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I almost can't imagine any passage from Anathem without visualizing how Escher would depict that particular scene. With the possible exception of the long-ish plot derail where Erasmus is crossing the polar region, and probably a few other parts really. I would just love to dedicate a couple years to doing Escher-esque illustrations for every single passage from this book. Not that I think the book is perfect, but it does seem like Neal must have been always trying to look through an Escher lens when he was writing it. Of course the one scene where they're at the ancient oasis, the place of the pattern (sorry, forgot what it's called) and sitting around the kitchen bullshitting, and even the bread they're eating has been woven into a pattern seemed like overkill at the time, but hey. But it was clearly a painstakingly detailed Escher still life in the making. I can imagine the space ship, especially, and a multitude of scenes there, as a detailed Escher-esque design in so many ways. The very essence of its being is sort of a multidimensional Möbius strip, and so many of the scenes from it are just begging to be reduced to graphics. And the climactic moment of the greater story, the funeral procession and meeting aboard the ship, where they are carrying the bodies across the water in a boat, is so damned much like some of Escher's interlocking tile type prints, shoot, it just tickles the hell out of me. I cannot not see it as an Escher print. It makes me want to ask to see the illustrations and sketches, because I simply feel like there must be some. And if not, I wish I could be the one to make them. But, like most good ideas I have, the usual rule probably applies: if I've thought of it, somebody has not only been there already but dedicated a web site to it. (Accompanied by a forum replete with awful posters dedicated to fiercely defending their personal dominion over some obscure ideational 'turf' -- and Star Trek) I guess all I'm saying is that since somebody long ago said Anathem is like a novelization of "Godel, Escher, Bach," I'm in agreement that he's got the Escher part down. SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Mar 16, 2014 |
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Mar 16, 2014 14:50
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redshirt posted:Question about Anathem: Also because it's Neil's attempt at a Heinlein-esque young adult scifi novel. It's incredibly like a number of Heinleins, including a lot of the libertarian traits, redeemed by being about 2.5 times more brainy. Cimber posted:haha, whoops! I was kind of getting used to its somethingawfulness. SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Apr 8, 2014 |
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Apr 8, 2014 06:17
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BTW, funny that nobody has mentioned the Mongoliad ITT. It wasn't so bad. One gripe is that I think the trick of suddenly grabbing one's opponent's sword with a gauntleted hand being used I think *three times* was odd. But there was clearly a lot of Neil in that series and I enjoyed it.
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Apr 11, 2014 00:53
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Cimber posted:Honestly I had never heard of it until recently. Is it cowritten by him or what. I think this is  right? That I'm still not getting.To answer your question, it's a sword-and-sandals/pseudohistorical adventure set right after Ghengis Khan's conquests made their furthest westward sweep into Germany, Hungary and Poland, and done in the general spirit of Robert Howard. Apparently other contributing writers include Greg Bear, Nicole Galland, and Mark Teppo and looking at the Wikipedia page, it was intended to be the foundation stone of a little gaming empire. A tiny bit like T'Rain in that single regard. I enjoyed it and I read historical novels set in that time period, although I generally don't like Howard nearly as much as Lamb, whose writing I had hoped would have a more noticeable influence in this series. I'll probably reread it. SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Apr 11, 2014 |
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Apr 11, 2014 16:04
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precision posted:The thing about the Monoliad is that it's loving confusing as poo poo to figure out how much of it there is and how to get it. I mean for a long time a printed version didn't even exist. I'm not convinced that Neal actually wrote much more than a tiny fraction of it, he certainly jumped ship after book 3 entirely. We're going to have to agree to disagree on that. For all the things that bug me, like the incredible superiority of the English longbow over the Asian curved bow, which I think is totally bogus, I enjoyed it. I think Neal's fingerprints are all over that series, and at worst I don't think it's much worse than anything else he's written. The greater portion of it is basically The Magnificent Seven goes to Mongolia. How is that not classic Neal? And I waited until it was all published, or the main 3 volumes were, before buying them, and I listened to them on Audible rather than reading, so I felt like I got to read a complete series from beginning to end. The ending doesn't feel extremely conclusive, but when does a Neal Stephenson ending totally click anyway? It worked for me as well as any of his books do. ED: And in passing, one minor thing I love about Neal also is the attention he pays to getting the audio version done well. I wouldn't be surprised if he lost money on the audio version of Anathem, but it was incredibly well done. And same for the Mongoliad. I for one am grateful. Reading is a pretty big part of my livelihood and I don't have the patience for novels I once had because of that. SnakePlissken fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Apr 11, 2014 |
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Apr 11, 2014 22:31
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Cimber posted:The coinfusion? Yeah, the Jack stuff is fun, the Eliza stuff is important but kind of dull. The King of the Vagabonds is no loving butt monkey, thanks.
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May 8, 2014 17:34
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