She-who-must-be-obeyed?

[Krazy Kat]

Having recently read through H Rider Haggard's novel, She, I was wondering what others had made of this obviously direct relationship between SRD's [21st century] character,She-who-must-not-be-named and and HRH's [Victorian], She-who-must-be-obeyed?

I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere on The Watch but I haven't been able to find anything on this specific topic.

For myself, a concrete link I could see in this is of course the 'ring' which Holly is wearing on his finger - when the White Sorceress removes her veil for the first time - and the face of Leo, her long awaited lost love is revealed to her.

And another important link to this line of thought is when She is leading Holly, Leo and Job, over the abyss on the windswept spur of stone. Halted in the darkness at the missing end of the spur of rock, they wait for the moment they can push the wooden plank they had brought so as to bridge the gap.
Then, suddenly, a white beam of light shines through a hole or cleft somewhere high up in the wall of the cavern and

'...in the opposing cliff, through which it pierced when the setting orb was in a direct line therewith. All [Holly] can say is, that the effect was the most wonderful that I saw. Right through the heart of the darkness that flaming sword was stabbed, and where it lay there was the most surpassingly vivid light, so vivid that even at a distance one could see the grain of the rock, while, outside of it-yes, within a few inches of its keen edge-was naught but clustering shadows.

SRD has told us on numerous occasions of his high esteem for the works of Joseph Condrad (ie , The Heart of Darkness)! Could SRD be telling us something more important here than just paying homage to other writers?



What if the 3rd Chronicles is his way of zeroing in on the White Gold Magic far more closely than he could ever have done in the previous trilogies. As if Linden now has the power of vision at the microscopic level? Thomas Covenant's leprosy and his link to the White Gold Magic can now perhaps become intricately pierced and operated on in much the same way as Linden cut through the fine filligree of the forbidden?

One other thing I just thought of

Now that Elena is part of She Who Must Not Be Named, will she and Roger, who are in some certain way already connected, relatively speaking as step-brother/step-sister, will they shake on it perhaps or maybe fight it out hammer and tongs to the end?

OR...do we do as SRD suggests and let things be, leaving SHE un-named?

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Now that Elena is part of She Who Must Not Be Named, will she and Roger, who are in some certain way already connected, relatively speaking as step-brother/step-sister, will they shake on it perhaps or maybe fight it out hammer and tongs to the end?

I never thought about this before but both of Covenant's kids are completely insane.

[Krazy Kat]

I never thought about this before but both of Covenant's kids are completely insane.

Yeah, I'm sure you're correct about that, Hashi. Just two in a long list of the Despiser's victims.
I can take the romantic view of things too often. And as I haven't read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, yet, maybe I should have read it before making these opinions.

I've never been too keen on reading 'wordplay' within stories, even when I'm aware they exist. And yet 'wordplay' must be an unavoidable technique for a writer to use. I'm thinking of Roger 'riding' on the back of a Cavewight. I've always thought that was possibly the oddest thing in the entire series of the Chronicles. H [Rider] Haggard

[Hashi Lebwohl]

as I haven't read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, yet

Then by all means go get it and read it.

Once you finish it, then go get the director's cut version of Apocalypse Now.

[Krazy Kat]

as I haven't read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, yet

Then by all means go get it and read it.

Once you finish it, then go get the director's cut version of Apocalypse Now.

Yeah will do.
As for the Redux, I've seen it enough times to use the old memory box.

[Krazy Kat]

as I haven't read Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, yet

Then by all means go get it and read it.

Once you finish it, then go get the director's cut version of Apocalypse Now.

Yeah will do.

After reading through the foreword to Conrad's Heart of Darkness I felt that maybe now's not the time to read this book so I put it back in the library.

Oddly though - today I was out and about across town when I passed a second-hand book shop. It had stacks of books out on the pavement on sale for 50p each (less than a dollar). I bought a tidy little hardback (bright yellow and the pages black-edged) called King Solomon's Ring by Konrad Z. Lorenz. I think I'll enjoy reading this better

[finn]

Yeah, I'm sure you're correct about that, Hashi. Just two in a long list of the Despiser's victims.

Or victims of crazy parents maybe?

[Krazy Kat]

I should apologize for all the sloppy writing for a thread starter, but that's is as may be.

What I tried to say was, I was fortunate enough to read the Annoted Penquin Classics Edition of Haggard's She. It has a short summary of his life and a chronology of important events, and extensive foreword - in which was set that when a close friend of Haggard read the original manuscript he told him that the scene of the Arab Captain's death was far too gory; for Victorian sensibilities, I'm sure.

Haggard toned down the fight scene as adviced.
This seems to strike a chord with the finale of the story, where Holly, Leo and Job are witness to the horrific death of She. So horrific in fact, Job drops dead with heart failure, and Leo's hair turns white.

Of course, reading that last scene isn't that scary really, no matter how the imagination is put to work.
So the real horror, I believe, happens at the end of the spur of rock.
Haggard made a bridge out of the spur of rock so he could carry the characters into the Cave of Eternal Light. So preserving the original horror, which would then have been woven craftily into the text.

So then, if SRD is using this cunning technique to compress and explain his ideas further then, there is nothing beyond the Hazard...haggard. Sorry! I couldn't resist that.

But what happens next...?

[Horrim Carabal]

Didn't Roger cut off his own hand and replace it with someone else's? Yeah that sounds totally freaking gibbering mad to me!

[Krazy Kat]

Didn't Roger cut off his own hand and replace it with someone else's? Yeah that sounds totally freaking gibbering mad to me!

We are not robots subjected to programming. You can't believe everything you see and hear, can you

[halfhanded]

Now that Elena is part of She Who Must Not Be Named, will she and Roger, who are in some certain way already connected, relatively speaking as step-brother/step-sister, will they shake on it perhaps or maybe fight it out hammer and tongs to the end?

Not to nit-pick, but aren't they actually half-brother/half-sister? Same father, different mother?

[Krazy Kat]

Now that Elena is part of She Who Must Not Be Named, will she and Roger, who are in some certain way already connected, relatively speaking as step-brother/step-sister, will they shake on it perhaps or maybe fight it out hammer and tongs to the end?

Not to nit-pick, but aren't they actually half-brother/half-sister? Same father, different mother?

That's wot I wrote. Same differance. And you are nit-picking.

[Iolanthe]

No, they are not the same at all. Half siblings share one parent, step siblings do not share parents e.g. people with children of their own marry - the children of one are step brothers and sisters to the children of the other. Rather important to us family historians.

[shadowbinding shoe]

No, they are not the same at all. Half siblings share one parent, step siblings do not share parents e.g. people with children of their own marry - the children of one are step brothers and sisters to the children of the other. Rather important to us family historians.

Those step brothers/sisters may not share common blood but they share experiences (once their parents get together). Roger and Elena grew up in totally different worlds and probably never even met. Their common link (Covenant) wasn't there for either of them for their entire childhood.