Influence and Reception
The Worm Ouroboros did not sell well when first published, but after the publication of The Lord of the Rings it was reissued and achieved greater success.
Reviewing a 1952 edition, Boucher and McComas praised the novel lavishly, describing it as "one of the major imaginative novels of this century" and "the detailed creation of a vividly heroic alien history." They particularly commended "the resonant clangor of its prose, the tremendous impetus of its story-telling, the magnificent audacity (and sternly convincing consistency) of its fantasy concepts."
In 1963, Avram Davidson praised the novel's prose for "abound in beautiful, quotable language" and its story as one of "war, witchcraft, adventure, conspiracy, violence, bloodshed, intrigue." Davidson, though, faulted Eddison's conception, saying "Ouroboros is a classic, but it is not and cannot be a great classic," because it lacks "humanity"—the realistic detail of great works like the Arabian Nights, where characters "do not merely kiss and declaim and posture."
British prog-supergroup National Health recorded a song titled 'Tenemos Roads' in 1977, loosely based upon the novel.
Karl Edward Wagner was influenced by "The Worm Ouroboros" as a teenager. Michael Swanwick quotes from Ouroboros in The Dragons of Babel.
In 1983, E. F. Bleiler praised The Worm Ouroboros as "still the finest heroic fantasy."
Read more about this topic: The Worm Ouroboros
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