e.r. eddison’s fantasy novel the worm ouroboros appeared in 1922 the same year as james joyce’s ulysses and presages the structure of joyce’s later finnegans wake the plot is cyclic and loops back to the beginning sadly this innovative shape is the one thing to recommend eddison’s book it’s set on the planet mercury where people have names like ‘king gaslark of goblinland’ the heroes are struggling against a witch-king who is reincarnated with different skills every time they kill him this villain himself is thus trapped within cycles of death and rebirth symbolised by the ouroboros ring he wears a snake with its tail in its mouth and just when he’s beaten for good and can rest the heroes decide their adventures have been such fun that they will employ a magic wish and reset time back to the story’s beginning so that they can enjoy it again and again the witch-king must therefore return to his reincarnations and what of the reader the book is introduced as a vision experienced by an earthling but this framing device doesn’t reappear at the end the dreamer and therefore the reader are trapped forever like the witch-king in an adventure not their own as eddison swallows his own tale how will you escape from this hell

• research the ouroboros to learn more of its nature
• make the witch-king the story’s hero and thus derail the narrative