. But I did not consciously base the novel on the Bible.