Re: currently reading

Once Upon a Midnight Dreary, While Stanley L. Moore Pondered, Weak and
Weary, Over Many a Quaint and Curious Forgotten Post, and then wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------
But the movie was fiction as well as the book. I really liked the references
to the film. Connelly underscored a common complaint we often have that
films rarely follow the novels well. For instance the character of the bad
guy in the film is a semi good guy (or at least neutral in the Narrows
book). I enjoyed the way MC merged three book's characters into one. He has
McCaleb and wife, Bosch, and the Poet and his FBI nemesis all together. MC
pokes fun at the movie. I enjoyed the audacity of it.

I don't think I made myself clear. It's confusing even when I try to
verbalize. Yes, the movie and book are both fiction, but when Bosch
refers to a movie that was made about Terry McCaleb, McCaleb was a
real person to Bosch, but a fictional character in the movie. How can
he be both? Either Harry knows the real Terry McCaleb, or he watched a
movie involving the fictional Terry McCaleb. He couldn't do both, but
he did.

When we read fiction, we suspend disbelief, we even suspend reality,
and immerse ourselves in the fictional world of the author, while
pretending that what we are reading is real. Crime fiction, in
particular, demands this in order to be effective. But while we are
there, with Harry Bosch or whoever, it's reality. It would be OK for
Harry to refer to, say, Phillip Marlowe, and even have a case with
him, because they are both fictional characters. But he couldn't say
he both read "The Big Sleep", a work of fiction, and knew Philip
Marlowe personally. That would be incongruous.

Did that make more sense?

And I agree with you, Stanley, about the way he merged his different
books and characters together. I just finished it last night, and as
usual, was not disappointed.

John P

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: currently reading
    ... Yes, the movie and book are both fiction, but when Bosch ... Either Harry knows the real Terry McCaleb, ...
    (rec.arts.mystery)
  • Re: currently reading
    ... |>But the movie was fiction as well as the book. ... I enjoyed the way MC merged three book's characters into one. ... Yes, the movie and book are both fiction, but when Bosch ... Either Harry knows the real Terry McCaleb, ...
    (rec.arts.mystery)
  • Re: currently reading
    ... Yes, the movie and book are both fiction, but when Bosch ... Either Harry knows the real Terry McCaleb, ...
    (rec.arts.mystery)
  • Another Year: First Reading: Other Fiction Ho-W
    ... OTHER FICTION ... is "Ruritanian" and borderline fantasy, but a book doing the same ... playing with alternate geography years before Ruritania itself ... of Zenda> is in the characters, or more precisely, their motivations. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: Silver Nemesis reborn, only with cappier music
    ... events and characters in this work are completely fictitious and any ... The bible is not complete fiction. ... assumptions about 'reality' behind these stories - the Illiad is all ... How about an example from "Drama" - Gladiator. ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)