I said before that the entire action of this novel takes place on the surface of a single planet, Aeneas. Sean Brooks pointed out that this was not quite true because, on just one occasion, Chunderban Desai reminisces about a conversation between himself and his Merseian opposite number elsewhere. On rereading the relevant passage, I am not quite sure where. After the negotiations that had ended the Jihannath crisis, Desai and Uldwyr had been in a restaurant that catered to many species where:
"...the meal was an inspired combination of human and Merseian dishes." (3, p. 83)
Desai reminisces on Aeneas but his reminiscence is about a restaurant on another planet. One fictional setting is imposed on another. When characters recount their experiences to each other, we have to bear in mind both the setting where the characters converse and the settings of their recounted experiences. Meanwhile, each reader is sitting in his own real world setting. We pass between real and fictional locations. Yesterday, after visiting Andrea in his three-dimensional warren overlooking Morecambe Bay, I walked past Morecambe Police Station where a camera crew was set up to film a scene for The Bay TV series. Fictional events were about to happen. There is a Lancashire Police Service but no West Lancashire Police Service.
5 comments:
Well, a lot of 'real life' is LARPing in a story we make up.
I am fascinated by walking past a police station entrance that is identical with the fictional one that appears in a TV drama. A few weeks ago, a guy from that police station rang me at home while investigating some harassment that had happened on our street.
Kaor, Paul!
I sort of assumed Desai and Uldwyr dined at a restaurant on Jihannath itself! Or it could have been at Alfzar, where Merseian and Terran delegations often seemed to meet. E.g., recall the Covenant of Alfzar and "Honorable Enemies."
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Exactly. The negotiations about Jihannath were not necessarily at Jihannath.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree. Alfzar would be a better location for such negotiations, away from the tensions at or near Jihannath, where hostile fleets would be glaring at each other.
Ad astra! Sean
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