ELIDOR is early example of urban fantasy, in which a fantasy land leaks into modern urban England, in part a re-telling or re-working of the story of Childe Rowland, his 2 brothers & sister Burd Ellen (see Wikipedia entry for Garner's novel).
I also feel ELIDOR could have partly inspired the juxtaposition of Muggle & Wizarding worlds in Harry Potter--and the slightly rearanged spelling of Ronald Weasley's name.
BTW, I think that last name likely was influenced by CATWEAZLE, a 1970's British children's TV show that can be seen on Internet Archive, about a muddled magician from early Middle Ages who accidently ends up in modern (1970's) England--where he is befriended by a red-haired boy who lives in countryside. Catweazle's awe at modern "magic" such as "elec-trickery" echoes Arthur Weasley's fascination with--you guessed it--electricity.
I'd read somewhere that author Garner had written more about the fantasy world setting, but decided to cut that section out in order to stress the effect of magic coming into our mundane world & reactions to it. The ending seems to me (view spoiler)
Quoting from "Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary edition" of bookBreaking Out of Beginner's Spanish Paperback January 20, 2015 by Joseph Keenan: (view spoiler)
From a little earlier in Preface, this comment also seems to tie-in with intent of ELIDOR: " Speaking a new language opens a window into another world and a different worldview challenging the speaker to question the constrants that underlie his or her original interpretation of reality." (Passage can be located by key world search of e-book edition).
I also feel ELIDOR could have partly inspired the juxtaposition of Muggle & Wizarding worlds in Harry Potter--and the slightly rearanged spelling of Ronald Weasley's name.
BTW, I think that last name likely was influenced by CATWEAZLE, a 1970's British children's TV show that can be seen on Internet Archive, about a muddled magician from early Middle Ages who accidently ends up in modern (1970's) England--where he is befriended by a red-haired boy who lives in countryside. Catweazle's awe at modern "magic" such as "elec-trickery" echoes Arthur Weasley's fascination with--you guessed it--electricity.
I'd read somewhere that author Garner had written more about the fantasy world setting, but decided to cut that section out in order to stress the effect of magic coming into our mundane world & reactions to it. The ending seems to me (view spoiler)
Quoting from "Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary edition" of bookBreaking Out of Beginner's Spanish Paperback January 20, 2015 by Joseph Keenan: (view spoiler)
From a little earlier in Preface, this comment also seems to tie-in with intent of ELIDOR: " Speaking a new language opens a window into another world and a different worldview challenging the speaker to question the constrants that underlie his or her original interpretation of reality." (Passage can be located by key world search of e-book edition).