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Roman a clef
Jun. 8th, 2011 12:26 amIt's a little warm in Jack's apartment tonight and that's affecting my sleep. To be precise, it's preventing it. Normally I sleep quite well here, though, so I'll probably make up for it before too long. While I wait for tiredness to catch up to me, I'd like to share a quote from the book I'm reading:
Some scant days before leaving for WisCon, I chanced to have a conversation with someone on the subject of the catoblepas. This led me to a Wikipedia trawl, which led me to discover the existence of the Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series by Lindsey Davis. Falco is a Roman "private informer" in the first century A.D.... the series is a pseudohistorical mash-up of Romany Tiems and hardboiled detective fiction.
Historically-minded or sharp-eyed MU readers might notice that I have something of a weakness for Roman politics, so of course I was interested in this... but as funds were kind of tight with the trip coming up, I did nothing more than check to make sure they were available for the Kindle.
Then, shortly after arriving in Hagerstown, I found the first book in the series sitting on the bookcase. It seems that Sarah also recently stumbled across the series in a more physical fashion. So I've been reading The Silver Pigs, in fits and starts, and finding that it's pretty much everything I hoped for.
When I say it's "pseudohistorical", I don't mean it's an alternate history in the sense that phrase is usually employed... there's no time traveling Hitler and nary a zeppelin or dinosaur in sight. There are no fantasy elements to speak of, little in the way of deliberate and obvious anachronism (a better historian than myself might be outraged at the mention of this legion or that being stationed in the wrong place at the wrong time, but one somewhat jarring reference to a Daily Gazette so far is the only thing that's jumped out at me), no Flintstone telephones or other devices.
It's more like a historical novel with a modern overlay. The details of what would otherwise be a straightforward historical novel are translated for us somewhat into the milieu of the detective novel.
The protagonist Falco is an inveterate republican, a word that harbors an altogether different meaning in Ancient Romany Tiems than it does in the modern day United States and one that's almost guaranteed to earn my sympathy for a protagonist. While he's liberal and worldly in comparison to many of the upper-crust individuals he works for/with/against, his typical gumshoe narrative is skillfully blended with period-appropriate attitudes about women and other topics. It's actually a surprisingly nice touch, and one that helps connect Falco with the noir heroes who came before (after) him. It's really an interesting study in how sexism transforms itself with the times. If typically sexist noir tropes are a dealbreaker for you, I don't recommend this book at all, but if you can deal with them as part of the package then you can probably handle the man's world of Marcus Didius Falco.
(I have a suspicion his attitude will be seen to evolve as the series goes on, but that warning is in full effect for the first book at least.)
I'm about halfway through the book and apart from its direct entertainment value, it's providing some interesting fodder for the MUniverse's political plotlines. My reading of this book (and very likely its sequels) is going to help shape the story of Malbus, which is a good thing... my attempts at writing it so far have been a little over-weighted with Sir Terry Pratchett's influence. Having another source of inspiration to leaven that will make the debt less glaring, I think.
Vespasian's banquets were extremely old-fashioned; the waitresses kept their clothes on and he never poisoned the food.
Some scant days before leaving for WisCon, I chanced to have a conversation with someone on the subject of the catoblepas. This led me to a Wikipedia trawl, which led me to discover the existence of the Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series by Lindsey Davis. Falco is a Roman "private informer" in the first century A.D.... the series is a pseudohistorical mash-up of Romany Tiems and hardboiled detective fiction.
Historically-minded or sharp-eyed MU readers might notice that I have something of a weakness for Roman politics, so of course I was interested in this... but as funds were kind of tight with the trip coming up, I did nothing more than check to make sure they were available for the Kindle.
Then, shortly after arriving in Hagerstown, I found the first book in the series sitting on the bookcase. It seems that Sarah also recently stumbled across the series in a more physical fashion. So I've been reading The Silver Pigs, in fits and starts, and finding that it's pretty much everything I hoped for.
When I say it's "pseudohistorical", I don't mean it's an alternate history in the sense that phrase is usually employed... there's no time traveling Hitler and nary a zeppelin or dinosaur in sight. There are no fantasy elements to speak of, little in the way of deliberate and obvious anachronism (a better historian than myself might be outraged at the mention of this legion or that being stationed in the wrong place at the wrong time, but one somewhat jarring reference to a Daily Gazette so far is the only thing that's jumped out at me), no Flintstone telephones or other devices.
It's more like a historical novel with a modern overlay. The details of what would otherwise be a straightforward historical novel are translated for us somewhat into the milieu of the detective novel.
The protagonist Falco is an inveterate republican, a word that harbors an altogether different meaning in Ancient Romany Tiems than it does in the modern day United States and one that's almost guaranteed to earn my sympathy for a protagonist. While he's liberal and worldly in comparison to many of the upper-crust individuals he works for/with/against, his typical gumshoe narrative is skillfully blended with period-appropriate attitudes about women and other topics. It's actually a surprisingly nice touch, and one that helps connect Falco with the noir heroes who came before (after) him. It's really an interesting study in how sexism transforms itself with the times. If typically sexist noir tropes are a dealbreaker for you, I don't recommend this book at all, but if you can deal with them as part of the package then you can probably handle the man's world of Marcus Didius Falco.
(I have a suspicion his attitude will be seen to evolve as the series goes on, but that warning is in full effect for the first book at least.)
I'm about halfway through the book and apart from its direct entertainment value, it's providing some interesting fodder for the MUniverse's political plotlines. My reading of this book (and very likely its sequels) is going to help shape the story of Malbus, which is a good thing... my attempts at writing it so far have been a little over-weighted with Sir Terry Pratchett's influence. Having another source of inspiration to leaven that will make the debt less glaring, I think.
