Editing Lloyd Alexander (section)

==Themes and style==
The Prydain Chronicles are set in a fantasy world that has much in common with Welsh folklore and mythology. Critics called the chronicles "one of the most important and compelling examples of Welsh mythopoesis to date."{{sfn|Oziewicz|2008|pp=149-150}} According to ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', Alexander's books had "the special depth and insight provided by characters who not only act but think, feel and struggle with the same kinds of problems that confuse and trouble people in the twentieth century."<ref name=wpost/> Some Arthurian scholars argue that Alexander took too many liberties with the material, creating works that are "too contemporary". Alexander described his own writings as based on myth, but written with his personal life experience, or "micromythology".{{sfn|Oziewicz|2008|pp=151-152}} C. W. Sullivan, a professor of Northern European mythology at East Carolina University, stated that Alexander took the structure of a [[fairy tale]], or ''märchen'', and added Welsh details.{{sfn|Sullivan|1989|pp=183; 103}} [[Brian Attebery]] wrote that ''The Book of Three'' was "no more than a clever imitation of Tolkien", but noted that Taran, written by an American, finds his identity in the future, not the past. Attebery described Alexander's mythopoeism as a "modest" success, bringing his own creativity to Welsh mythology.{{sfn|Attebery|1980|pp=156-157}} Mark Oziewicz, a professor specializing in young adult fantasy,<ref>{{cite web |title=Marek Oziewicz Curriculum and Instruction University of Minnesota |url=https://www.cehd.umn.edu/CI/people/oziewicz.html |website=www.cehd.umn.edu}}</ref> wrote that the Prydain Chronicles show the importance of connecting the present to the past.{{sfn|Oziewicz|2008|pp=156-157}} Taran learns firsthand the importance of stories when he encounters the characters from them, who are often nothing like he imagined. Throughout the series, he must trust the knowledge of authority figures when he takes on quests he does not initially understand.{{sfn|Oziewicz|2008|pp=159-160}} The gradual transformation of Prydain from magical to mundane mirrors Taran's coming-of-age.{{sfn|Oziewicz|2008|p=166}} The way the series starts in the past but comments on the future is reminiscent of Welsh ''hanesion'' narrative, which returns to the past in order to heal the present.{{sfn|Oziewicz|2008|p=169}} Alexander's biographer, Jill May, along with critic Normal Bagnall, noted several American themes in the Prydain series: that leadership is an ability, not inherited, and that anyone can become a hero.{{sfn|May|1991|p=48}}{{sfn|Bagnall|1990|p=26}} Bagnall further elucidated that Taran's character development was American, with him growing from an inarticulate, self-conscious teen into a self-educated, self-sacrificing adult.{{sfn|Bagnall|1990|p=27}} In contrast, Kath Filmer-Davies from the University of Queensland argues that the Welshness of the Prydain Chronicles is responsible for much of their appeal.{{sfn|Filmer-Davies|1996|pp=63-64}} She noted that in Welsh culture, Taran's knowledge and nationalism are more important than his non-noble family status.{{sfn|Filmer-Davies|1996|p=66}}

Alexander's works are usually coming-of-age novels in fantasy settings where characters fulfill quests.{{sfn|Gale Literature|2007|pp=4-5}} The main characters are common people who return to their regular lives after their quests. While his settings are inspired by fairy tales and legends, his stories are modern. Self-acceptance and awareness are vital for the protagonists to grow. Alexander's works are fundamentally optimistic about human nature, with endings that are hopeful rather than tragic. He stated that in his fantasy world, "good is ultimately stronger than evil" and "courage, justice, love, and mercy actually function".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=May |first1=Jill P. |title=Lloyd Alexander's Truthful Harp |journal=Children's Literature Association Quarterly |date=Spring 1985 |volume=10 |issue=1|pages=37–38 |doi=10.1353/chq.0.0258 |s2cid=143495521 }}</ref> The Prydain Chronicles deal with themes of good and evil and what it means to be a hero. The Westmark Trilogy also explores good and evil and shows how corrupt leadership can lead to unrest and revolution. The main character, Theo, reluctantly joins the army in an unexpected war, subverting typical war heroics. The books are appealing adventure stories that simultaneously discuss ethical issues, a quality that critic Hazel Rochman praised in ''School Library Journal''. Writing at ''The Horn Book'', Mary M. Burns stated that ''The Illyrian Adventure'' was excellent because it was believable while being a fantasy and had a strong underlying theme. Alexander himself remarked that his "own concerns and questions" still came out in his fiction.{{sfn|Gale Literature|2007|pp=4-5}} He consciously used fantasy stories as a way to understand reality.{{sfn|Gale Literature|2007|p=6}}

Alexander strove to create women characters who were more than a passive trophy for the hero. Rodney Fierce, a history professor,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rodney Fierce|url=https://www.sonomaacademy.org/rodney-fierce|access-date=2020-07-21|website=www.sonomaacademy.org}}</ref> analyzes Eilonwy's agency and character over the five books in the Prydain Chronicles. While she is independent and assertive in ''The Book of Three'', other characters view her adventuring in ''The High King'' as unladylike, consistently dismissing her useful advice. Taran only becomes attracted to her when she is wearing fancy feminine clothes, while Eilonwy's affections do not rely on Taran being luxuriously accoutered. In ''The Castle of Llyr'', Taran commands her not to leave the castle but cannot tell her why, leaving readers to feel that his controlling behavior is noble. His secrecy is only vital to make Eilonwy a helpless victim, which will allow Taran to rescue her. In fighting the enchantress who conquered her ancestral home in Caer Colur, Eilonwy destroys her and the castle that would rightfully be hers. After the destruction of her home castle, Eilonwy's desire shifts from being focused on her own development to waiting to marry Taran. Even though Taran decides he would rather stay in Prydain than be with Eilonwy, Eilonwy gives up her magical power to marry Taran and stay with him in Prydain. Fierce concludes that, unlike other women in fantasy fiction, at least Eilonwy made the decision herself to lose her magical powers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fierce |first1=Rodney M.D. |title=Isn't it Romantic? Sacrificing Agency for Romance in The Chronicles of Prydain |journal=Mythlore |date=2015 |volume=33 |issue=2}}</ref> Sullivan noted how Taran's rise to power symbolizes an "age of male dominance", contrasting Prydain's previous age of women in power.{{sfn|Sullivan|1989|p=64}} In 1985, Lois Kuznets argued that the Prydain chronicles do not achieve American ideals because Taran becomes a king rather than a president, and Eilonwy does not "achieve womanhood". Alexander's biographer, Jill May, rebutted this argument, stating that when Alexander wrote the books in the 1960s, his audience was just beginning to accept feminist ideas, and his works need to be considered in their historical context.{{sfn|May|1991|pp=148-149}} One critic, [[John Rowe Townsend]], disliked the "two-dimensional" and "predictable" characters of Taran and Eilonwy.{{sfn|May|1991|p=145}}

Several critics have commented on Alexander's writing style. In a ''Horn Book'' review of the Vesper Holly books, Ethel L. Heins stated that Alexander's writing was "elegant, witty, [and] beautifully paced".{{sfn|Gale Literature|2007|pp=4-5}} Reviewers praised the action scenes in the Prydain chronicles, stating that they involved the reader in the scene without gruesome detail.{{sfn|Ingram|1986|p=13}} Jill P. May stated that his prose changes depending on the goal of his work. While his fantasy style has been compared to J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, his later writings have a completely different style.{{sfn|May|1991|p=ix}} His first work for children, a biography of Jewish freedom fighter August Bondi, had little dialogue, perhaps in an effort to be faithful to historical sources. The fictional characters stood out more than Bondi's.{{sfn|May|1991|pp=16-17}} Alexander wrote another biography for the Jewish Publication Society on Aaron Lopez. In absence of detailed historical sources, Alexander fictionalized more events in this work, with Lopez's fictional attitudes mirroring Alexander's.{{sfn|May|1991|pp=20}}