A few thousand words

[pameladean]

No, it's not what you think, I haven't written that much.

I don't feel much like writing, so if you click on this link:

http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/2003/index.html

... and then click on "Mary's 80th Birthday" and "Thanksgiving," the last two folders at the moment, you can
see what I've been up to.

The rest is very slow writing on both books, conversations with Eric on the inadequate telephone, time with
David and with Raphael and with cats; laundry, dishes, political despair, you know, the usual.

And I'm rereading the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett, on the very thin excuse that they have a
vaguely Liavekan flavor. After so many years and readings I'm finally seeing a few cracks here and
there, the creation of false suspense, the juggling of viewpoints to conceal information. But the good
subtleties and the humor are still there, too.

Pamela

Comments

[sdn.livejournal.com]

is this you and your mom?

Image /www/html/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/2003/11270-Thanksgiving/ddb 20031127 010-018

[pameladean]

Yes, it is. Isn't she cute?

Pamela

[sdn.livejournal.com]

you are also cute. :)

Re: A few thousand words

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

oh, i love the one where you're holding the cat and have your eyes closed. that's how i often feel when the catlings trust themselves to me.

mmh, dorothy dunnett.

Re: A few thousand words

[pameladean]

This is an unusually trusting cat -- he's been in the house for about a month and had met me only once before, but his basic idea is that human beings are his littermates. He's learning fast that we are wimpy littermates who don't like being bitten, even affectionately. But that doesn't reduce the basic sense of great privilege when he hops up into one's arms.

As for Dunnett, wow, this is the very first time I've been able to read the books without coming utterly under their spell. I can see how she's learning as she goes. The Niccolo books are a lot more polished.

This X-ray vision stuff will fade after a few readings and I'll be re-enchanted, but I'm hoping to learn a little bit in the meantime.

Pamela

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I noticed it in the Niccolo books -- oh look, always using the POV of the person present who knows least what is going on. Then looking back I could see it in Lymond as well, especially The Disorderly Knights (aka as "The Joleta one") where on occasion it seems less than subtle.

How odd. When I think of the possibility of re-reading them it feels like setting off on a voyage I'm not strong enough for because there would be such a lot of portages.

[pameladean]

Oh, excellent analogy. That's how I feel about the Niccolo books. I'm not perfectly certain that this time around I'm going to make it to the end of Pawn in Frankincense. I'm not sure I want to know how she does that; or, truly, I think I might fall out of my detachment somewhere in the middle.

Pamela

[pameladean]

Oh, yes, right, The Disorderly Knights. She does it in all the Lymond books, but you are right that it's much more blatant in that one. I utterly missed it the first time around. It's not just viewpoint, either. I wonder sometimes if there's an ironic humor I am not always getting. There's that bit in which she says that d'Aramon's ship, heading for Malta, "meets its fate" on a particular day, and then presents us with what is apparently a ship with a lot of guns, planning to attack. What actually happens doesn't have much to do with the ship's fate, though it does with the characters'. I really cannot tell if this is cheap theatrics or good juggling; she certainly does walk the line.

Pamela

Journal of Academic T-Shirts

[(Anonymous)]

I am holding in my hands right now a copy of the "Journal of Academic T-Shirts", Fall 1987. I was getting ready to throw it away. I'll hold it for a few days. If you want it, contact me at: nospamchuck_11nospam@nospammsn.nospamcomnospam . Just remove all the "nospam"s. The bots don't have my address. Today is 2Dec03. A few days.

Dunnett

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I read the Lymond Chronicles for the first time this year, and though I felt I learned some things about pov from them, I also saw the tricks she used to manipulate sympathy for Francis or otherwise. My eye is too critical now, I guess. I did manage to lose myself in them a few times, even when I knew the story was over the top, as when Richard is taking care of Francis at the end of the first one.

I think I waited too long to read THE RINGED CASTLE and CHECKMATE--I was no longer under Dunnett's spell, even partially, and I enjoyed them a lot less. In CHECKMATE, I found myself annoyed that so many yentas were required to get Francis and Phillipa together.

I like the trick where "person who knows least" is pov character, though--I haven't tried it yet, but I want to, once I figure out exactly what I want to use it for. Sort of like a toy I haven't unwrapped yet.

And I'm looking forward to reading the Niccolo books.

Re: Dunnett

[pameladean]

I read the Lymond Chronicles for the first time this year, and though I felt I learned some things about pov from them, I also saw the tricks she used to manipulate sympathy for Francis or otherwise.

What I kept wondering was whether she thought I was smarter than I am. Some things seem much more transparent now than when I first read the books. I am not much really for narrative lust, the mere charging through to find out what happens, but she really had a way of infecting me with that impulse.

My eye is too critical now, I guess. I did manage to lose myself in them a few times, even when I knew the story was over the top, as when Richard is taking care of Francis at the end of the first one.

I'm a hapless sucker for all those scenes. They do still work for me; I don't care, it's a different universe.

I think I waited too long to read THE RINGED CASTLE and CHECKMATE--I was no longer under Dunnett's spell, even partially, and I enjoyed them a lot less. In CHECKMATE, I found myself annoyed that so many yentas were required to get Francis and Phillipa together.

That's a pity; I think CASTLE may be the best novel of them all, overall, and my personal favorite is undoubtedly CHECKMATE, despite some personal dubiety about the assumptions made therein concerning sexual desire or its bottling-up. I don't like what happened to Jerott and Marthe either; it seems to me that if any character is built up and then knocked down for the requirements of plot, it's Jerott.

I like the trick where "person who knows least" is pov character, though--I haven't tried it yet, but I want to, once I figure out exactly what I want to use it for. Sort of like a toy I haven't unwrapped yet.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it at all per se; I'm not entirely comfortable with the ways in which Dunnett uses it. Then again, sometimes I think it's all worth it for the few scenes from Lymond's viewpoint that we do get, notably the one after the gorgeous scene at the Office of Masks and Revels.

And I'm looking forward to reading the Niccolo books.

I haven't any settled reactions to those yet, but the writing is certainly much better (not that I didn't linger happily over many, many scenes in the Lymond books), the entire treatment of everything more subtle. I found the story itself less absorbing until about the fourth volume, but I believe this was primarily because I had no idea what it was. I'm a very stupid first reader, which at least leads to a lot of enjoyment on rereading.

Pamela

Re: Dunnett

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I am not much really for narrative lust, the mere charging through to find out what happens, but she really had a way of infecting me with that impulse.

Narrative lust. Yes. Either the third or the fourth book, I read until 4:00 am and DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE. If I could figure out how Dunnett did that, I'd be in clover.

I'm a hapless sucker for all those scenes. They do still work for me; I don't care, it's a different universe.

I lost myself at the time, then afterwards, I laughed at myself self-consciously.

That's a pity; I think CASTLE may be the best novel of them all, overall

For thematic reasons? Or something else? I'd be interested to hear why. I could see how well it hung together, all the parts working smoothly, but the migraines annoyed me; they seemed too convenient, and that spoiled my pleasure a bit. I also wanted to beat on Francis a few times for how he treated Phillipa, but I guess that's par for the course when reading this series, so shouldn't have been a factor!

Then again, sometimes I think it's all worth it for the few scenes from Lymond's viewpoint that we do get, notably the one after the gorgeous scene at the Office of Masks and Revels.

I love his pov. For all his cleverness, he's not very clever about himself in many ways.