Re: Books
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2023 4:41 am
I've discovered my love for Picaresque stories, thanks in large part to Jack Vance's The Dying Earth. The latter half of that novel is devoted to two protagonists: Cugel the Clever and Rhialto the Marvelous.
Both are con artists. Cugel is a scammer of the low kind, absolutely shameless and with no morality. He's quick of foot and fast with a sword, but hopelessly outmatched by the beings that inhabit the Dying Earth world. He calls himself the "Clever," and he is good at speaking quickly and fabricating scams. However, he exhibits an astounding lack of wisdom, which leads him to fail repeatedy.
Rhialto is more of a bureaucrat. Every magician in the Dying Earth world is a tremendous asshole. He's the kind who attempts to loot from his fellow mages via legal (mis)interpretation and faux-democratic politicking. He differs from Cugel by operating on a higher power scale (being a mage,) but is equally as outmatched due to the extraplanar opponents he must navigate.
Vance's prose is beautiful. I decry needless verbosity of the Movieblob type. While Vance's prose may sometimes suggest use of a dictionary, his characters' intentions are always clear from context and easily inferred. Thus, he combines both extravagant and flowery language with surprisingly direct meaning. Vance is a master of what might be called "insult comedy" or "insult writing." His characters take a very circuitous-yet-amusing route to calling each other assholes.
Neither story is in first-person, but the third-person follows each character quite closely. Especially in the case of Cugel, where I do not believe it pulls focus from his viewpoint for even a second.
I also recently read and enjoyed Fools Errant, another picaresque fantasy story written by Jack Vance fanboy Matthew Hughes. It was excellent, although I then approached his Henghis Hapthorn stories and found them rather underwhelming. Jack Vance's Moon Moth was a good time. Emphyrio too. I know I have Lies of Locke Lamora around here somewhere... I tried reading Book of the New Sun and bounced off it. Aside from the duel, I derived very little enjoyment from the first book. Joe Abercrombie is sometimes suggested as a writer of picaresque-influenced fiction. Eh. Closer to Count of Monte Cristo really. Nicomo Cosca is about the only picaro in his tales.
I guess I should have figured I'd enjoy picaro stories, considering my long-standing love for outlaw fiction like Robin Hood and Water Margin.
Both are con artists. Cugel is a scammer of the low kind, absolutely shameless and with no morality. He's quick of foot and fast with a sword, but hopelessly outmatched by the beings that inhabit the Dying Earth world. He calls himself the "Clever," and he is good at speaking quickly and fabricating scams. However, he exhibits an astounding lack of wisdom, which leads him to fail repeatedy.
Rhialto is more of a bureaucrat. Every magician in the Dying Earth world is a tremendous asshole. He's the kind who attempts to loot from his fellow mages via legal (mis)interpretation and faux-democratic politicking. He differs from Cugel by operating on a higher power scale (being a mage,) but is equally as outmatched due to the extraplanar opponents he must navigate.
Vance's prose is beautiful. I decry needless verbosity of the Movieblob type. While Vance's prose may sometimes suggest use of a dictionary, his characters' intentions are always clear from context and easily inferred. Thus, he combines both extravagant and flowery language with surprisingly direct meaning. Vance is a master of what might be called "insult comedy" or "insult writing." His characters take a very circuitous-yet-amusing route to calling each other assholes.
Neither story is in first-person, but the third-person follows each character quite closely. Especially in the case of Cugel, where I do not believe it pulls focus from his viewpoint for even a second.
I also recently read and enjoyed Fools Errant, another picaresque fantasy story written by Jack Vance fanboy Matthew Hughes. It was excellent, although I then approached his Henghis Hapthorn stories and found them rather underwhelming. Jack Vance's Moon Moth was a good time. Emphyrio too. I know I have Lies of Locke Lamora around here somewhere... I tried reading Book of the New Sun and bounced off it. Aside from the duel, I derived very little enjoyment from the first book. Joe Abercrombie is sometimes suggested as a writer of picaresque-influenced fiction. Eh. Closer to Count of Monte Cristo really. Nicomo Cosca is about the only picaro in his tales.
I guess I should have figured I'd enjoy picaro stories, considering my long-standing love for outlaw fiction like Robin Hood and Water Margin.