The Ship of Ishtar (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: A. Merritt
- First Published: 1924
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—magical world
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century and 4000
- Setting: Modern New York City and ancient Mesopotamia
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Magic or magicians, Twentieth century, New York City, Future, Other worlds, Time travel, Gods or goddesses, Ships, Archaeology or archaeologists, Talisman or magical object
- Locales: New York, NY, Mesopotamia
The Plot
The Ship of Ishtar was published by Putnam’s after first appearing in serial form in Argosy All-Story; a few years later, it had the distinction of being voted the most popular story ever published by the magazine in its first fifty years. A. Merritt was in midcareer and at the peak of his powers.
The novel opens as the protagonist, John Kenton, a young and wealthy but deeply embittered World War I veteran, muses on his dissatisfaction with Western civilization and his romantic nostalgia to find a lost civilization uncorrupted by the mundane and...
[The entire page is 937 words long]
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