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  • The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."
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« FALSE DICHOTOMY, PART II | Main | AMAZON AND ANIMAL CRUELTY »

August 13, 2007

DOG DAYS, DARK MATERIALS

Don't know if you all caught last week's NPR report on the origins of the phrase "dog days of summer," but we're very much feeling them around here.  Now, we're not going to take August off.  But we can't promise we're always going to have the energy to troll all the breaking literary news of the day, although we'll do our best.  We might, however, slip into lower impact, frivolous posts like this one.

As you probably know, it's the first weekend we've had in some time without our revisions hanging over our head.  We emerged blinking from our little hole and noticed it was summer at the beach, and a beautiful summer at that.  So we resolved to spend the weekend doing as little as possible.

It so happens that one of the first things we did Saturday morning when we awoke was to read Christopher Hitchens's review of the final Harry Potter book.  We agree almost entirely with his take on the books, especially this bit:

In this final volume there is a good deal of loose-end gathering to be done. Which side was Snape really on? Can Neville Longbottom rise above himself? Are the Malfoys as black as they have been painted? Unfortunately — and with the solid exception of Neville, whose gallantry is well evoked — these resolutions prove to possess all the excitement of an old-style Perry Mason-type summing-up, prompted by a stock character who says, “There’s just one thing I don’t understand. ...”

We, too, were struck by how utterly unsatisfying these various bits of closure and resolution were.  So much slogging, such a sustained effort for so little emotional reward.  (And yes, we've read them.  Our considered opinion?  Only the third book is worth a damn.)  But where Hitchens really nailed it, and ended up torpedoing the rest of our weekend - so, really, it's his fault you have no literary news here - was when he added this in closing:

(I recommend that they graduate to Philip Pullman, whose daemon scheme is finer than any patronus.)

GcWhich sent us back to our shelves to pull down The Golden Compass.  Now, to be entirely fair to Hitchens, we were planning to re-read the His Dark Materials series in advance of this December's film version of The Golden Compass.  But it being said dog days, we pulled the book down and have spent the entire weekend absorbed, re-reading this wonderful, wonderful series.

It's been said too often to bear repeating, but His Dark Materials might aptly be called Harry Potter for Smart Kids or Harry Potter with Good Writing.  These books are subtle, smart, deviously rebellious and beautifully written.  Here's a bit from very early on when we're given a glimpse of wonders to follow:

Lord Asriel put a new slide in the lantern frame.  It showed the same scene.  As with the previous pair of pictures, many of the features visible by ordinary light were much  dimmer in this one, and so were the curtains of radiance in the sky.

But in the middle of the Aurora, high above the bleak landscape, Lyra could see something more solid.  She pressed her face to the crack to see more clearly, and she could see the Scholars near the screen leaning forward too.  As she gazed, her wonder grew, because there in the sky was the unmistakable outline of a city: towers, domes, walls ... Building and streets, suspended in the air!  She nearly gasped with wonder.

One is hard-pressed to find similarly elegant prose in Rowling.  At any rate, those who think we're all veddy, veddy serious around here, and those who have criticized us for what they mistake as our disdain for books for children, well, we hope we've thrown you a curve ball as we spend these dog days in the company of the memorable Lyra Belacqua and her friends.  If you haven't read Pullman (ably profiled by Laura Miller in the New Yorker in 2005) , it's not to late - you have a month of summer left.

Posted by TEV at 12:01 AM in Worthy Titles |

Comments

I so agree with you -- I love the Pullman books and a re-read sounds lovely ...

Posted by: Dorothy W. | August 13, 2007 at 05:55 AM

I couldn't agree more. During my tenure as a bookseller I would personally try to browbeat every customer who purchased a Harry Potter book into at least looking at Pullman. But every day I would see Potter after Potter fly out the store, while the vastly superior His Dark Materials languished on the shelf. And the movie looks fantastic.

Posted by: semanticdrifter | August 13, 2007 at 09:48 AM

I feel it important to note that I agree more than the previous commenter, but probably not the way that any of you are thinking. In fact, nobody could agree more than me when it comes to agreeing upon things in general. And with this sashay into the silly, I hope we can all put away the phrase "I couldn't agree more" into the same barren wasteland occupied by your cliche of choice.

Posted by: ed | August 13, 2007 at 01:42 PM

"I hope we can all put away the phrase "I couldn't agree more" into the same barren wasteland occupied by your cliche of choice."

You mean, cliches like "barren wasteland"?

Not one of your most constructive comments, amigo.

Posted by: TEV | August 13, 2007 at 01:46 PM

Just to be a needler, I went to Return of the Reluctant and did a search for "i couldn't agree more". Ed is guilty of five uses, the most recent happening last month. But hey, people change.

Posted by: Josh | August 13, 2007 at 07:51 PM

A cliche? I suppose I'm guilty. While recognizing that it is an exercise in futility to defend my use of the tired phrase, I meant that the post had so perfectly articulated my feelings with regard to the case of Rowling v. Pullman that it would not be possible for me to feel any greater sense of personal agreement. I did not mean that someone else was incapable of agreeing with a greater intensity or higher ability to agree with things in general. Far be it from me to impugn your agreeing ability, sir. And I have the utmost respect for your sashaying as well. :)

Posted by: semanticdrfiter | August 13, 2007 at 07:56 PM

The Golden Compass is one of the most enjoyable and best-written books I've ever read. Lyra is a wonderful character, as are Lord Asriel, Mrs Coulter, and the armored bear. The second book in the series is somewhat darker. And then in the third book, as with many trilogies, it all falls apart in noise, haste and confusion. The destination is less enchanting than the journey.

Posted by: zachary ash | August 14, 2007 at 02:25 AM

I too found a great deal of noise, haste, and confusion in the third book but it held together well enough. For me, the series really didn't take off until The Subtle Knife. I loved the first one, but the story didn't come together for me until Lyra met Will because their relationship is the core of the overall story.

Posted by: semanticdrifter | August 14, 2007 at 08:51 AM

Mark: Your irony meter is off. Please get it checked or replaced.

Josh: As for my use of "I couldn't agree more," you are quite right to point out to my five uses. I had hoped that my above admonition would prevent minds as excitable as semanticdrfiter from making the same mistake. It often takes an unfortunate addict to prevent people from straying down the same path.

Posted by: ed | August 15, 2007 at 06:06 PM

Ed: Just had my irony meter serviced. It's fine on all fronts.

Posted by: TEV | August 16, 2007 at 10:16 AM

I like Harry Potter.

Posted by: Patrick Stephenson | August 16, 2007 at 11:16 AM

Know any good 12 step programs? Clich-anon, maybe?

Posted by: semanticdrifter | August 16, 2007 at 01:14 PM

I thought the New York Magazine was a truer review. http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/35534/

Posted by: swhank | August 18, 2007 at 05:53 AM

At the risk of being called a philistine, I must say that the audiobook versions, read by Pullman himself (together with a cast of very capable voice actors), are quite extraordinary. As for the third volume, for all its slackness there are some wonderful things in it. And come on, how many children's books feature gay archangels who just happen to be lovers? Atheism and gay archangels will always win me over.

Posted by: Charlus | August 24, 2007 at 02:33 PM

His Dark Materials is Harry Potter for snobs. The writing may be more flowery, but at the expense of humour, interesting characters and a story to really care about.

If someone could combine Pullman's skill with words with JKR's storytelling ability, that would really be something. In the meantime...

I pick Harry.

Posted by: Celia | September 05, 2007 at 01:51 PM

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