Dragonsong
Encyclopedia
Dragonsong is a fantasy
or science fiction
novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey
. Released by Atheneum Books
in March 1976, it was the third to appear in the Dragonriders of Pern
series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey
. In its time, however, Dragonsong brought the fictional planet Pern
to a new publisher, editor, and target audience pf (young adults), and soon became the first book in the Harper Hall of Pern trilogy. The original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy with Ballantine Books
was not completed until after the publication of Dragonsong and its sequel.
Dragonsong and the second Pern book Dragonquest are set at the same time, seven years after the end of the seminal Dragonflight — that is, more than 2500 years after human settlement, during the "Ninth Pass" of the Red Star that periodically brings a biological menace from space. Their primary geographical settings are not distant in space yet worlds apart: Dragonsong in an isolated sea-hold and Dragonquest at the centers of Pernese society, the weyrs and major holds, especially Benden Weyr. Near the end of Dragonsong, the protagonist Menolly is rescued by a dragonrider, and the action converges with that of Dragonquest.
invited her to its annual convention Boskone
as Guest of Honor, which included the special publication of a small book for sale on site.
The market for young adults provided crucial opportunities while Dragonriders stalled. Editor Roger Elwood
sought contributions of short work to anthologies and McCaffrey started the Pern story of Menolly for him, although she delivered four 1973/74 stories that later became The Crystal Singer. Editor Jean E. Karl
, who had established the children's and science fiction imprints at Atheneum Books
, sought to attract more female readers to science fiction and solicited "a story for young women in a different part of Pern". McCaffrey completed Menolly's story as Dragonsong and contracted for a sequel before it was out in 1976.
Having the arrangements with Atheneum in writing, McCaffrey was able to shop for a mortgage and buy a home, to be called 'Dragonhold' for the dragons who bought it. Twenty years later her son wrote that she "first set dragons free on Pern and then was herself freed by her dragons."
Like Crystal Singer, Dragonsong features a young woman with great musical talent. Beside fishing, its focus in Pernese society is the arts and education, in contrast to the military and political focus of the original trilogy. In this the action at Harper Hall rather than the Weyrs is akin to McCaffrey's own experience. At Radcliffe College, Harvard, she majored in Slavonic Languages and Literature. From her teens through her thirties, before she turned to writing full-time, she pursued musical avocations: piano lessons, voice training and performance, and assisting in amateur production of musicals and operettas.
of Dragonsong is Menolly, a fifteen-year-old girl living in a fishing "Hold" in the fictional world of Pern
. This novel starts seven years after Dragonflight
, the first book set in the Pern universe, in which flesh and plant-eating Thread began to rain intermittently from a nearby planet.
Menolly's musical talent is not valued in her fishing hold, especially by her parents the holders. It may not be valued anywhere on Pern, in a girl, for women are very few in the Harper craft and some Harpers disapprove of that.
s which are Pern's primary defense against Thread. Isolated from civilization in her cave and forced to care for nine baby fire lizards that she Impressed, Menolly quickly learns to be resourceful and independent. Freed from the restrictive role forced upon her by her family, she indulges her passion for music.
Menolly is out foraging one day when she is caught in Threadfall. She is rescued by a dragonrider, T'gran, and his brown dragon, Branth, who take her to Benden Weyr
. As she is adjusting to the liberal lifestyle of the Weyrfolk, she is discovered by Masterharper Robinton, the Masterharper of Pern, who has been searching frantically for Petiron's mystery apprentice. He discovers that she is the writer of two songs that Petiron (his father) sent him and offers her a place at the Harper Hall
as his apprentice.
(1984), a companion book produced by Karen Wynn Fonstad
in consultation with McCaffrey. Their geographical settings from peninsulas to stables are illustrated by maps and other drawings and their chronologies are explicitly presented in the Atlas.
in 1999 cited the two early Pern trilogies (Dragonriders and Harper Hall
), along with The Ship Who Sang
, when McCaffrey received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "lifetime contribution in writing for teens".
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
or science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born Irish writer, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Over the course of her 46 year career she won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award...
. Released by Atheneum Books
Atheneum Books
Atheneum Books was a publishing house and adult publisher created by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. in 1959. He recruited editor Jean E. Karl personally, to come and establish a Children's Book Department in 1961....
in March 1976, it was the third to appear in the Dragonriders of Pern
Dragonriders of Pern
Dragonriders of Pern is a science fiction series written primarily by the late American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. The series comprises 22 novels and several short...
series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey
Todd McCaffrey
Todd J. McCaffrey is an Irish American author of science fiction best known for continuing the Dragonriders of Pern series in collaboration with his mother Anne McCaffrey.-Life:...
. In its time, however, Dragonsong brought the fictional planet Pern
Pern
Pern is a fictional planet created by Anne McCaffrey for the Dragonriders of Pern series of fantasy and science fiction books. It is said to be "Rukbat 3", the third planet in orbit around the star Rukbat, counting outward....
to a new publisher, editor, and target audience pf (young adults), and soon became the first book in the Harper Hall of Pern trilogy. The original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy with Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...
was not completed until after the publication of Dragonsong and its sequel.
Dragonsong and the second Pern book Dragonquest are set at the same time, seven years after the end of the seminal Dragonflight — that is, more than 2500 years after human settlement, during the "Ninth Pass" of the Red Star that periodically brings a biological menace from space. Their primary geographical settings are not distant in space yet worlds apart: Dragonsong in an isolated sea-hold and Dragonquest at the centers of Pernese society, the weyrs and major holds, especially Benden Weyr. Near the end of Dragonsong, the protagonist Menolly is rescued by a dragonrider, and the action converges with that of Dragonquest.
Origins
McCaffrey finished Dragonquest, a sequel to the first Pern book, soon after her 1970 emigration to Ireland but she wrote several stories and a few books before completing the original Dragonriders trilogy. Writing The White Dragon did not really begin until 1974/75 after the New England Science Fiction AssociationNew England Science Fiction Association
The New England Science Fiction Association, or NESFA, is a science fiction club centered in the New England area. It was founded in 1967, "by fans who wanted to do things in addition to socializing"...
invited her to its annual convention Boskone
Boskone (convention)
Boskone is an annual science fiction convention run by NESFA in Boston, Massachusetts. In the words of the convention organizers, "Boskone is a regional Science Fiction convention focusing on literature, art, music, and gaming ". It is held over President's Day weekend every February, in the city...
as Guest of Honor, which included the special publication of a small book for sale on site.
The market for young adults provided crucial opportunities while Dragonriders stalled. Editor Roger Elwood
Roger Elwood
Roger Elwood was an American science fiction writer and editor, perhaps best known for having edited a large number of anthologies and collections for a variety of publishers in the early 1970s.-Biography:...
sought contributions of short work to anthologies and McCaffrey started the Pern story of Menolly for him, although she delivered four 1973/74 stories that later became The Crystal Singer. Editor Jean E. Karl
Jean E. Karl
Jean Edna Karl was an American book editor who specialized in children's and science fiction titles. She founded and led the children's division and young adult and science fiction imprints at Atheneum Books, where she oversaw or edited books that won two Caldecott Medals and five Newbery Medals...
, who had established the children's and science fiction imprints at Atheneum Books
Atheneum Books
Atheneum Books was a publishing house and adult publisher created by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. in 1959. He recruited editor Jean E. Karl personally, to come and establish a Children's Book Department in 1961....
, sought to attract more female readers to science fiction and solicited "a story for young women in a different part of Pern". McCaffrey completed Menolly's story as Dragonsong and contracted for a sequel before it was out in 1976.
Having the arrangements with Atheneum in writing, McCaffrey was able to shop for a mortgage and buy a home, to be called 'Dragonhold' for the dragons who bought it. Twenty years later her son wrote that she "first set dragons free on Pern and then was herself freed by her dragons."
Like Crystal Singer, Dragonsong features a young woman with great musical talent. Beside fishing, its focus in Pernese society is the arts and education, in contrast to the military and political focus of the original trilogy. In this the action at Harper Hall rather than the Weyrs is akin to McCaffrey's own experience. At Radcliffe College, Harvard, she majored in Slavonic Languages and Literature. From her teens through her thirties, before she turned to writing full-time, she pursued musical avocations: piano lessons, voice training and performance, and assisting in amateur production of musicals and operettas.
Plot overview
The protagonistProtagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of Dragonsong is Menolly, a fifteen-year-old girl living in a fishing "Hold" in the fictional world of Pern
Pern
Pern is a fictional planet created by Anne McCaffrey for the Dragonriders of Pern series of fantasy and science fiction books. It is said to be "Rukbat 3", the third planet in orbit around the star Rukbat, counting outward....
. This novel starts seven years after Dragonflight
Dragonflight
Dragonflight is a fantasy or science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the first book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. Dragonflight was first published by Ballantine Books in July 1968...
, the first book set in the Pern universe, in which flesh and plant-eating Thread began to rain intermittently from a nearby planet.
Menolly's musical talent is not valued in her fishing hold, especially by her parents the holders. It may not be valued anywhere on Pern, in a girl, for women are very few in the Harper craft and some Harpers disapprove of that.
Plot summary
Menolly, youngest daughter of Masterfisher Yanus, Sea Holder of Half-Circle Seahold, is a gifted musician who is punished for using her musical talents after Petiron, the Harper who encouraged her talent, dies. Finding life at the fishing community unbearable because her father does not allow her to express her musical talents, she runs away from home. Menolly takes refuge from falling Thread in a cave—and discovers hatching fire-lizards, the precursors to the great dragonDragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
s which are Pern's primary defense against Thread. Isolated from civilization in her cave and forced to care for nine baby fire lizards that she Impressed, Menolly quickly learns to be resourceful and independent. Freed from the restrictive role forced upon her by her family, she indulges her passion for music.
Menolly is out foraging one day when she is caught in Threadfall. She is rescued by a dragonrider, T'gran, and his brown dragon, Branth, who take her to Benden Weyr
Benden Weyr
Benden Weyr is the second of eight Weyrs on the planet of Pern in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern fantasy novel series....
. As she is adjusting to the liberal lifestyle of the Weyrfolk, she is discovered by Masterharper Robinton, the Masterharper of Pern, who has been searching frantically for Petiron's mystery apprentice. He discovers that she is the writer of two songs that Petiron (his father) sent him and offers her a place at the Harper Hall
Harper Hall
The Harper Hall at Fort Hold is a central location in Anne McCaffrey's Chronicles of Pern.- Role within Pern Chronicles :Anne McCaffrey combines the roles of teachers, historians, lawyers, diplomats and musicians into the guild of Harpers on the planet Pern...
as his apprentice.
Themes
Fixed gender roles make Menolly an outcast, as she is unskilled at tasks which are regarded as women's work on Pern and excels in the male-dominated field of music. She chooses to live alone in the dangerously unprotected world outside the Hold instead of allowing her natural talents to be suppressed.Chronology
Seven Pern books including Dragonsong were published before The Atlas of PernThe Atlas of Pern
The Atlas of Pern by Karen Wynn Fonstad is an authorized companion book to the science fiction Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey...
(1984), a companion book produced by Karen Wynn Fonstad
Karen Wynn Fonstad
Karen Wynn Fonstad, née Wynn was the author of several atlases of fictional worlds.Born Karen Lea Wynn in Oklahoma City to parents James and Estis Wynn, she graduated from Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma, and then earned a B.S. degree in Physical Therapy and an M.A...
in consultation with McCaffrey. Their geographical settings from peninsulas to stables are illustrated by maps and other drawings and their chronologies are explicitly presented in the Atlas.
Awards
The American Library AssociationAmerican Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
in 1999 cited the two early Pern trilogies (Dragonriders and Harper Hall
The Harper Hall Trilogy
The Harper Hall trilogy comprises three fantasy or science fiction novels by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey.They are part of the Dragonriders of Pern series as it is known today, 24 books by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey as of summer 2011....
), along with The Ship Who Sang
The Ship Who Sang
The Ship Who Sang is a science fiction novel by Anne McCaffrey, a fix-up of five stories published 1961 to 1969. Alternatively, "The Ship Who Sang" is the earliest of the stories, a novelette, which became the first chapter of the book...
, when McCaffrey received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "lifetime contribution in writing for teens".