THE NEVERENDING STORY

'''The Neverending Story''' () is a fantasy novel by Michael Ende, first published in Germany in 1979. The standard English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was first published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several films.

Contents

Plot summary

Themes

Translation

Characters

Related novels

Adaptations

Footnotes

Plot summary

The book centres on a boy, Bastian Balthazar Bux, who meets a mysterious man who owns a small antique bookstore and steals a book called ''The Neverending Story''. Bastian reads it.
The book begins in Fantastica when a "will-o-the-wisp" goes to ask the Childlike Empress for help against the Nothing, which is spreading over the land. The Empress herself is ill, which is believed to be the cause of the Nothing; she sends a warrior named Atreyu to find a cure for her. In doing so, Atreyu meets characters such as Ygramul, Uyulala, and the gnomes Urgl and Engywook. Atreyu also meets Falkor, the luck dragon, who helps him on his quest. But after Falkor accidentally drops Atreyu in Spook City, Atreyu meets Gmork the werewolf, who has been following Atreyu since the early days of his quest. G'mork soon dies, but Falkor and Atreyu leave Spook City to find the Ivory Tower, where the Childlike Empress lives. The Childlike Empress reveals that the only thing that can save Fantastica is a human child, who must give her a new name to start again the cycle of life in Fantastica. Bastian comes to Fantastica by naming the Empress 'Moon Child'; she asks him to help re-build Fantastica with his imagination and he subsequently has many adventures of his own in his new world. With the help of the Auryn, a Gem that links him to the Empress and gives him power over all the inhabitants of Fantastica, Bastian explores the Desert of Colours, battles the evil Xayide, and meets the three Deep Thinkers, one of whom is Yispu, who is a human with the head of a fox. Bastian becomes friends with Atreyu, although their rivalry leads to a fight in which Atreyu is injured. Eventually, Bastian and Atreyu reunite and Bastian soon returns home.

Themes

The original German novel, along with early English publications, used three font colors: red indicates scenes that take place in the real world, and green is for scenes in Fantastica. At the end of the book where it was left unsure as to what world the scene was in, the text was written in blue.
Each of the twenty-six chapters begins with a different letter of the alphabet in order, in other words the first chapter begins with the letter A, the second with B, and so on. The German subtitle of the book is ''Die unendliche Geschichte: Von A bis Z'', literally "The Neverending Story: From A to Z." The introduction does not follow this format, instead starting with the mirror image of the bookstore window.
The first letter of each chapter is featured in an image drawn in red and green ink by Roswitha Quadflieg. These images also depict characters and events that are featured in the chapter they introduce.
Partway through the book, it breaks the fourth wall when The Childlike Empress orders the book to be read 'from the beginning'. A jumbled sentence is read - ''skooB dlO rednaeroC darnoC lraC'', which makes no sense to Bastian at all. However, if the reader looks at the first page and notices what is being read, they will see that the characters are reading the mirrored text on the first page of the reader's book, but forgetting to reverse it. When reversed, it reads - "Carl Conrad Coreander Old Books".
The overall theme of the book is the dual nature of fantasy; its potential for healing, the dangers of self delusion, and the overall idea of self-reference. Each half of the book can also be viewed as an example of the Hero's Journey story outline.

Translation

The English translation of the book calls the magic land "Fantastica," but "Fantasia" (as used in the film and television adaptations) is a closer translation of the original German "Phantásien".
Though the inscription on the reverse of the Auryn is translated as "Do what you wish," the original German inscription "Tu was du willst" is the accepted translation (from English) of the Thelemic instruction "Do what thou wilt".

Characters

★ Atreyu (German ''Atréju'')

★ Bastian Balthazar Bux (German ''Bastian Balthasar Bux'')

★ Carl Conrad Coreander (German ''Karl Konrad Koreander'')

★ Dame Eyola (German ''Dame Aíuóla'')

★ The Childlike Empress/Moonchild (German ''Die Kindliche Kaiserin''/''Mondenkind'')

★ Falkor, the luckdragon (German ''Fuchur'', der ''Glücksdrache'')

★ G'mork (German ''Gmork'')

★ Hydorn, Hickryon, and Hisbald

★ Uyulala

★ Xayide

★ Ygramul

★ Yisipu, the Son of Reason, one of the Three Deep Thinkers. He takes the form of a human with the head of a fox.

★ Yor, the picture miner.

★ Morla, Giant turtle in the swamps of sadness

★ Kris Ta
Many of the plot elements and characters are inspired by fantasy works of world literature.

Related novels

In the autumn of 2003, AVAinternational GmbH began publishing "Legends of Fantastica". Originally planned as a 12 part series of novels, only 6 have been published as of 2004.
The Legends of Fantastica have been published in Germany, Japan, Spain, and Cyprus. Currently there are no plans to publish these books in English. AVAinternational are in negotiations with publishing houses worldwide, but claim they "haven't got a concrete offer of an English-language country". The six novels published to date are:-
# Tanja Kinkel: "Der König der Narren" (The King of Fools) -published September 1 2003
# Ulrike Schweikert: "Die Seele der Nacht" (The Soul of the Night) - published September 1 2003
# Ralf Isau: "Die geheime Bibliothek des Thaddäus Tillmann Trutz" (The Secret Library of Thaddaeus Tillman Trutz) -published September 1 2003
# Wolfram Fleischhauer: "Die Verschwörung der Engel" (The Angels' Plot) -published March 18 2004
# Peter Freund: "Die Stadt der vergessenen Träume" (The City of Forgotten Dreams) -published March 18 2004
# Peter Dempf: "Die Herrin der Wörter" (Empress of the Words) -published September 23 2004

Adaptations

Main articles: The NeverEnding Story (film)

''The NeverEnding Story'' was the first film adaptation of the novel. It was released in 1984, directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Barret Oliver as Bastian, Noah Hathaway as Atreyu, and Tami Stronach as the Childlike Empress. The music was composed by Klaus Doldinger. It covered only the first half of the book, ending at the point where Bastian enters Fantastica. Ende requested they halt production or change the movie's name, as it had drastically deviated from his novel; when they did neither, he sued them and subsequently lost the case.[1]

'', directed by George T. Miller and starring Jonathan Brandis, was released in 1990. It used a number of plot elements from the second half of Ende's novel, but told an essentially new tale.
''The NeverEnding Story III'', starring Jason James Richter, Melody Kay and Jack Black, was released in 1994. This film was based only upon the characters from the Ende book, with a completely new story.
The Neverending Story has also inspired two television series. The 1996 animated series focuses on Bastian's further adventures in Fantastica, largely different from his further adventures in the book, but occasionally containing elements of them. The live-action ''Tales from the Neverending Story'' re-told the whole story as an ongoing series lasting 13 episodes.
''The Neverending Story'' has also been adapted to the dramatic play, ballet, and operatic media in Germany. The scores to both the opera and the ballet versions were composed by Siegfried Matthus.
In 2001, the video game adaptation ''Auryn Quest'' was developed by the German studio Attaction.^[1]

Footnotes

1. ''Auryn Quest'' for Windows