Frank, I've enjoyed quite a few works of 'faction' over the years ... most recently. Mike Ashley's collection of short stories, "Classical Whodunits."
I have no problem with them ... maybe it depends upon who the works are packaged and presented. I honestly don't understand - from that brief article - her problem with the idea.
Whoa -- hold on there just a minute A. S. Byatt's novella "The Conjugial Angel" focuses on and features as characters, among others, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, his sister Emily, other Tennyson family members, and Arthur Henry Hallam (who admittedly is a ghost when he shows up). Isn't there just a wee smidgen of hypocrisy involved in her statement then, or is she just joshing?
Well, it does seem to me that Angela can't be talking about people she knows being in fiction, because two sisters appear in several of her novels - though I'm not sure if they are really modeled on her and Maggie (as she refers to Margaret Drabble). So she would probably argue that she has written about sisters who are not modeled on her and her sister. Also, she does say that, though Oscar Wilde makes an appearance in her own latest novel, his thoughts are not expressed. I think there's a subtle distinction being made that may not come through in this article.
Frank, I've enjoyed quite a few works of 'faction' over the years ... most recently. Mike Ashley's collection of short stories, "Classical Whodunits."
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with them ... maybe it depends upon who the works are packaged and presented. I honestly don't understand - from that brief article - her problem with the idea.
Whoa -- hold on there just a minute A. S. Byatt's novella "The Conjugial Angel" focuses on and features as characters, among others, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, his sister Emily, other Tennyson family members, and Arthur Henry Hallam (who admittedly is a ghost when he shows up). Isn't there just a wee smidgen of hypocrisy involved in her statement then, or is she just joshing?
ReplyDelete...and, if I remember correctly, Byatt's novel The Game is also directly based on her competitive relationship with her own sister.
ReplyDeleteWell, it does seem to me that Angela can't be talking about people she knows being in fiction, because two sisters appear in several of her novels - though I'm not sure if they are really modeled on her and Maggie (as she refers to Margaret Drabble). So she would probably argue that she has written about sisters who are not modeled on her and her sister. Also, she does say that, though Oscar Wilde makes an appearance in her own latest novel, his thoughts are not expressed. I think there's a subtle distinction being made that may not come through in this article.
ReplyDelete