tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post6142157811803604124..comments2024-02-05T10:41:31.777-05:00Comments on I Saw Lightning Fall: Killing the BelovedLoren Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-2023295183694014502011-05-09T10:00:56.974-04:002011-05-09T10:00:56.974-04:00I wonder how much of the French criticial playfuln...I wonder how much of the French criticial playfulness stems from Derrida. He always seemed to know that deconstruction could either lead to despair or a self-imposed, light-hearted silliness with the text.<br /><br />Your evaluation of the publish-or-perish model seems bang-on to me.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-58866362995421918102011-05-07T01:14:35.384-04:002011-05-07T01:14:35.384-04:00I think I may credit Jordan with some share of my ...I think I may credit Jordan with some share of my grad-school success. He taught me how to skim, trusting that the average author, in lieu of a good editor and in the absence of a strict commitment to craft, will tell you everything you need to know at least a dozen times, so that you can miss it once and still get most of the effect. <br /><br />That has stood me in good stead reading /skimming American literary criticism, where the publish-or-perish model often results in books churned out by tired professors who are far more interested in discovering something about their literary objects than honing their craft. Unfortunately, it helps little when encountering French authors, whose obsessively playful attention to the multiple meanings of every word requires one to read them as carefully as a Gene Wolfe story.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-64535065984312146202011-05-06T09:28:27.119-04:002011-05-06T09:28:27.119-04:00Two more? Aw, no way, man. I just hope he lives lo...Two <i>more</i>? Aw, no way, man. I just hope he lives long enough to finish them.<br /><br />You know, Sanderson's involvement in <i>The Wheel of Time</i> rouses some faint interest in me. But I just don't think I could slog through all the books Jordan penned. I couldn't even make it through the first one.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-54099908048566541182011-05-05T18:33:46.853-04:002011-05-05T18:33:46.853-04:00Oh! If you can check it out, "The Hedge Knigh...Oh! If you can check it out, "The Hedge Knight" is the most compact and wonderful dose of George R.R. Martin's George R.R. Martin-ness I've found. I read it in the fantasy novella collection Legends 2. It's set in the world of his longer fantasy epic, but as far as I can tell offers no spoilers and deals with no major characters.<br /><br />(It is also adapted into a comic book, which I haven't read.)Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-20540952492577335992011-05-05T18:31:08.872-04:002011-05-05T18:31:08.872-04:00I can sympathize. I'm waiting myself; two more...I can sympathize. I'm waiting myself; two more novels need to come out after the current one, and (unlike Robert Jordan) Martin is good at writing prose, so his books are unlikely to benefit by being completed by a more concise author. (A Wheel of Time, however, is better than ever thanks to Brandon Sanderson's comprehension of the purpose of his keyboard's delete key.)Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-45345459818325610092011-05-04T09:34:42.276-04:002011-05-04T09:34:42.276-04:00I've wanted to read Martin for some time, but ...I've wanted to read Martin for some time, but I didn't want to dive in before <i>A Dance With Dragons</i> was done. (Apparently, <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/04/a-dance-with-dragons-manuscript-is-earth-shattering" rel="nofollow">it finally is</a>.) Hate starting a series that remains forever in limbo.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-10018849001800541192011-05-03T13:21:51.560-04:002011-05-03T13:21:51.560-04:00The thing about Martin--and I have no idea how he ...The thing about Martin--and I have no idea how he does this--is that his books truly do celebrate courage and honor. His honorable characters get screwed over by disreputable schemers and often slaughtered for their courage, but they still shine out as the characters you want to emulate. His villains, despite their cleverness, feel two-dimensional in comparison.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-12158868882866882812011-05-03T13:18:41.054-04:002011-05-03T13:18:41.054-04:00I take it you would be a fan of George R.R. Martin...I take it you would be a fan of George R.R. Martin, then.<br /><br />In the opening scenes, you are introduced to a lovable kid who loves disobeying his strict, noble parents and climbing adventurously about the castle. In or near chapter 1, he is thrown off a windowsill and paralyzed for life. As the book goes on, you realize this is not an isolated event--actions, even good-hearted and courageous actions, often come with realistic consequences, and sometimes come with shockingly unexpected consequences.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.com