[ebooktalk] Re: Language In Books
- From: "Elaine Harris \(Rivendell\)" <elaineharris@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:11:53 +1000
Oh, I love that; Edith Pargter would have been thrilled.
There should indeed be a list of such errors!
One book I read had some major errors in it: A fairly luight novel but even
so ... A Johnny Cash song attributed to someone else, another glaring one
which I can't recall but have it noted in my book diary, and finally a
wildlife programme attributed to Richard Attenborough. Where are the
editors?
I also love, for all the wrong reasons, Guinevere arriving in "Camelot" and
asking: "Would you like a cup of tea?" I think not.
The tragedy here - and these errors drive me mad, spoil a book and make you
distrust everything else the author writes - is that either publishers are
doing away with editors, as many are, and thus losing quality control
and/or, in some cases, the editors don't know enough to spot the mistakes.
Have just remembered a series of books by Australian writer Ilsa Aiken, I
think her name is; it worries me that she is doing a Ph.d but anyway she has
this fixation about two people who met when one gave a paper on the rivalry
between Richard III and Elizabeth I; the latter being born 40-plus years
after Richard died in battle. In this case, the agent of the author is the
daughter of a well-respected author here but I have never found the courage
to write to John and tell him.
Middle of the night and I'm going back to bed.
Elaine
-----Original Message-----
From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Ian Macrae
Sent: Wednesday, 12 June 2013 3:44 AM
To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: Language In Books
One instance of this I came across in non fiction Trish was when I read
Simon elmes's history of voices on radio called Hello Again. At one point
he referred to the actor who played Mrs Dale as Ellis Peters. I emailed him
to congratulate him on what is a very interesting and entertaining book but
could not resist the chance to point out his error. She was actually named
Ellis Powell. The sound of him kicking himself was very audible in his
reply when he'd realised that ellis Peters was a crime writer. On the
language front what also get me going is the use of expressions which just
weren't around at the time. Excellent though C J Sansum's dominion is,
there are a few examples of this in there. I think at one point someone
says, "There you go" which I'm sure didn't come into common usage until the
early 70s, not the 50s.
On 11 Jun 2013, at 17:21, Trish Talbot wrote:
> I must admit, Ian, that I didn't notice, let alone be annoyed by, "Knowing
the heft of every knife", but I know just how much t5hese things can
irritate. I getfind it frustrating when American words sneak into
supposedly very British books, e.g. "She put the book in her purse". (Must
have been a big purse, her handbag must have been very large to hold itj).
Much as I loved the book, I found it disappointing when, atnear the end of
Michelle Magorian's "GGoodnight, Mr. Tom", she talks about one of the girls
wearing Zak's "Pants" when she means trousers, and about two sentences
later, talks about them spooning "Jelly" onto their bread. I also dislike
it when a dialect word is either used in the wrong sense, or spoken by
someone supposedly from a different county, though this tends to happen more
in TV dramatisations than in books.
>
> The other "Red car in Benn-Hurr" equivalent that jars on me is when a
writer refers to a record or piece of music which wasn't recorded at the
time. Maeve Binchy is guilty of this in "Firefly Summer". It shouldn't
matter really, but it makes the story slightly less believable.
> Trish
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ian Macrae
> To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 11:34 AM
> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: Rosamund Lupton.
>
>
> Hi elaine, for me it doesn't matter whether the language reflects the
reality of such a person. This, as you suggest, is fiction after all. I'm
sure the Saxons and Danes in Bernard cornwell's series set at the time of
Alfred didn't speak in the way, meaning I suppose the idiom that his
characters do. for me it's about whether they are true to the story and to
the overall intention of the author. That phrase from the Bradford family's
cook about knowing the heft of every knife just jarred with me. It's like
the fact that people have spotted that there's a red car in one of the
backgrounds of the great chariot race from the movie of Ben Her.
>
> On 10 Jun 2013, at 23:56, Elaine Harris (Rivendell) wrote:
>
>
> Ah, yes, I see what you mean.
>
> I don't recall her bring particularly articulate but you could well be
right. In fact, you have raised a most interesting question there. It has
often occurred to me in the past that some characters express themselves
more clearly and/or in better language than might their real life
counterparts; it used to annoy me but no longer does. Not sure why. Perhaps
an acceptance of artistic licence and a fear of inverted snobbier: as in,
who am I to judge how well or badly someone may express themselves. It has
occurred to me often, though, throughout my many years of reading.
> Thank you for prompting me to think about it again.
>
> Elaine
>
> From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ian Macrae
> Sent: Tuesday, 11 June 2013 6:21 AM
> To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: Rosamund Lupton.
>
> Hi elanie, I'm sure I'll go back to the book, but the cook in question
was the one who was fired when the big cheese family fled the village.
> On 10 Jun 2013, at 19:38, Elaine Harris (Rivendell) wrote:
>
>
>
> Ian, I can understand your doubts with Geraldine brooks' Anna but since
the narrator - by the end of the book and the perspective from which she is
telling the story - is no mere seventeenth-century cook. Her education grows
along with the book.
>
> For the record, Geraldine Brooks is Australian, started out as a
reporter and her first book was non-fiction on Moslem women, married to
Anthony (Tony) Horrowitz; not sure if he is English but is well-known for
his children's fiction (which I have not read) and they live in America
though I think spend a fair amount of time in the UK.
>
> I loved the language; to me that was part of the thrill of the book;
many of the words I think you would find only in a mediaeval dictionary.
>
> However, only you can know if a book is for you.
>
> Take care,
>
> Elaine
>
>
>
>
>
> From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ian Macrae
> Sent: Tuesday, 11 June 2013 3:25 AM
> To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: Rosamund Lupton.
>
> Anyone care to outline what kind of fiction she writes? I must confess
to be still struggling rather with Geraldine Brooks. Part of it is
language. I don't believe any cook in the 17th century would ever have said,
:I now the heft of every knife in this kitchen". It's a bit like those
female American writers of historical fiction who think they create the
language of the 15th century by inserting the word "Do" before every active
verb.
> On 10 Jun 2013, at 17:54, Shell wrote:
>
>
>
>
> I think you might enjoy Sister David, though you do have to be on top
of things at the end as Steve says. I think it's much more up your street
though.
> Shell.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "David Russell" <david.russell8@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 3:58 PM
> To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: Rosamund Lupton.
>
>> I read "Afterwards" and really struggled with it for many reasons.
>> It would take a good deal of persuasion for me to try reading Lupton
again.
>>
>>
>> David
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> [mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>> On Behalf Of Clare Gailans
>> Sent: 10 June 2013 12:03
>> To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: Rosamund Lupton.
>>
>> Trish, I have Sister and will try it now as you say it is so much
>> better. I thought all the out-of-body business in Afterwrds spoilt
>> what was otherwise a good book. Clare
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 10.0.1432 / Virus Database: 3199/5899 - Release Date:
> 06/10/13
Other related posts:
