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Great Science-Fiction & Fantasy Works
Science-fiction & fantasy literature: a critical list with discussions.
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This is a brief discussion of Mark Helprin and, of course, of some speculative-fiction books by Helprin.
This discussion and list does not necessarily include every book by Helprin: it includes only those books that I both know and like. Just as with the author list itself, omission of a particular item may mean I didn’t think highly enough of the omitted item, or it may simply mean that I have not yet sufficient familiarity with it. (In a very few cases, I have listed some books merely on the strength of my opinion of the author: all such books are clearly marked below, as throughout these lists, with a hash mark (#) before the title so you know what’s what.)
I don’t pretend that this discussion is a deep analysis. My intent is no more than to give you a rough idea of what kinds of tales Helprin tells, how those tales are usually told, and what makes them and Helprin worthy; in sum, to help you rank Mark Helprin (and the works by Helprin listed here) on your personal literary “to do” list.
A Few Words About Mark Helprin
Regrettably, I have not yet had an opportunity to write an essay on this author, but the “Other Resources” section below will lead you to some information about the \“Notable Books” listed farther down this page.
(Finding critical material on Helprin is not made easier by the fact that Helprin is a widely net-published writer of political-opinion pieces, whose listings tend to clog up most Helprin-related search-result sets.)
There are some moderately useful reviews of particular books. For Winter’s Tale, the more useful include Benjamin de Mott in
The New York Times, Ted Gioia at
conceptual fiction [archivd copy] , and “Victoria” at
FantasyBookSpot.
A Kingdom Far and Clear: The Complete Swan Lake Trilogy (This is a generally well-written series, supposedly “for children” though well readable by adults;
but be aware that it takes a sharp polemical right turn toward the end, belying that “for children”.)
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