Alexander, Lloyd
Alexander, Lloyd (1924– ),major American author of fairy‐tale novels. He studied at the Sorbonne and translated Sartre and Éluard. His best‐known work, the so‐called Prydain Chronicles, consists of five novels, The Book of Three (1964), The Black Cauldron (1965), The Castle of Llyr (1966), Taran Wanderer (1967), and The High King (1968), which received the Newbery Medal. The cycle is based on the Welsh collection Mabinogion. Alexander's initial intention was simply to retell the stories, but instead he created his own fairy‐tale world, inhabited by wizards and dwarfs, the three wise witches Orddu, Orwen, and Ordoch, the invincible Cauldron‐born, and the Huntsmen. This world is threatened by Arawn, the Death‐Lord of Annuvin, assisted by the treacherous enchantress Achren. A variety of magical objects from Celtic folklore are featured, such as a cauldron, a magic sword, and a book of...
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