From: hjkhjkhd@hhhh.com   
      
   "Nigee"  wrote in message   
   news:1173651760.863922.142210@s48g2000cws.googlegroups.com...   
   > On 11 Mar, 20:56, Martha Bridegam  wrote:   
   >> ROBBIE wrote:   
   >> >>...Or sometimes the story stays   
   >> >> at the same level of fantasy all the way through, e.g. in Gulliver's   
   >> >> Travels or for that matter your Mr. Firbank.   
   >>   
   >> > Bogart accent: 'He's not particularly *my* Mr Firbank.   
   >>   
   >> Right on cue.   
   >>   
   >> ...   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> >> So, I mean, there are intentional jolts to the reader that have an   
   >> >> artistic purpose. But then there are just plain old gratuitous jolts   
   >> >> like   
   >> >> stretches of bad pavement on the highway. Of course deciding which is   
   >> >> which is a matter of taste, but it's something to think about   
   >> >> seriously,   
   >> >> no?   
   >>   
   >> > Well I already have and continue to do so. Nigel, who very kindly read   
   >> > and   
   >> > commented on the MS, marked 'too implausible' underneath the petrol   
   >> > bomb   
   >> > passage but I thought: is Otto Silenus's destruction of the stately   
   >> > home and   
   >> > the 11-year-old Peter Beste-Chetwynde mixing himself brandy and sodas   
   >> > in   
   >> > Decline and Fall 'too implausible'? Granted, Decline and Fall sets out   
   >> > its   
   >> > shop from the first page - what Malcolm Bradbury called 'a universe of   
   >> > vigorous and bleak chaos'. Given that my novel begins with the line   
   >> > '"Jeremy   
   >> > thinks he's a unicorn"' I think mine sets out its shop early too. I   
   >> > think   
   >> > the novel form still has room for extravaganzas and farragos - not   
   >> > saying   
   >> > mine is, it isn't (well, compared to Nick Hornby and similar it is an   
   >> > extravaganza).   
   >>   
   >> > ROBBIE   
   >>   
   >> Yes. "Setting out its shop" is the necessary part. If not internal   
   >> consistency, then at least a consistent level of inconsistency. I even   
   >> bet Nigel would agree.   
   >>   
   >> /M- Hide quoted text -   
   >>   
   >> - Show quoted text -   
   >   
   > I very much enjoyed reading the ms that ROBBIE sent me.  It is written   
   > with a slashing verve.  It drills its targets through the bullseye.  I   
   > laughed out loud a lot.  I can't ask for too much better than that.   
   >   
   > The only problem I had with the two pieces quoted was that they pushed   
   > beyond the envelope of my suspended disbelief.  Nasty phrasing, I   
   > know, but you get what I mean, I hope.  (I picked up a brochure the   
   > other day.  Someone had left it lying on the table in a meeting room.   
   > It provided an overview of a HR Consultancy frim that specialised in   
   > 'Outplacing'.  'Outplacing', I was tickled to discover, is the new   
   > cuddly term for making staff cuts.)   
   >   
   > Needless to say, I was perfectly happy to believe that Jeremy thought   
   > he was a Unicorn.   
   >   
   > N   
   >   
   >   
      
   Cheers! I just used your two objections as part of my Forsterian   
   disquisition onn the nov in gen. I have no petulance regarding your   
   excellent criticism. Martha is welcome to read it it if she wants: I love an   
   audience, as you know.   
      
   ROBBIE   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)