I tried to work through the AF discussion on Girlsown but unfortunately it all seemed to wander off into metadiscussion about the attitudes of the list at large, which I'm afraid doesn't interest me much. Does it get back onto Marie Dobson later?
For me, what lifts AF's books above the usual run is her use of language. Yes, she has a rather free hand with the italics - I always think this is probably something to do with having known exactly where her speakers put the stress, and wanting her readers to know too - and yes, there are failures, like the slang in The Thuggery Affair - but in general, I think, she seldom puts a foot wrong. In particular I think of the list of hounds' names in Peter's Room - that gorgeous, rounded-pebbles-through-the-fingers run of beautiful words for the sake of it.
I mostly read fantasy when I'm not reading childrens' books, and I've noticed that over recent years there seems to have been a swing towards lusher use of language, with writers like Jacqueline Carey and Sarah Monette. (Not that I can see AF writing about anguissettes or tortured gay wizards, though, my God, I'd read it if she had) One couldn't call AF's writing lush, but, as someone usefully said on the Girlsown discussion, one couldn't call it spare, either, and spare seems to be what's been admired for some years now.
Possibly there will be a swing of the pendulum in childrens' books also? Of course one of the main duties of childrens' books is to be comprehensible by children, but there's also a place, I think, for instilling a love of language.
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For me, what lifts AF's books above the usual run is her use of language. Yes, she has a rather free hand with the italics - I always think this is probably something to do with having known exactly where her speakers put the stress, and wanting her readers to know too - and yes, there are failures, like the slang in The Thuggery Affair - but in general, I think, she seldom puts a foot wrong. In particular I think of the list of hounds' names in Peter's Room - that gorgeous, rounded-pebbles-through-the-fingers run of beautiful words for the sake of it.
I mostly read fantasy when I'm not reading childrens' books, and I've noticed that over recent years there seems to have been a swing towards lusher use of language, with writers like Jacqueline Carey and Sarah Monette. (Not that I can see AF writing about anguissettes or tortured gay wizards, though, my God, I'd read it if she had) One couldn't call AF's writing lush, but, as someone usefully said on the Girlsown discussion, one couldn't call it spare, either, and spare seems to be what's been admired for some years now.
Possibly there will be a swing of the pendulum in childrens' books also? Of course one of the main duties of childrens' books is to be comprehensible by children, but there's also a place, I think, for instilling a love of language.