>I wrote earlier you are not an easy author to read
because you assume the
>reader will know what you do and don't feel the need
to explain. Any reader
>who does not have that knowledge, is missing
something you intended to
>impart. ...I guess your approach could be called
Joycean. Maybe some
>day you, or someone you commission, could put out
reader's guides to
>your books so everybody could appreciate the
significance
>of every detail..
Or, like, read and learn. No matter what someone writes,
someone will miss it. Where would it stop? Street maps for
people who don't live in the city the story is set? A
dictionary/glossary at the back for big words? Annotations
and footnotes?
Part of the appeal of fiction is the illusion of stepping
into another world, or at least seeing the same world through
someone else's vision. That's difficult to do when the author
acts like a chatty tour guide who stops to explain everything
to everyone.
Anyway, I don't think the books in question are that rife
with hidden meanings and coded references (or maybe they are,
and even idiots like me can enjoy them). I don't know half
the songs he mentions, but it hasn't stopped me from getting
a kick out of the local and musical references.
Some people toss in words like "Joycean" and expect us to
know what they mean, and some people refer to an Al Green
song. What's the diff?
This whole topic interests me, because I take a similar
approach. My stuff takes place in a city most of the people
on this list would find "foreign." I don't want to play tour
guide either (at least in so blatant a fashion) or appear
like some exclusive snot, I just want to tell my stories in
the best setting I know, with places that are real to me. I'm
not going to dumb it down, and hopefully, I'm not going to
lord it over anyone, either. hopefully, context will fill up
any little unfamiliarity holes in my writing.
But my fiction will (and does) unapologetically feature local
references, "foreign" brand names, musical shout-outs and
even -- GASP!!! -- words in French!
Run! Hide! While there's still time! Before it's too
late!
--
Kevin -- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 12 Dec 2001 EST