Kevin's Watch

Hello fellow Kevinswatchers!

I have recently agreed to do a presentation of Stephen R. Donaldson in the SF club (of which I was recently chosen as treasurer) here.

As this is one of the primary sources for information I wanted to ask you all for suggestions for what I should talk about. I am planning to deal with all of his books, but I will probably spend most time with TC and the Land.

If you have any suggestions as to what I should talk about just post it here (and if you have references to threads here that deal with the topic a link would be appreciated too. ) I will be watching this thread.

Thank you!

Ryzel, there are so many good, meaty topics you can talk about...but before I can give you an answer I must ask:

How deeply into spoilers will you get with your talk? because I might have different answers depending on if you must "hold back" or speak openly about events in the books.

Ohohoh! Talk about the method SRD uses to bring us into the Land...having Covenant brought there, instead of originating there...why is this effective? *grin* saying that makes me feel like a teacher...
Your essay is due Oct. 1st

Ummm...what else? You could talk about how he was influenced in the writing of it (Tolkien, his father's ministry in the leprosy camps), the way he writes names paying attention to sound before meaning, the way he uses the idea that knowledge gained before the learner is ready can be perilous (i.e. the Wards)...
I could go on...

I think I will try to avoid talking about exactly what happens in the books, except in the most general, thematic terms. But if I need to exemplify I will probably do that. I think that most of the people that are likely to show up will either have read all the books, or at least have had the chance to do so if they were so inclined.

And Iryssa, please continue. I am taking notes of all these points. The most immediately useful it the one about names, which I had not considered talking about before now.

I think one worthwhile point, if you choose to mention literary influences, would be the different races. It's always impressed me that where the bulk of other writers in the fantasy genre either stick to the 'classical' characteristics of Giants, Elves, etcetera as established in folk-lore, or adopt Tolkien's versions/creations wholesale. (An orc by any other name...) SRD does neither.

His achievement is actually on a par with Tolkien's - using elements of folk-loric creatures but making them his own, unique creations, with their own histories and racial characteristics.

Not having power...or too much power...

Guilt as a motivator...

And what is evil?

How do people deal with being abused (either emotionally or sexually)?

These are some of the "big themes" that run through a lot of his work.

One area you could consider is discussing the interaction of the Internet with literature. When the first and second chronicles were written, there was of course no Internet. Fan clubs were sparse, if any, and limited mostly to people living close to each other Any interaction with SRD would be limited to "fan mail" and responses limited to the orginator of the letter (I was lucky to get a letter through to him and then a reply from him in the 80s).

Now, we have everything that is available on the Internet. I found this site a few years ago, somewhat surprised by the depth of knowledge on the parts of the participants, and by their intensity of interest in these works.
On this site, we've shared our interests, asked each other questions, challenged each other's interpretations, even read the books together.

Then came SRD's site; now we can even pose questions to the author directly. And finally, would anything like Elohimfest have occurred without the support you shared through this Internet gathering?

So, the Internet has had a big part in our sharing our common interest in SRD's previous writing. I would imagine just discussing this phenomenon would be an interesting topic for your group.

And, ultimately, can we forsee what influence the Internet, including this site, might have on SRD's writing? Would it be possible that he won't be influenced at all as he writes these next 3 books by the feedback he'll see on this site, his own site, by other sites as well? Surely it will exceed in quantity whatever feedback he had writing the first few books!

Good luck - sorry this suggestion rambled on.

senor trout

Thank you for all your suggestions, which all make perfect sense and are worthy of a thread or two in themselves I guess. Right now I am just copying your replies into my 'research papers' to look at later (maybe this weekend) but with the texts I have downloaded from the SRD website and stuff I am already at 30 pages of print for that document. Hopefully I can distill it into a number of useful points.

Many of SRD's stories involve themes of guilt and redemption, or more specifically the redemptive power of guilt (especially in the Chronicles). You could also talk about the questions raised in LFB over whether Covenant's denial of the Land is courageous or cowardly, the psychological nature of the books, especially the importance of choice, and/or SRD's fondness of using heavily mentally scarred people as protagonists. The nature of evil is also a great question explored by almost all of SRD's stories, from the Chronicles to the Gap to his short stories...