Adventures in Unhistory: Conjectures on the Factual Foundations of Several Ancient Legends

by Avram Davidson

Where Did Sinbad Sail?
Who Fired the Phoenix?
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
The Great Rough Beast
Postscript on Prester John
The Secret of Hyperborea
What Gave All Those Mammoths Cold Feet?
And Many More

Fictional? Authoritative? Fantastic? Deadpan? Investigations into the real, the true...and the things that should be true....

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Essays, Mythology, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction, Books About Books

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Avram Davidson was an American Jewish writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, as well as the author of many stories that do not fit into a genre niche. He won a Hugo Award and three World Fantasy Awards in the science fiction and fantasy genre, a World Fantasy Life Achievement award, and a Queen's Award and an Edgar Award in the mystery genre. Davidson edited The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1962 to 1964. His last novel The Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil was completed by Grania Davis and was a Nebula Award finalist in 1998. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction says "he is perhaps sf's most explicitly literary author".

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be my favorite book I read in 2008. Avram Davidson is known for his odd science fiction and fantasy short stories, which are often baroque and loaded with references to historical people and places both famous and obscure. This book is not a collection of short stories, it's not quite fiction, and it's not quite non-fiction, either. Instead, it's kind of like sitting down by the fire with an old crazy-yet-brillient uncle who is determined to tell you his theories about the origins of the Phoenix, werewolves, unicorns, and the actual properties of the mandrake root, to name a few. Davidson's writing style is conversational and peppered with very funny asides about conversations he's had and random things that seem to have just occured to him. The result is a book that I found completely absorbing and also had me giggling over and reading aloud sections almost every time I sat down with it. I will note that it is probably best read in small doses, rather than in large chunks, because otherwise it becomes slightly repetitive on occasion.

[Kiera Beddes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guys, I am like, two pages into this thing and I think it's the greatest thing since baked bread. And I really love baked bread. I will keep you updated. But I am VERY excited about this.

Genre: essay? sci fi? I am not sure to be honest. It's kind of a mixture of all sorts of things.

Summary: Avram Davidson just sifts through the different theories behind how certain legends came to be. Most of the time, he was able to narrow down the make-believe to something concrete and real. Each chapter was self-contained to it's own topic because originally, each chapter was printed separately in various sci fi magazines.

Response: I really really enjoyed this book, with the exception of a chapter or two. It's always interesting to me how certain ideas get started. And like he mentions, everyone knows that wombats are real and dragons are not, but hardly anyone knows what a wombat looks like and EVERYONE knows what a dragon looks like. And sometimes, just the way that he puts things are so beautiful and thought provoking. It also didn't hurt that this was the first book in a long while that I actually felt the need to look certain words up. It was just so pleasurable to read someone who was so obviously well-read himself, because he kept referencing all these peoples and places. It was awesome.

[John Adams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely a book that one will love or hate. The essays, which is not the best way to describe them, most closely resemble listening to the meandering lectures of a tipsy professor in ancient and medieval fantastic literature; they rarely build from a thesis or come to a conclusion, and the arguments are based more on imaginative association than logical or evidential progression. Occasionally they lead to interesting insights into the history of how fantastic beasts were described; more often, the string of facts leads to conjectures that are either unconvincing or provoke a 'so what?' response. The prose style is distinctive, amusing at times but often taxing.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so thrilled to see some of Avram Davidson's work coming back into print! I sincerely hope that this author finds new readers thanks to the work of publishers like this one keeping his work alive. I first stumbled upon a story of his in an anthology (from the '70's), and his story stood out as the most creative and intriguing piece in the book. Since then, I've sought out and found his stories in many anthologies dating from the 60's to hisdeath in the early 90's, as well as several of his novels, and incredible story collections. Although he has written some masterful novels such as 'Phoenix and the Mirror', I prefer his style in the short form. He has a unique imagination and an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure history, world literature, & mythology, all on full display in this wonderful book.

This is a fascinating collection of essays and quasi-historical entries, assembled in a somewhat encyclopedic format, a reference book for bizarre literature. It chronicles the missing parts of history, the strange bits that should have happened. There are entries and essays about mysterious and fantastic creatures, mythical lands, bizarre psudo-scientific discoveries, and other rather dubious information about a broad variety of obscure subjects. I think this particular book reads a bit like the labyrynthine works of Borges if he had written while on hallucinogens... This book may have inspired the form of the recent 'Thackerey T. Lambshead pocket guide to ... diseases,' or at least I feel that these two books go together well. Davidson is an absolutely unique talent, but I think this book should appeal to fans of Jeff VanderMeer and the Leviathan anthologies, Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman (who has mentioned his admiration for Davidson), Jeffrey Ford, Gene Wolfe, & R. A. Lafferty (another slightly obscure writer whose oddball work I love).

I have been hoping for years for a publisher to re-print this book so I could round out my Davidson collection. 'Adventures in Unhistory' was originally released in 1993, only in a limited collector's edition, which has gone on to become this author's most sought-after work, selling for many hundreds of dollars when it rarely does exchange hands... It has obtained a some-what legendary status, particularly among other authors of speculative fiction who occasionally cite it as a reference or influence, or just let slip in interviews that they own a coveted copy. An essay from this book inspired the idea behind Vonda MacIntyre's novel 'The Sun and the Moon.' Peter Beagle (who introduces this edition) has listed this as a favorite book, and Neil Gaiman has mentioned it on his blog. The original publisher, Owlswick, published a companion volume, 'The Adventures of Dr. Esztehazy,' which also first came out in a limited edition, as well as a cheaper HC edition, also illustrated by George Barr. I highly recommend seeking out this companion book as well, if you like this volume.

If this happens to be your first exposure to Davidson's work, and you want more (you will), or you are looking for a more general introduction to his writing, I highly recommend the 'Avram Davidson Treasury', which is a generous collection of stories from every period and genre which he worked in, including work from this volume, with appreciative essays by the greats of speculative (fantasy) fiction. That collection provides a great overview of his short work. I recommend these great story collections to any reader interested in imaginative fiction.

So, in case I wasn't clear: buy this book!

Also mentioned in this review, and worth seeking out:

'The Adventures of Dr. Eszterhazy' Avram Davidson, Owlswick press, HC

'The Avram Davidson Treasury' Grania Davis, Orb, PB

'Pheonix & the Mirror' novel, Avram Davidson

'The Thackery T. Lambshead Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases, 83rd Edition' Jeff Vandermeer, et al., collection

almost any story collection by R.A. Lafferty

[William Leight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Avram Davidson is the kind of writer who seems to have more fans who are writers than who are just fans. This book features a laudatory introduction by Peter Beagle as well as blurbs on the back by Robert Silverberg and Gene Wolfe talking about how overlooked he is (and I only borrowed it from the library thanks to a blog post by Michael Swanwick endorsing Davidson — in particular, “The Phoenix and the Mirror” — as one of sci-fi/fantasy’s great neglected authors). This particular volume, however, is unlikely to bring Davidson the acclaim his defenders believe he deserves. The adventures are, in theory, investigating the truth behind legends such as that of the phoenix and the dragon. Except that some of them don’t really end up with a single truth (or come up with five or six truths) and some of them deal not with “unhistory” but actual history (Aleister Crowley was a real person, the dodo is definitely extinct). All of them, furthermore, are written in an aggressively informal style, featuring constant digressions, that is a bit difficult to adjust to. Davidson shows off his erudition by citing authorities ancient and modern (he has a particular fondness for Pliny the Elder) and some of his theories are interesting: also, he has enough of a sense of humor for the adventures to be intermittently amusing. However, some, especially the ones that aren’t actually unhistory (like Crowley’s, as his actual history turns out to be far less interesting than the stories told about him), drag a bit, and the many digressions can make it easy for the reader to lose the thread. If Davidson’s style doesn’t grate there are certainly a number of interesting nuggets here, but I can’t imagine that this book will have a wide appeal beyond, apparently, Davidson’s fellow authors.

[Vasha7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The style of these essays is highly eccentric: rambling and jokey, with some sentences so long you have to pay close attention to understand them. But some of the passages struck me as quite good. More important, though, is that (as it seems to me) the contents, analyses of the origins of some legends, are well-considered and thoroughly researched. I haven't found anything (unintentionally) ridiculous in these essays. In particular, the one about Prester John was really fascinating.

[NinjaMuse · Rating 4 out of 5]

In brief: A collection of essays on the more unusual aspects of history and folklore.

Thoughts: This was one of the best books (writing- and ideas-wise) that I’ve picked up on impulse in a long time. Davidson’s prose is this amazing blend of literary and colloquial, almost reading like a speech transcript sometimes, and was just a wonder to read. And the subject matter was equally awesome. Davidson was incredibly well-read and manages to connect dots between all sorts of things—ornithological trivia, folklore, etymologies, poetry, ancient trade routes, history, religion, feral children, and so, so much more—in a way that’s both highly logical and highly speculative. For him, it’s more about showing that something might be possible than genuinely proving it, because he’s dealing with a lot of stuff that’s not really provable. Dragons, for instance. Werewolves. How do you account for where those legends came from? His theories are oddly compelling, though.

However, that colloquial style I mentioned? It’s got three flaws. First, it’s colloquial à la the early ‘90s, so a number of his “as we say nowadays” jokes are a bit obscure, to the point where I think some of the essays were actually written in the ‘70s. Second, because it’s all colloquial, it got a bit predictable, repetitive, and annoying by the end.

And third, and this is a BIG THIRD, he’s … kinda _____ist? Native and non-white populations? Speak in broken English. Arabs? Pictured in a couple spots as the stereotypical hookah-smoking merchant, and they’re not the only group to have that happen. Trans people? Oddly come up in the werewolf essay, I don’t even. I don’t remember any particular instances of sexist or homophobia, but I’m fairly sure they’re in there. (This is actually a little odd to me, because Davidson also spends a fair bit of time calling out people for _____ist attitudes and pointing out that the “uncivilized” peoples … weren’t.)

7/10 (would be an 8.5 without the iffy bits)

[Clint Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guys,

I cannot express how much I enjoyed this book. I know it looks like it took me a thousand years to finish it but I forgot I had put it on here. The other reason is that, believe it or not, I was trying to not finish it. To the best of my knowledge this is the only book Davidson has done like this (he is/was a sci-fi writer) but it is just wonderful.

Admittedly, I judged this book by its cover. Then by its title. Then by its table of contents. And it was even better than I expected. If you don't know what it is, it is kind of a history, investigation, plain fun conversation about how imaginary things became "real." So, what true thing could have possibly inspired the stories of unicorns, or Prester John, or dragons?

Davidson does a superb job of taking these kind of off-center topics and turning them into sophisticated, intellectual, entertaining pursuits. I will say this--in all fairness, his writing style takes a moment to get used to. It isn't written verbatim, but it definitely feels like he is giving a lecture or talking directly to you. Bear in mind, he is also in that Joyce category where you will know he is making some kind of joke, and you will also know that you aren't smart enough to get it. But it also makes you want to dig into that as well.

So, long story short, if you have any interest at all in topics like folklore, history, literature, or fun (surely one of these) you oughtta pick this up. I found it at the library and then ordered it on Amazon after I read the first chapter.

There ya go.

[Thomas Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basically 300+ pages of a genial great uncle introducing a series of well-known myths and legends - mermaids, unicorns, Sinbad's journeys, the phoenix, etc - and taking the reader on a long and delightful journey of suppositions, coincidences, games of telephone, digressions, asides, tangents, anecdotes and boundless curiosity. I found Davidson's enthusiasm completely endearing, and I definitely learned a lot about more obscure topics such as Prester John or Hyperborea. The audiobook of this was particularly great, read by David Pickering, who helps bring all of this to life. Already told a dozen different friends about it, hoping to spread the word, because I would never have encuontered this if I hadn't seen a stray post talking about how good it is. And they were right! So much fun, diving down deep and winding rabbitholes with a man who knows exactly how to make this kind of research exciting.

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminds me of watching the show Connections. Abrams collects reports, letters, journals, and stories from around the world, going back centuries. He provides conjectures about Sinbad, Prester John, mermaids, unicorns, and other famous legends. It is written in a humorous tone; don’t let the massive research prevent you from reading. I definitely need to look for some of his short stories!

[Sheherazahde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love Avram Davidson's voice. But it took me a long time to read this. I think it is because his writing is so dense I had to stop and process the ideas.

I love this book and highly recommend it. He has lots of interesting ideas about the facial basis of stories that are usually dismissed as made up.

He has an interesting idea that "mermaids" were actually feral children, because having tails was not always a requirement for calling something a "mermaid".

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essentially a collection of musing and speculations and explorations of assorted odd and erudite topics, fascinating, funny, and mischevous. The audio book narrator mangles some Irish and his Irish accent is deplorable, but it's all of a piece with the twinking, chatty, discursive rambling around familiar and unfamiliar esoterica.

[YogScott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean this in the best possible way: what a bizarre, silly, erudite, odd book. This was my first exposure to Davidson and I think I might just be obsessed. Definitely not going to be my last Davidson book!

[hellix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entirely charming, surprising, literate, Avram leads us along what seems at first fanciful but ultimately convinces. A delight for any fan of legends, myths and ancient stories!

[Edi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to finish, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And learned a thing or dozen along the way.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

And each connection, it is said, shines and glitters, like a jewel.

É deste tipo de pensamento que é feito o substrato do imaginário. Antigos mitos, ideias díspares, histórias que talvez já tenham sido verdadeiras, algures no tempo. Peças desconexas que uma mente inquisitiva poderá vislumbrar como elementos de um puzzle. Este curioso livro de ensaios de Avram Davidson é um pouco isto, uma manta de retalhos de ideias, misturando mito, história, literatura, Ciência e muita conjectura.

As questões que Davidson levanta são algo esotéricas. De onde vieram as fénix, por onde andou Sindbad, quem realmente foi Preste João porque é que o dodó é tão simbólico ou o que anda por detrás das histórias de sereias, entre outras questões que costumam fazer parte dos livros sobre fantasia ou mitologia. Davidson segue um caminho muito pessoal, em vias sinuosas entre história, Ciência e literatura. Esboça hipóteses, que ele próprio aponta como elucubrações, sobre as origens reais dos mitos que ainda hoje nos encantam.

É curioso que nunca segue o caminho mais óbvio de apontar simplismo ou ignorância aos antepassados. Mostra-nos, antes, que se os factos que originaram os mitos se perderam na noite dos tempos, deram origem a histórias que se foram modificando ao longo do tempo. Porque quem conta um conto acrescenta um ponto. Para embelezar, tornar mais fascinante, ou simplesmente desviar as atenções para manter algo em segredo. É impossível não sorrir ao ler a interpretação do autor sobre as estranhas histórias que Heródoto registou como verdadeiras, talvez advindas da capacidade inventiva de nativos com pouca vontade de revelar ao ingénuo forasteiro os segredos do seu território.

Tudo contado com um cunho de oralidade marcante. Mais do que textos literários, estes ensaios soam a palestra, cheios de interjeições e desvios típicos da oralidade, que enriquecem e dão vida à sequencialidade das ideias.

[Joseph Pinchback · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a bit of an odd bird. To the best of my knowledge, Davidson was a Sci-Fi writer, not a scholar. Yet this book is an attempt by Davidson to explain the origins of many commonly known legends, such as the phoenix or the werewolf. Davidson employs a rather unique, flow-of-consciousness, conversational style of writing. This writing style is not for everyone, and I suspect that a majority of people who don't like this book feel so because of the writing. I, for one, find that the unique way of writing gives Adventures In Unhistory a folksey charm that could never be present in more scholarly works. I am not a folklore scholar, and I found it refreshing to read another layman's ideas on the subject.

[Isidore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Davidson covers little new ground in these essays, and his unorthodox explanations of the mysteries surveyed can be laboured and unconvincing; but the book is enjoyable enough and one finds intriguing tidbits, mostly tangential to whatever he is supposed to be discussing at the time. However, as other reviewers have observed, Davidson's prose style will not be to everyone's taste. He has chosen to write in the manner of a self-congratulatory pedant, overwhelmed by his own wittiness and erudition. Sometimes he pulls this off with hilarious finesse, but often the device falls painfully flat. Why he would chose to encumber himself with this dicey manner of presentation remains as mysterious as any of the strange matters about which he writes.

[David Melbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy was funny! I loved every inch of this book. . . The first word in the title aptly describes this book; an adventure. One of my favorite parts is where Davidson speculates on this little gem: Ask someone to describe a dragon -- a mythical beast -- they can describe it from head to toe; ask someone to describe a wombat -- an actual beast -- and they would be clueless! --From A Reader's Journal, by d r melbie.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually only read bits and pieces of this one. It is a series of stand-alone chapters/short stories, and I didn't feel compelled to read beyond a few. The premise is interesting, but I didn't care for the writing style. I found the rather stream-of-consciousness style overly convoluted and lacking clarity.

[Matt Deblass · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first encountered Davidson's "Adventures in Unhistory" in various sci-fi and fantasy magazines years ago, and always regarded them as a special treat. His rather freewheeling style and eclectic reach appealed to me instantly, and if course the subject matter was fascinating.
Fans of fantastic tales, old and new, could learn a lot from these essays. Plus, they're fun

[Leila · Rating 2 out of 5]

UGGGGGGH...this book! Some of the sections were interesting (thus the two stars), but most of this book was the literary equivalent of ambien. Most nights all it took was two pages and I was completely asleep. If you like rambling and constant tangents, this book is for you!

[Lord Humungus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb book, going into the 'factual foundations', or at least best guesses as to the origins of various legends, locations, icons and characters of myth. Not only fascinating but really fun to read.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is enlightening, perplexing, hilarious, and frustrating, depending on which sentence of which paragraph of which page I'm looking at. Which, ultimately, strikes me as a good thing; certainly I never got bored!

[Graham Vingoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book- Davidson is knowledgeable, opinionated and most likely wrong about at least some of his theories but overall I learnt much more than I would have imagined, and look forward to reading a few more of his actuial fictional works.

[Joseph]

just about the coolest light reading on the history of myth i have ever encountered. The man was a genius.

[WheelchairNinja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. Unique and fascinating.

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is wonderfully peculiar and also dense. I find I dip into it at random and so expect to be reading it for a long time.