baloonworld

I read it (Fedrick's 1970 translation). Its meant to be this great love story, but to me this version (earliest available) mostly seemed to be about personality-altering drugs and why you should check carefully before taking them. And about the role of women in society (i.e. as things to trade to ensure peace and brood mares). I really like Yseut's mom; despite never appearing she totally dominated the story. I can imagine her talking to her daughter about her duties to the family and the generations of Cornish-Welsh warfare her marriage to Mark was going to end, and ending with some advice living in a strange court with no friends (which I assume she'd done when she was married). Oh yes, and you should really slip this into his tea, because you will have no rights or power but what he gives you.

I think the love potion was an old family recipe, passed down the maternal line for generations.

Then Branigen fucked up zany hijinks ensued.

Quote from the introduction:
"it is far from easy to imagine that a piece of narrative fiction can exist as a serious work of art while dispensing with elements as fundamental as a coherent plot, an ordered flow of events with a clearly discernible causal nexus, and convincing characterization"

Damnit, I'll never get to publish anything that belittling.