Sustained Criticism

I know I have babbled to some of you about "narrative voice", or my shortened, preferred version, "narrative". What I haven't done is explain what it is - I might have tried, but I think I can ascertain that it was deficient, I usually am no good explaining things I am very fond of other than in writing.

What I call narrative is what the rest of the world calls "authorative voice", and is, in short, the voice, or the presence of the author in any given work of fiction. Choice of words, phrasing - or structure of sentences, if you wish - use of punctuation and structure. It is, of course, most prominent in the instances that a third-person point of view is used, but it is always there.

Compare Tolkien to Dahl, for instance. Dahl is sardonic, and Tolkien always, always very scholarly. Certain traits stay with them through their bibliography - developing, of course -, and makes them recognizable and enjoyable.

I have - well, had, back when I actually wrote - moments of attaining a brilliantly sardonic, to me very entertaining, narrative voice. I turn, or turned, into a middle-aged (late 50's or early 60's) man; a British Lord and a fierce defender of the Upper House, he would have been a delighted ally of the Iron Lady had they co-existed, he sports a cane, I think, to wack youngsters approprietly over the head; he would never set foot in the Lower House ("Abolish the other House!") for the sole reason that it is not an arena fit for enlightened debate; he's a dandy of sorts, and takes his Martell alone, though an aged port'll do if you happen to be out; Oh, and he has a general dislike of women.

We're old friends, now, he and I. Though he hasn't come out to play in a while, other than in passing in fluttering paragraphs on narrative voice in Psychology papers - which, I might add, cost me my 6 - he is very much alive, and has taken on a Humberty apparell. I read somewhere that one does not read Nabokov and remain unchanged, whoever wrote it was right, my Lord has acquired a liking for nymphets since we last spoke.

Cross-posted to DA, btw.

Btw II: I just read the refined part of yesterday's morning paper, and laughed a bit at Linn Ullmann. Apparently, she uses a narrative of the same kind for her comments.