jenks
thread death
Having just finished the last Jake Arnott i got to thinking about the pleasures involved in reading a linked series of novels. Over the years i have noticed it becoming quite a preoccupation.
I think there are a number of reasons for this - when you find someone you like then having 'more of the same' is very appealing; also the attraction of the series is the pleasure of following a long story arc, characters dropping in and out over a long period of time; there is in here somewhere the appeal of the epic which stretches back to Homer and beyond.
I think it also allows for the ambitious novellist to stretch. Possibly there is also the wager with death in here too, will the sequence be completed before the author keels over? Often the novel series is a life's work.
And somehow, and maybe i am wrong here, the novels sequels are accorded greater respect than the idea of movie sequels ( a few honorable exceptions i know but generally they are looked down upon)
so here is a list for starters:
Proust
Thomas Wolfe
Powell (dance to the music of time)
Raven (alms for oblivion)
Waugh (sword of honour)
Robertson Davies (Salterton trilogy)
Zola and Balzac
berger's pig earth trilogy
there's more and i'm sure i've missed some fine, and very obvious, ones...
but not, for me:
Gormenghast
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Does detective fiction fall into this category? i'm thinking the Rebus novels by Rankin which have developed over the years to be the story of Rebus as much as the story of a case solved.
anyway i need some new fiction to read to counteract the slow but steady progress i'm making through Schama's Rembrandt's Eyes (marvellous)
I think there are a number of reasons for this - when you find someone you like then having 'more of the same' is very appealing; also the attraction of the series is the pleasure of following a long story arc, characters dropping in and out over a long period of time; there is in here somewhere the appeal of the epic which stretches back to Homer and beyond.
I think it also allows for the ambitious novellist to stretch. Possibly there is also the wager with death in here too, will the sequence be completed before the author keels over? Often the novel series is a life's work.
And somehow, and maybe i am wrong here, the novels sequels are accorded greater respect than the idea of movie sequels ( a few honorable exceptions i know but generally they are looked down upon)
so here is a list for starters:
Proust
Thomas Wolfe
Powell (dance to the music of time)
Raven (alms for oblivion)
Waugh (sword of honour)
Robertson Davies (Salterton trilogy)
Zola and Balzac
berger's pig earth trilogy
there's more and i'm sure i've missed some fine, and very obvious, ones...
but not, for me:
Gormenghast
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Does detective fiction fall into this category? i'm thinking the Rebus novels by Rankin which have developed over the years to be the story of Rebus as much as the story of a case solved.
anyway i need some new fiction to read to counteract the slow but steady progress i'm making through Schama's Rembrandt's Eyes (marvellous)
), but extended sagas are also the hallmark of reams of cheap and bombastic sci-fi and fantasy - stuff like 'The Amtrak Wars'....
