[LMB] QOTD #7: Emotional genre, re: ACC dedication (Sat. Mar. 1st)

[alayne at twobikes.ottawa.on.ca]

On Sat, 1 Mar 2008, Tora K. Smulders-Srinivasan wrote:
> Would you view LMB's work as in the same genre (emotionally, not
> technically) as the four authors cited in the dedication of "A Civil
> Campaign"?

I agree with Elizabeth that the four authors are not in the same genre. In 
fact, I'd argue that Charlotte Bronte was the deliberate antithesis of 
Jane Austen, in terms of balance between sense and emotion in her books.

What they all have in common with Lois is their brilliantly-alive 
characters, and how the plots flow out of the characters (could you 
imagine _Cotillion_ without Freddy? Or _Gaudy Night_ without both Harriet 
and Peter? Or _Jane Eyre_ without Jane? Or Pride and Prejudice without 
Darcy and *all* the Bennetts?)

I love all four authors. In particular, DLS had a huge influence on me as 
I was growing up, and all of them are definite comfort reads. And I 
certainly see how they influenced ACC and Lois' work in general. But same 
genre? No.

-- 
Alayne McGregor
alayne at twobikes.ottawa.on.ca

"In dark paradise the other people grope on an arduous road. And the only brightness that sometimes lights
their nightly march like an ephemeral spark is a brief impression of a chance magnetic neighborliness --
a brief nostalgia, a momentary shudder, a dream of an hour of sunrise." -- C.V. Cavafy