Thanks, Adrian! From your piece, "incompleteness duly recognised is dependence recognised" shows one angle of several I hadn't taken, but to your point it is present in the idea of forgoing completion. I'm glad the essay turned out as ecumenical and full as I tried for.
Thanks for the shoutout! And also for the recommendation. I hadn't heard of Vodolazkin, will definitely add him to my list! Normally I don't find plot premises of "[character] digs deep into the past and learns about x character" to be a clincher, just because a lot of novels, especially in translation, have a premise of that sort. In fact, come to think of it I wonder if there's a conspiracy against the historical novel? But it sounds like this novel is healthily sophisticated in the good sense.
Of course, Felix! Your readings of McCarthy deserve a wider look.
I think you'll like Vodolazkin, likely for the unorthodox structures and thematic preoccupations I analyzed here. Specifically, he is not a history-mystery writer, but an artist well-versed in histories and philosophies of that study. If anything, the marketing of "historical thriller" applied to "Solovyov and Larionov" is mis-applied, given how atmospheric and particular the novel actually is. Ditto for "The Aviator." His premises seem prone to schlock but his novels are too intelligent to contain any.
Thanks, Kevin. Similar preoccupations synchronising: https://scriptourer.substack.com/p/incompleteness
Thanks, Adrian! From your piece, "incompleteness duly recognised is dependence recognised" shows one angle of several I hadn't taken, but to your point it is present in the idea of forgoing completion. I'm glad the essay turned out as ecumenical and full as I tried for.
We’ll have to watch this inadvertent flocking together, Kevin. Great reformations are born from such things!
That's the spirit!
Thanks for the shoutout! And also for the recommendation. I hadn't heard of Vodolazkin, will definitely add him to my list! Normally I don't find plot premises of "[character] digs deep into the past and learns about x character" to be a clincher, just because a lot of novels, especially in translation, have a premise of that sort. In fact, come to think of it I wonder if there's a conspiracy against the historical novel? But it sounds like this novel is healthily sophisticated in the good sense.
Of course, Felix! Your readings of McCarthy deserve a wider look.
I think you'll like Vodolazkin, likely for the unorthodox structures and thematic preoccupations I analyzed here. Specifically, he is not a history-mystery writer, but an artist well-versed in histories and philosophies of that study. If anything, the marketing of "historical thriller" applied to "Solovyov and Larionov" is mis-applied, given how atmospheric and particular the novel actually is. Ditto for "The Aviator." His premises seem prone to schlock but his novels are too intelligent to contain any.