Re: Senator Kennedy's first name

On Aug 31, 11:48 am, LFS <la...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Steve Hayes wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:25:18 +0100, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
<m...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm very uncomfortable with any historical fiction that has real-life
characters in it. Words and actions are attributed to individuals. The
imdividuals may never have said or done those things. The portrayal may
give the readers or audience a false idea of historical events and the
bahaviour and motivations of the people involved.

I recently read such a book, "An instance of the fingerpost" by Iain Pears. A
kind of Restoration whodunit. Not bad, but I share your unease at putting
imaginary dialogues in the mouths of real characters.

An interesting feature of that book, which I very much enjoyed, was that
the geography of Oxford was correctly represented. I get very irritated
by authors who set their books in places I know well but distort the
geography.

I find it interesting that you don't mind possibly (or even
definitely?) distorted depictions of historical characters, but do
mind distorted geography. Is it just that geography is more
objective?

--
Jerry Friedman
.

Relevant Pages

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    (alt.usage.english)
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    ... The angles between the first character and ... I'd considered that perhaps the curvature was misleading me, ... curvature does not distort the other characters in a way that would suggest ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
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