Posted by Magnus Smith on March 03, 2017 at 03:46:09 user Magnus.
In Reply to: Rites of Passage: John, Nancy... Dick? posted by Alex Forbes on March 02, 2017 at 11:55:24:
It is hard for me to comment on this, as the "meta fiction" label on PD, ML and GN was never apparent to me as a child, and I thus find it hard to embrace it now. They are all fiction, and yet so wonderful I don't spend even one second believing it isn't real when I'm reading.
However, I think Alex's ideas have strong merit, with regard to the graduation to adulthood. Maybe it doesn't matter whether it is meta fiction or not.
I wonder if AR set out to make a deliberate choice on this matter, or fell in a natural storytelling habit/pattern through which these sort of plots naturally occur to one?
AR did once say, about writing, "stick in a brat, and the others gain independence at once."
Perhaps it is silly to start hunting around for other 'graduation's, but I couldn't help thinking of Titty's dowsing. She definitely grows up a bit, but not really into an adult. I suppose there are several other similar times in her life: being left alone on the island (nearly calling Mother back), the voodoo wax Great Aunt, the final mapping task in SW... These are all tiny examples of her making herself be more mature. So not a 'graduation', but just a tangent my brain ran away with.
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