February's Fantastic Folios and Fascinating Fables

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I've got the Masterworks version of Rediscovery of Man. Superb reading.
 
knivesout said:
So what? Why should third or first person be any more intrinsically believable? Why does the question of suspending disbelief even arise when reading a novel that is avowedly a fantasy? And novelists have been writing narratives that suddenly turn around and address the reader for some centuries now.
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For me, the reason the 2nd person is less believable is that when being told "you do X"; I know that not to be the case. It raises immediate mental contradictions and repeatedly draws attention to the "process" of reading rather than focusing attention on the narrative itself.

If someone tells me "I did X" or "He did X", I can choose to believe or not, in fact, I probably do this 100's of times a day in normal conversation or the consumption of news.

Directly addressing the reader has the same impact to a lesser extent - it pulls your attention out of the narrative and focuses it on the "reading". To be honest this rarely bothers me on its own ... but combined with the use of the 2nd person it strongly signals an effort to be unconventional just for the sake of being uncoventional rather than because its the best way to deliver the narrative.

Seems like one for those who enjoy the "technical" aspects of the writing at least a much as the "story" (which usually isn't me).
 
I found the formal experiments refreshing, and since they came with a vividly imagined story, the ends justified the means. But yes, I often like experimental narratives for their own sake.

If we are to distinguish consistently between our own identity and that of a fictional character, the 'I' of the first-person narrator should cause as much cognitive dissonance as the 'you' of VanderMeer's second-person narration. One reason it doesn't because we're used to the first-person. Many early novels narrated in the first person had to come with some sort of frame to convince readers that this was meant to be some imaginary person's journal, memoirs or correspondence, perhaps partly to overcome the unease of reading about an 'I' who is not you! This convention lasted well into the 19th century; these days it is usually used, if at all, in purposely archaic texts, or as a parodic or postmodern element.

I read the second-person narrative in Veniss as addressed to the person doing the actions described; 'I the reader' was a sort of eavedropper, not the person being addressed. I don't know if that helps ease into that section a bit more?



Currently about halfway through Triton and enjoying it a great deal.
 
Have managed to begin W. H. Pugmire's Weird Inhabitants of Sesqua Valley... only the first two tales, so far. The second is manifestly the earlier tale, as it is not as fully developed, is almost more of a vignette than a tale as such, but still quite good. The opening tale, "Some Distant Baying Sound", a sequel to Lovecraft's "The Hound" is another matter. Quite an interesting (and different) take on that particular tale, it takes it into territory I'd never have expected. This is very much Pugmire's own story, not simply pastiche Lovecraft, so it works quite admirably. I also see what he means about the language, though I think here (as opposed to HPL's tale) it works without the tongue-in-cheek feel because the entire tale is very dreamlike in tone, rather more mystical than Lovecraft's own. Yet the two go together very well, and I don't think I'll ever be able to read Lovecraft's tale again without turning to this one immediately afterward....

It may even get me to look at Poppy Z. Brite's "His Mouth Shall Taste of Wormwood" (a tale for which I have never had any great warmth) through new eyes... going to have to see about that one......
 
I must admit that I didn't read anything for a while now . Not that I didn't plan to , but I was simply not in the mood . Have returned to writing yesterday , so that should be a step in the right direction .
 
Finished Oldie Living for the Last Time - it was a lot more chaotic than the previous novels - not sure what and why they (if a haven't mentioned Oldie is a pseudonym for two authors - Dmitry Gromov and Oleg Ladyzhensky) were saying with this one. There are a lot of fragments but the story isn't complete.
Now finishing the Oldie volume with story called Fear, also started a book by Asprin Catwoman: Tiger Hunt - not really a comics adaptation fan, this is just reasy reading and a remainder from times when I really liked Asprin stuff - nowadays his books seem to be more miss than a hit for me.
 
Hypnos164 said:
Currently reading Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer so far pressing on despite it containing two extremely annoying "devices" that significantly hamper the suspension of disbelief (directly addressing the reader in one section and use of the 2nd person for a significant later section).
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Having got over 2/3rds of the way through now i'm starting to think i'm going to have to eat these hasty words :eek: ... later events shift the meaning and context of the earlier sections in a very impressive way.
 
I'm reading To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts, i'm not struggling with the slow tempo of a fantasy book like this but with her prose. Her words seem forced atleast so far in the book,i cant almost never picture the scenes she is writing.
 
Finished Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer and I think its one of those rare books whose concept and execution I can admire; but that I didn't actually enjoy reading all that much.

Veniss Underground is split into three sections, the first section delivered in the first person, the second in the second person and the third in the third person.

The way that Vandermeer integrates and shifts the context of these distinct sections as the work unfolds is nothing short of masterful.

The main section of the story is the tale of a "decent into the underworld"; with echoes of Dante and the Orpheus legends. The journey and the surroundings are described with a lyrical, surreal, almost hallucinatory quality that I suspect will strongly appeal to lovers of intricate prose.

The "plot" is almost pure travelogue - it's purpose; to move the characters through the rich description of the imaginary landscape (a style I most strongly associate with Vance).

Technically excellent - but not to my tastes.

Up next: The Swordbearer by Glen Cook
 
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I have to admit I found Veniss the most emotionally engaging of Vandermeer's works that I've read; but I'm glad you gave it a chance!

I'm almost 2/3 of the way through Triton and finding it very, very good.
 
Just finished reading Robert Redick's The Red Wolf Conspiracy which was very good! It is sort of a mix of fantasy, historical naval drama and coming of age tale. Lots of unexpected things happened - I kept thinking, "I didn't expect that to happen!".
 
Just finished Triton by Samuel R. Delany. It's a great example of the way SF was being re-invented in the 70s, a thought-provoking social-model novel (I prefer not to use the term 'utopian' in this case because no one society is presented as unambiguously the best) and a great science-fictional character study.
 
J-WO said:
There was talk of making this series into films at one point. Fingers crossed.
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I've got my fingers crossed for it, too.:)

After being able to get a fair bit of reading done last night, I'm moving on to Naomi Novik's Empire of Ivory.
 
Rereading Stranger in a Strange Land by RAH, in the 1991 uncut version.
 
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