Re: Daddy ?


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Posted by Peter Ceresole on December 27, 2008 at 21:16:21 user PeterC.

In Reply to: Re: Daddy ? posted by John Lambert on December 27, 2008 at 16:40:20:

If he hadn't been behind the scenes in SA, would there have been a story? Of course there would have.

Quite right. It was all in AR's head; his genius was to imagine it, and translate it into a form that delights his audience. He really knew what he was doing. If he needed a Daddy figure, then Daddy would be there. Because that's the nature of the novel.

I just ran into the passage from Anthony Powell (yes, I know; I'm a Powell Nut) that I had in mind when I was reading our thread about Daddy and reality. Powell gives the words to one of his characters, the author X.Trapnel, modeled in turn on the real author Julian McLaren Ross:

'People think that because a novel's invented it isn't true. Exactly the reverse is the case. Because a novel's invented, it's true. Biography and memoirs can never be wholly true, since they can't include every conceivable circumstance of what happened. The novel can do that. The novelist lays it down. His decision is binding.'

So there...

On another note entirely, I notice I have to be very precise in what I say so as not to convey a false impression and to avoid offending anyone who may not agree with me.

I do hope that's not so; this is one of the more civilised places in which to discuss things, things which we all enjoy. I'd hope that while being serious and committed to our various points of view, in general we respect and enjoy what everybody has to say. I think that's the truth of it... Giving offence isn't, I think, part of the show.

I hope that the gas man turned up okay. It's a cold, miserable time to be without.


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