Gabaldon intro post
Some of you might know that Ronald D. Moore is adapting Outlander by Diana Gabaldon for Sony and Starz. (The link to the author website has further links to twitter and Facebook, where she usually posts snippets of scenes from upcoming or recently published works.) Outlander was published in 1991. It has 850 pages and 41 chapters, and it's to be
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You know, while I enjoy spare prose (and often write it myself) I don't mind a more leisurely approach when there's a clear purpose to it: a sort of settling into the scene; in fact, it's a way of colouring the details that make the world come alive more. Then again, from a nonfiction translating POV economical prose doesn't really enter into it, so it's good to be a literary omnivore. *g* And, I'll confess to having been bogged down with The Fiery Cross for a while as there were some series of scenes that went on for hundreds of pages, it felt like, so, I agree that economical prose can be a good thing. Personally, I'm often too concise in my word choice and sentence construction, which isn't always positive. It's difficult for me to ramble on about things, but I think that it partly depends on how much time there is for internal planning beforehand. In fiction I quite like when I get a peek into internal monologues, and well, they tend to be a bit rambling. I like verisimilitude. ;-) When it comes to construction, that's... well, It's not clear-cut, and anyway, readability is in my opinion more ineffable. I'm very interested in it and there are lots of aspects, which I'd be happy to discuss with you.
Claire is... everything starts with her, and she is perhaps the main reason I go back to DG's world; while it's easy to take to Jamie and several other characters I believe much of the success is due to her POV and her personal narrative. That self-contained essence she had as a child stayed with her: first as an only child and then by Uncle Lamb's assumed leniency in certain regards. I think field nurses during WWII had a lot of agency (I could be wrong) and it seems her patients took to her and they in turn made an impression. Going back, even to a peripatetic lifestyle of academics might be too staid for her independent nature. But I do like what you mention; that the mysteries of history and archeology have such an impact on her life. Of course, both Uncle Lamb and Frank seem to be inclined to field work, at least after a fashion, so if not for that path through the woods... And, those disciplines are emblematic of the 20th (and the 21st) century, whether or not we call ourselves more civilised these days. That ties into the veneer of religion that you mention, and I know that DG is Catholic, too. I myself come from a secularised Lutheran background with Norse roots; we've just celebrated jul (Yule), not Christmas, although there are trappings that comes from the cultural heritage of Lutheranism. It's important not to forget the pagan roots, though. And, the henges. Both Stonehenge and Craigh na Dun are juxtaposed with modern life in the novel (and I think it's lovely that the UK moved that stretch of road on the Salisbury plain).
As for whether there's a lof of DG in Claire, I believe so too. But then, she has stated that there's some of every character in her as well, yes, even the villains. ;-) But you're right, Claire's not easily labelled. Nor, I think, is anyone else in the books. Well, maybe some characters that enter the story in the following couple of chapters, but even they might have hidden depths. Jamie's godfather, for instance. (I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Jamie has a godfather, being Christian, but well... *g*)
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I remember DG saying once that fans kept asking her about putting Jamie into the future and she said she never would, that he was a man of his time and she was going to keep him there. Also, I think it would do your head in slightly less (SLIGHTLY!) to go back in time (to what you know had already been) than to go forward, the future shock would be much greater.
I agree readibility is ineffable. I usually have a rule of thumb that if I don't really notice the writing and the story is carrying me forward, then the author is doing something right. I have just finished "The Course of Honour", by Lindsey Davis, a story of Ancient Rome, about the true life love affair between the Emperor Vespasian and the slave Caenis. I love the story and the characters but the writing continually annoys me, it jars regularly, and gets in the way of my enjoyment. People criticise J K Rowling's writing as pedestrian, but I have read that series several times and I just don't notice the writing. So she's doing something right in my book. Then you get the arty writers like Michael Ondaatje. I read The English Patient and the writing annoyed the hell out of me. (The movie annoyed me too, for different reasons ...)
Did they move the highway on Salisbury Plain? I remember going there in 1996 and love that you can't see any civilisation around Stonehenge, but you could hear the roar of the traffic very close by and that did jar.
I find the Lutheran thing interesting. I have a Finnish friend here in NZ, who is Lutheran too. She misses the way they celebrate Easter back home....
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Mmm, going forward must be much worse.
I read 3½ of Rowling's books but found her prose increasingly annoying from the middle of the 3rd book. Maybe i'll go back for another try one day. Don't remember being annoyed by Ondaatje's writing, though. Then again, I hardly remember it.
They did, last year I believe.
Huh. Well, a lot of Nordic Lutheran tradition is centred around food, and there's some pagan elements too. Of course, there's the religious part too, if people are interested. Which I'm not.
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