The Crystal Palace
 Illustration of the titular Crystal Palace Illustration by Timone Baraldo | |
| Author | Miguel Carvalho |
|---|---|
| Original title | El palacio de cristal |
| Country |  Auratia |
| Language | Auratian |
| Genre | Fantasy Quest Allegory |
| Publisher | Priomundo |
Publication date | 1941 |
Published in English | 1945 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 327 pp |
The Crystal Palace (Auratian: El palacio de cristal), also published as The Wizard (El mago), is an epic, high fantasy, allegorical novel written by Auratian soldier and university professor Miguel Carvalho. The Crystal Palace is one the best selling books in Kylaris and Auratia's most recognized literary work, with over 140 million copies sold worldwide and translations available in over 80 languages.
Set in the fantastical world of Kaia, the novel follows the adventures of Sam Samam, a meek middle-aged man from the idyllic human community of Ellado (a stand-in for Carvalho's native town Silada Nueve) whose heart secretly yearns for adventure. Sam is picked up by a band of warioor monks, who enlist Sam to carry their supplies. Sam learns that the monks—who are members of the Iridu species, tall, spindly humanoids characterized by baldness and a seemingly dour temparment—are on a quest to rescue the fabled Wizard from the clutches of Soron, a dragon demon who controls a horde of hobgoblins, and liberate the elfin court of the titular Crystal Palace. Along the way, Sam proves himself to be an exper scout, the position Carvalho held in Auratia's resistance, and encounters species and lands he has never before seen.
The novel is widely believed to be an allegory of Carvalho's time in the Great War, though the author himself has never confirmed this. The novel touches upon themes of friendship, loyalty, loss, death, apperance versus reality, and the overall brutality of war. The Crystal Palace is widely studied for its subversion of the traditional hero's journey.
Background and publication
According to his posthumously published notes, Carvalho conceived the general plot of The Crystal Palace when he was fifteen years old. At the time, Carvalho was living with his paternal uncle, with whom he had a rocky relationship. Carvalho, who was an avid artist and cartoonist, sketched out scenes and characters that would later be written into the novel. Carvalho would write short stories and flash fiction to accompany his drawings. These short stories would form the basis of the The Crystal Palace and the novel's episodic style.
Carvalho stopped writing stories at 18, however, when he left his hometown of Silada Nueve and apprenticed as a tinsmith in Hascara in 1924. In 1927, the year the Great War broke out and the September Clan deposed Prime Minister Héctor Alvear, Carvalho's mother Maria died. He was denied the opportunity to return to Silada Neuve and steward his parents' estate by a military blockade of Hascara. In response, Carvalho and many other Hascarans joined the Rose Resistance and orchestrated petty acts of rebellion. Carvalho was first enlisted as a secretary and pamphleteer, but was later thrust into the line of duty in 1930 as a scout. After the victory of the Rose Rebellion, Carvalho was sent to repel Gaullican forces on Auratia's border until the war's end in 1935.
Carvalho finally returned to Silada Neuve in November 1935, where he would rediscover his childhood writings. Carvalho dedicated the next year to writing various drafts of what would become The Crystal Palace. Writing twenty years after the novel's publication, Carvalho said, "[The Great War] is etched into every page of the The Crystal Palace. It informed everything in the book."
Carvalho funished the novel in October 1936, sending it to literary agents. The novel was picked up by Modesto Duque, whom Carvalho had come to know through the resistance in Hascara. The novel was soundly rejected by most publishing houses, who had experimented little with high fantasy. Carvalho admitted to abandoning the project in 1939, though Duque still held out hope. Sometime in late 1939, the newly-founded publishing house Priomundo approached Duque with a deal. Carvalho resigningly agreed and was reportly paid a modest advance of $1,400. The novel was released in Hascara bookstores by March 1941. At first, Priomundo had no intention to pursue a nation-wide release, much less worldwide publication.