Donnan criticizes works of sf in which Earth was invited to join a Galactic Federation:
"'Hell, why should there be a Federation? Why should anyone give a hoot about us? Couldn't those writers see how big the universes is?'
"-Big indeed. The diameter of this one galaxy is some hundred thousand light-years, the maximum width about ten thousand." (3, p. 27)
The narrator immediately responds to Donnan's rhetorical question, deploying not some objective phrase like "the Milky Way" but the more specific "...this one galaxy..." We seem to be addressed not by the omniscient narrator of much prose fiction but by a fellow inhabitant of "this one galaxy." When a narrator locates himself like this in the same environment as his characters, it is theoretically possible that he himself will come on-stage as another, albeit first person, character later in the text - although admittedly he usually does not.
The concluding chapter of a novel by CS Lewis begins:
"At this point, if I were guided by purely literary considerations, my story would end..."
-CS Lewis, Out Of The Silent Planet IN Lewis, The Cosmic Trilogy (London, 1990), pp. 1-144 AT 22, p. 136.
- and, further down that same page:
"This is where I come into the story. I had known Dr Ransom slightly..." (ibid.)
- Ransom, of course, being the third person protagonist of the novel until this point.
Lewis, a master of narrative points of view, is indeed guided by purely literary considerations when he adds the verisimilitude of a personal appearance in the text as Poul Anderson also does in There Will Be Time. Meanwhile, in After Doomsday, Donnan's story continues without any further intrusions by the narrator.
8 comments:
That's a similar mechanism to the one Wells used in THE TIME MACHINE. It was a standard format in the Edwardian period, IIRC.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling
Edwardian literature? I was reminded not only of H.G. Wells but also of Rudyard Kipling, H. Rider Haggard, A. Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
Haggard fictitiously corresponded with Alan Quatermain.
Kaor, Paul!
That I had not known or remembered. A bit like that Introduction of Anderson to THERE WILL BE TIME.
I like Haggard's stories, reading at least nine or ten of his books. With a special favorite being KING SOLOMON'S MINES.
Ad astra! Sean
Haggard published SHE. Quatermain said here is my account of my earlier meet with She: SHE AND ALAN!
Kaor, Paul!
I think I have both of those books. And Haggard is still remembered for his work in the Royal Mails, designing those characteristic red mail boxes! Does the UK still use them?
Ad astra! Sean
Yes. They were painted green in the Irish Republic but there was one in Dublin that still had "VR" for "Victoria Regina" on the front.
Kaor, Paul!
I'm chagrined! After I wrote my comments above I started wondering if I was correct. I checked and realized I got two writers mixed up: it was Anthony Trollope, not H. Rider Haggard, who worked for the Royal Mail. Trollope, among others, helped to make those pillar boxes for collecting mail so ubiquitous in the UK.
Ad astra! Sean
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