Listening and reading and thinking about writing.

[heliopausa]

There's been more listening than reading happening for me lately.  Music, for starters - a terrific Bach concert, and another of unthemed scraps from all over, which began with Octet for Eight Strings (Prelude and Scherzo) by Shostakovich which was new to me, and brilliant.

But I've been listening to literature, too, courtesy of Librivox - to Arthur

Comments

[asakiyume]

Of course! Tofu counts as a pulse too! And peanuts--nice job!

I'm growing some soybeans for edamame--do you know the dish? It's the soybean pods, lightly boiled and salted, very simple and delicious.

Your reading sounds rich and varied, and definitely food for all kinds of thought. (The way I'm talking about food, you'd think I hadn't eaten, and yet I have...)

[heliopausa]

I do know it, and it is simple and good. But I don't have access (that I've found) to the beans still in the pod. (I'm wondering now if they're growable from the dry seed. It'd have to be in a pot.)

I've looked at my reading since, and wondered if The White Company could be described as noblebright. :) (Of course, it's historical, not fantasy, so not really in that particular race.) Sir Nigel is certainly noble and good, and Alleyn, the squire is unswervingly good; but what they mostly do is engage in combat and observe the world around them. Alleyn does intervene to stop a fight once, and stops someone from telling a lie, but that seems a bit thin, for a whole book'sworth of adventure.

About Reepicheep, of course, there is no question. :)

[asakiyume]

Now that's an interesting thought: using the term to describe a character rather than a work as a whole. C.S. Lewis's whole (fictional) oeuvre would come under the umbrella for sure.

Some of the people commenting on the entry were wondering why the term was necessary at all, and I think when we think of chivalrous knights, whether human or mouse, it does seem we've had characters with these qualities ever since we've been telling stories, so in a sense, they're right.

I definitely got the feeling that the term was adopted in response to the (perceived) popularity of so-called grimdark stories. I haven't read any stories i'd characterize as grimdark, which would lead me to wonder if it's a kind of paper tiger to oppose, except for the fact that I've heard numerous folks on LJ bemoaning how popular it is as a story style. People usually raise up Game of Thrones as an example, but other things as well. I think the people writing those stories might say they're writing stories not that are "grimdark" but in which people behave in what

[heliopausa]

Yes, I think that it's been a major strand in story-telling forever - the Fairy Queene, or Damon and Pythias, say. It's a strand I like a lot, and I'm very much with the concept of writing/publishing/promoting stories that don't deride or erode human values - but I'm not very keen on the term, or the idea of trying to find a label for such. :( But I'm not a book publisher, and I hope the project goes well.

I'm not sure how new the grimdark aspect is; noir and horror have been around for a good long time - is grimdark just a word for horror-with-humans? Nor do I really know how prevalent it is now - I'm very very under-read in contemporary fantasy! I have noticed in just about every genre a fashion for giving stories a darkish sheen - e.g. the fashion for using the word "bone/s" in the title (just as there's a fashion for "the something's something". The Bone-speaker's child - title free to a good home.)

[asakiyume]

LOL, you're so right about bones! And thorns. My eyes roll every time I see another title with either.

[moon_custafer]

I guess I think of "grimdark" as being something more along the lines of what tv tropes calls "darker and edgier;" or the wave of comics that came out after Watchmen which imitated the violence and cynicism, but not the plot complexity. Basically the sort of fiction in which "realism" is used to justify lots of gore and/or rape, but never to, say, explore how the protagonist pays their electricity bill, or how the economy of their city works.

[heliopausa]

This sent me off to the TV Tropes page - thanks! (My next step should be to catch up on Warchmen comics, I guess. Recommended?)