When conferring with Tatiana Thane, Chunderban Desai refers to the Aeneans':
"'...pride, your ideal of discipline and self-reliance, your sense of privacy which makes you reluctant to bare the souls of even fictional characters.'" (7, p. 124)
We take for granted that prose fiction, particularly novels, bares the souls of viewpoint characters. Does Aenean fiction revert to the earlier saga style of objective narration? See Literary Styles.
Jowett says of Ivar Frederiksen:
"'As I understand it...the boy raised gang of hotheads without his parents' knowledge. He's only eleven and a half after all...'" (3, p. 98)
We think: What? Then Jowett continues:
"'...uh, that's twenty years Terran, right?'" (ibid.)
The reference to an age of eleven and a half was designed to, and does, throw the reader. By contrast, Christopher Holm on Avalon is thirty years of age and his father, Daniel, is eighty-four but the Avalonian year is 0.724 Terrestrial. Thus, Christopher is about twenty-one Terran and Daniel about sixty?
Thinking of Ivar, Desai reflects:
"Potentially, he is their exiled prince, their liberator, their Anointed.
"Siva, have mercy." (p. 98)
"Exiled prince" is political. "Liberator" is political and potentially religious. "Anointed" is both political and religious. After going through this catalog, Desai invokes the Hindu god of destruction.
In Jowett's dialogue, notice that Aenean nord speech leaves out the definite and indefinite articles, "the" and "a," whereas Aenean Riverfolk would say, "...one gang of hotheads..."
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, it makes sense to think the literatures of different planets would develop in different ways. Including worlds where a greater reserve was favored.
Yes, I too recall how "nord" Aeneans tended to often drop "the" and "a" in their speech. But almost certainly not when writing.
Siva seems an odd god for Desai to appeal to for mercy! My thought was that the Hindu god of death and destruction would REJOICE in chaos.
Ad astra and Merry Christmas! Sean
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