Q&A

[truepenny]

Probably the last installment for this go-round.

1.
Q: In these Q&As, what's the question you've always wished someone would ask, but hasn't?

A: I'm always a little sad that nobody asks about the literary jokes. Possibly that's just because I'm such a flaming geek. But, for instance, I keep hoping someone will remark on the presence of "Porphyria's Lover" as a kind of subetxt; there's Porphyria Levant, and then there's the fact that the bog body in Corambis was, in fact, strangled with her own hair. It doesn't mean anything in particular, except that that Browning poem apparently made a huge impact in my psyche.

On a more serious note, I have always wished that someone would ask about the parallels between magic in this world and radioactivity in ours. Because, if you notice, the problems Felix has with Malkar's rubies are not unlike the problems faced by people trying to deal with radioactive waste. You can't keep it near you, you can't throw it away, and there's no such thing as a safe place to put it.

2. There was also a question about Felix's age, based on the civil war in Corambis having taken place forty years before the beginning of the book. Remember that there's no actual connection between Felix's birth and the civil war, also that, in the elaborate myth that is part Malkar's story and part the evil hand of coincidence, Felix's hypothetical mother would have been running from the aftermath of the war, not from the war itself. And then remember that Malkar was banking on nobody in Marathat (a.) having the exact dates of a war in a country so far away they've barely even heard of it, (b.) knowing Felix's exact age, or (c.) bothering to sit down and do the math.

Mélusine and The Virtu together take two years. Then there's a two year gap. The Mirador takes place over a couple of months--and holy cats, it was hard to get all that stuff packed into that narrow a time window--and then there's another gap, probably three or four months, before the start of Corambis

Felix is 26 when Mélusine starts and 30 when The Mirador starts, so he's probably 31 in Corambis.

No, the dates don't match up with Malkar's story, but they're close enough for the work he needed that story to do.

---

I feel like there was another question someone had asked, but I cannot find it. So if it was yours, please ask again!

Comments

[spiderweb-wine.livejournal.com]

I loved the bog bodies and the mammoth (so the hair-strangling came from something, not just a particularly macabre detail of fiction? Cool, thanks!), and did enjoy how Mehitabel's literary jokes related to her past. I just didn't think to ask questions about them, but now that they are answered, thank you.

[grass-angel.livejournal.com]

I only ever got archeology references concerning the bogperson and the mammoth.
Clearly, too much of my childhood/teenage years were spent watching shows like Meet The Ancestors, Time Team and various documentaries.

[soho-iced.livejournal.com]

Retrospectively, I see the radioactivity parallel, but I wonder whether one reason it's not mentioned is that culturally most people, at least of Cold War vintage, put radioactivity (unconsciously) in the same mental bracket as magic anyway, or at least the idea of something cursed. It's unseen; corrupting; undying; mutilates unborn children. (From there to creating Spiderman, via the appropriate vector, is just a short step.)

Possibly someone has written a detailed book on this very subject and I'm producing half baked obviousness: if so, I'd like to read it.

[fuzzmuddle.livejournal.com]

My friend and I were just having a debate about felix's age. Though neither of us actually considered that Malkar would just bank on the fact that no one would try to figure out the time/age congruency. I suppose that makes your readers a step up from the Calabine wizards in some respects.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

You have a lot more information than they do.

[fuzzmuddle.livejournal.com]

That's true. I suppose if they did have enough to go by, there would be a few, at least, that would leap at the chance to tear down Felix. Though.. even that is a lot of work to put together when someone could just call Felix out on being from Pharohlight, which is what happened so nevermind.

I'm not sure if this is especially relevant, and it's probably pointlessly obvious, but I found it interesting that the Mirador was so dark and windowless, while all its inhabitants knew only the tiniest bit about Felix. In the dark, so to speak, and about other things as well, like the witch hunts and ghosts, etc. (And, because is just finished re-reading it, the Grimglass lighthouse is like the light at the end of the tunnel.) Alright, I'm done. No more weak observations from this side of the internet.

[warriorofworry.livejournal.com]

I hope it makes you feel better that my reaction to your wish for a question on the radioactivity-Magic connection was Why? It was present for me as I read the story. (Though not being an English major I'm pretty sure I missed loads of literary allusions which you haven't pointed out.)