 First edition cover | |
| Author | Ursula K. Le Guin |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Griesbach Kroeber |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Harper and Row |
Publication date | 1980 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 183 |
| ISBN | 0-06-012573-X |
| OCLC | 5605039 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3562.E42 B4 1980 |
The Beginning Place is a short novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, written in 1980. It was subsequently published under the title Threshold in 1986. The story's genre is a mixture of realism and fantasy literature. The novel's epigraph "What river is this through which the Ganges flows?" is quoted from Jorge Luis Borges.[1] The novel has been subject to critical studies comparing it to C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and William Shakespeare's As You Like It.[1]
Michael Moorcock has observed common elements between The Beginning Place and Robert Holdstock's award winning fantasy novel Mythago Wood; among other similarities, both novels involve alternate worlds and forest settings.[2]
- ^ a b Supernatural Fiction Writers, Second Edition, Cummins, Elizabeth (New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003), pages 621-622.
- ^ Wizardry and Wild Romance: A study of epic fantasy, Moorcock, Michael (London: Victor Gollancz, 1987), page 65.