Moonwind | Literary Qualities

Moonwind Literary Qualities

The style of Moonwind is smooth and unobtrusive. The book starts with three chapters from Bethkahn's point of view, explaining her predicament, and then switches back and forth between chapters contrasting her actions with Gareth's. Aside from some Welsh turns of phrase which he uses, the dialogue is standard American speech. The moon's physical features are described in stunning images which contrast with the matter-of-fact words used for story events—a technique which underlines Gareth's feelings of alienation from ordinary life.

Bethkahn, as an alien female who "calls" to a human male, has some resemblance to the enchantresses of legend and literature. In many of these stories, a human hero outwits the enchantresses at their own game, as Odysseus did with the Sirens and with Circe. In others, such as Keats's poem "La Belle Dame sans Merci," a young man is lured to his doom. In the present book,...
(read more)