Changing Making the Map: The Legacy of Diana Wynne Jones

There are many tour guides to the map of speculative fiction – that wondrous realm of space, time, and horror, and more than a few writers who function as both guides and gods, creating and leading tour groups. From J.R.R. Tolkien, to Gary K. Wolfe, from C.S. Lewis to Farah Mendlesohn, these (sometimes grizzled and serious, sometimes light and amusing) Sherpas lead us up mountains, through wastelands, into the realms, valleys, and abysses of space.

(Me, I’m the woman at the side of the road, holding up a tattered cardboard sign.).

So, sometimes you need Indiana Jones, and sometimes you need a more relaxing travel companion. Someone who helped build the world, particularly the fantasy world. Someone who inspired and mentored  such fellow titans as Neil Gaiman and Robin McKinley. Someone who had a boy wizard and magic schools long before J.K. Rowling, and who produced true magic with their words. Sometimes, you just need Diana Wynne Jones to whisper sass in your ear as you pass by a battered stone nunnery.

“NUNNERIES: The Rule is that any Nunnery you approach, particularly if you are in dire need of rest, Healing, or provisions, will prove to have been recently sacked. You will find the place a smoking ruin littered with corpses. You will be shocked and wonder who could have done such a thing. Your natural curiosity will shortly be satisfied, because there is a further Rule that there will be one survivor, either a very young NOVICE or a very old nun, who will give you a graphic account of the raping and burning and the names of the perpetrators. If old, she will then die, thus saving you from having to take her along and feed her from your dwindling provisions; if a Novice, she will either die likewise or prove to be not as nunnish as you at first thought, in which case you may be glad to have her along.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland

Born in 1934, Jones began writing in the 60’s. Her books are delightfully witty, often sarcastic, and often parody various literary forms (particularly the Dalemark Quartet).

I first discovered Diana Wynne Jones through the bewitching Chrestomanci series (Charmed Life, featuring Christopher Chant is the first in the series). Long before there was Harry Potter, in times of stress, I could be found muttering “Chrestomanci, Chrestomanci, Chrestomanci” in the hopes of forcing the magician to appear. (He functions much under the same rules as Beetlejuice. I have been known to continue this habit when I feel in particular need of a rescue.)

Dogsbody solidified my love for her – anyone who can pull off a book about a star who was banished to Earth as a dog and falls in love has my utmost respect.

Fire and Hemlock (her tale loosely based on the ballad of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer) remains one of my all-time top ten books and has since its publication in 1984. In it, nineteen year old Polly Whittacker finds out one day that she has two separate sets of memories – one in which everything is normal, and one in which she’s in love with Tom Lynn and magic.

Her books always have ambitious endings that often leave you wondering and imagining (borderline obsessing) on what happens next. She takes you to a world, shows you about, and then strands you there to figure out the rest on your own.

She’s also one of those authors (much like Neil Gaiman and Robin McKinley) who refuses to inhabit one portion of the map. Instead, little valleys and glens of her world pop up all over the place. She wrote for young adults with adult sensibilities, still reflecting and refracting the terribly serious nature of youth.

And, with  The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, she took me on a delightfully snarky tour (and literary critique) of the common tropes and cliches of the fantasy worlds. She also prevented me from making the obvious mistakes, particularly those involving horses.

“Horses are of a breed unique to Fantasyland. They are capable of galloping full-tilt all day without a rest. Sometimes they do not require food or water. They never cast shoes, go lame or put their hooves down holes, except when the Management deems it necessary, as when the forces of the Dark Lord are only half an hour behind. They never otherwise stumble. Nor do they ever make life difficult for Tourists by biting or kicking their riders or one another. They never resist being mounted or blow out so that their girths slip, or do any of the other things that make horses so chancy in this world. For instance, they never shy and seldom whinny or demand sugar at inopportune moments. But for some reason you cannot hold a conversation while riding them. If you want to say anything to another Tourist (or vice versa), both of you will have to rein to a stop and stand staring out over a valley while you talk. Apart from this inexplicable quirk, horses can be used just like bicycles, and usually are. Much research into how these exemplary animals come to exist has resulted in the following: no mare ever comes into season on the Tour and no stallion ever shows an interest in a mare; and few horses are described as geldings. It therefore seems probable that they breed by pollination. This theory seems to account for everything, since it is clear that the creatures do behave more like vegetables than mammals. Nomads appears to have a monopoly on horse-breeding. They alone possess the secret of how to pollinate them.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland

Diana Wynne Jones died in 2011, greatly mourned. Farah Mendlesohn, one of her fellow tour guides to the fantasy world, covers her in Diana Wynne Jones – Fantastic Literature (a wonderful book that is not only informative, but also vastly entertaining). I highly suggest reading Neil Gaiman’s comments on her, and also Robin McKinley’s, for viewpoints from those who knew her better then most, though all of us that have read her felt like we knew her. She’s one of those authors – the ones that you’d like to meet in person, and like to think wouldn’t have been disappointed in the meeting.

And she’s always, thanks to the wonderful and peculiar enchantment of books, available to take you on a tour of Fantasyland, snark included free of charge.

(I belong to Chrestomanci Castle!)

Editor’s Note: We are currently reading Jones’ The Dark Lord of Derkholm for our upcoming book club! We would love for you to join us!