Idle Rich Turns `The Wheel of Time.'

luka

luka

Well-known member
the whole series represents around 4 and a half million words.

11,898pp (PB) / 10,173pp (HB)
4,410,036 words
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
one of the answers is that there is a deep well of fantastic tales that come from that region of the world, principally the Arabian Nights.
another answer is that the crusades is the model for all clash of civilizations warfare and all religious warfare
another answer is that fantasy novellists plunder all historical geographical and anthropoligical material
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
another answer is that the setting, the deserts and the oases in particular are so romantic, as are the costumes
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luka

luka

Well-known member
western civilization had that on its borders, were we ended, they begun. that was what we were not.
 
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luka

luka

Well-known member
to the west was the empty atlantic, to the north was the ice wastes, to the south was the sahara.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
this was the case for the ancient greeks all the way through medieval times where christian and muslim civilizations stood cheek by jowel
 
sufi

sufi

lala
that's definitely what i was getting at, but this is a late 20thC work, as is Dune

i guess it's the same old process of othering and exoticisation that has been operating since the "dark ages"
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
as well as araby stuff you always have vikings, broadly speaking, strong manly taciturn bearded stern but principled. this can blend in with barbarians more generally contrasted with
heaps of roman stuff to represent imperial might basically. organisation. discipline. less emphasis on individual courage and strength.
 
sufi

sufi

lala
luka said:
as well as araby stuff you always have vikings, broadly speaking, strong manly taciturn bearded stern but principled. this can blend in with barbarians more generally contrasted with
heaps of roman stuff to represent imperial might basically. organisation. discipline. less emphasis on individual courage and strength.
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that's very true yes indeed
It's quite uncreative how these authors grab at fairly basic stereotypes to represent all that stuff innit
i guess there must by scifi writers who make it all up from scratch rather than borrowing like magpies
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
it all works through sterotypes and as i have been saying for the last decade or so the new Race Science revival Nick Land and co go in for is heavily informed by these categorisations and stereotypes.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
but having said that, im personally fascinated by stock characters, stock situations, tropes, archetypes etc etc etc
they exert a strong fascination and people want to use them and want to immerse themselves in stories which use them
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
Robert Howard sets the template for a lot of this stuff and there's no doubt it has racism baked into it from the beginning and continues, wittingly or unwittingly, to reproduce that racism, book by book, film by film, and game by game.
 
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