Editing Elric of Melniboné (section)

==Influences==
Moorcock acknowledges the work of [[Bertolt Brecht]], particularly ''[[Threepenny Novel]]'' and ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'', as "one of the chief influences" on the initial Elric sequence; he dedicated 1972's ''Elric of Melniboné'' to Brecht.<ref>[http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=6841 "Mike's Recommended Reading List"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014173520/http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=6841 |date=14 October 2013}} by Michael Moorcock</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.librarything.com/work/108258|title=Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock|website=Library Thing}}</ref> In the same dedication, he cited [[Poul Anderson|Poul Anderson's]] ''[[Three Hearts and Three Lions]]'' and [[Fletcher Pratt]]'s ''[[The Well of the Unicorn]]'' as similarly influential texts. Moorcock has referred to Elric as a type of the "doomed hero", one of the oldest character-types in literature, akin to such hero-villains as [[Mervyn Peake|Mervyn Peake's]] Steerpike in the ''[[Titus Groan]]'' trilogy, Poul Anderson's Scafloc in ''[[The Broken Sword]]'', [[T. H. White|T. H. White's]] Lancelot in ''[[The Once and Future King]]'', [[J. R. R. Tolkien|J. R. R. Tolkien's]] cursed hero [[Túrin Turambar]], and Jane Gaskell's Zerd in ''[[The Serpent (novel)|The Serpent]]''.<ref>Michael Moorocok, "Aspects of Fantasy" in Darrell Schweitzer (ed.), ''Exploring Fantasy Worlds: Essays on Fantastic Literature''. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1985, p. 27.</ref> John Clute considers Elric to be a deliberate parody of [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]].<ref>John Clute and John Grant, eds. ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' 
London: orbit, 1977p. 659.</ref>

The story of [[Kullervo]] from Finnish mythology<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/kvrune31.htm|title=The Kalevala: Rune XXXI. Kullerwoinen Son of Evil.|author=John Martin Crawford|year=1888|website=sacred-texts.com|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref> contains elements similar to Elric's story, such as a talking magic sword and fatal alienation of the hero from his family.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/kvrune36.htm|title=The Kalevala: Rune XXXVI. Kullerwoinen's Victory and Death.|author=John Martin Crawford|year=1888|website=sacred-texts.com|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref>{{original research inline|date=May 2023}} Besides Elric, Kullervo has been proposed as having influence on Poul Anderson's 1954 novel ''[[The Broken Sword]]'',{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} and [[J. R. R. Tolkien|J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s [[Túrin Turambar]]. Moorcock has stated that "Anderson's a definite influence [on Elric], as stated. But oddly, the [[Kalevala]] was read to us at my boarding school when I was about seven", and "from a very early age I was reading Norse legends and any books I could find about Norse stories".<ref name="autogenerated1">[http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=1102 Elric/Turambar] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416042718/http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=1102 |date=16 April 2009}} – Moorcock's Miscellany.<!-- Bot generated title --></ref> Moorcock in the same posting stated that "one thing I'm pretty sure of, I was not in any way directly influenced by Prof. T[olkien]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,880844,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Tolkien times two | date=25 January 2003 | access-date=1 May 2010 | first=Michael | last=Moorcock}}</ref>

Elric's albinism appears influenced by [[Monsieur Zenith]], an albino [[Sexton Blake]] villain whom Moorcock appreciated enough to write into later multiverse stories.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/reviews/st-joshi-micheal-moorcock/|title=The Metatemporal Detective by Michael Moorcock (review)|author1=Paula Guran|author2=Rich Horton|work=Fantasy Magazine|date=4 December 2007|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref> Moorcock read Zenith stories in his youth and has contributed to their later reprinting, remarking that it "took me forty years to find another copy of Zenith the Albino! In fact it was a friend who found it under lock and key and got a copy of it to Savoy who are, at last, about to reprint it! Why I have spent so much energy making public the evidence of my vast theft from Anthony Skene, I'm not entirely sure... ".<ref>[http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=6938 Lancer pirates? > M. Zenith] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416053914/http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=6938 |date=16 April 2009}} – Moorcock's Miscellany.<!-- Bot generated title --></ref> Moorcock later said: "As I've said in my introduction to ''Monsieur Zenith: The Albino'', the Anthony Skene's character was a huge influence. For the rest of the character, his ambiguities in particular, I based him on myself at the age I was when I created Elric, which was 20".<ref>Bill Baker, [http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/bakersdozen/back20050105.shtml World Famous Comics >> Baker's Dozen – 5 January 2005.<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The influence of Zenith on Elric is often cited in discussions of Zenith.<ref>E.g.: [http://www.blackstarreview.com/rev-0086.html Monsieur Zenith the Albino<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516071305/http://www.blackstarreview.com/rev-0086.html |date=16 May 2008 }}, and [http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/whimsy.html Savoy People: The Most Banned Publishing Company in Britain<!-- Bot generated title -->].</ref>