eBooks - Education - Literary Studies - Daniel M. Ryan - Life In A Mirror
Life In A Mirror eBooks
by Daniel M. Ryan
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Platforms
Windows 98+, Tablet PC, Pocket PC 2003 Features
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Availability:
Download Now Price: $4.28
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Platforms
Windows 98+, Tablet PC, Pocket PC 2003 Features
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Availability:
Download Now Price: $5.04
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Life In A Mirror Summary
| This novel is set in Brittany, in March of 1713. A local seigneur, Jean de Pion, tends his fief tucked away in one of the more isolated areas of the province in much the same manner as his ancestors. A man judged by the higher notables as too much of a dolt for politics, he nevertheless is considered a good and brave chevalier. His isolation from up high is changed when the son of his Baron, Jacques de Tondeur, arrives in a carriage with a guest, a tax farmer named Narquois who has sub-leased the wine duty for the Baron's land. Like most deals of this sort, the marginal parcel, the tranche with the fewest prospects, is the one that is sold to this expatriate Frenchman and Huguenot. Narquois rightly considers himself a progressive sort; de Pion sensibly considers his customs and feif to be eternal and permanent, as his high stature is backed up with a sword he is well trained to wield. This novel is a dissection of the Ancient Regime of France as seen through the cross-section of a day in a forgotten part of Brittany in March 1713. Unbound by the standards expected of a historical treatise, or even of a "true" (conventional) historical novel, the language used is somewhat anachronsitic at times - for the purpose of making it easier for the present-day reader to relate to the system as it was back then. I suppose the best way to have been faithful to the traditional standards of historical fiction would have been to strike out any words that were clearly anachronistic and for it to be written in modern Standard English once that filter was passed through. At present, such use of the English language is seen as somewhat stilted in my home country of Canada, and in large parts of the United States, so I chose a more casual approach. But this was a matter of writer's choice, and it does not make the older, more orthodox way either silly or in some way wrong. I suppose it would have been more scrupulous on my part to have gotten hold of an English dictionary printed as close to 1713 as would be practicable for someone in my shoes and to use that dictionary as the filter - to strike out any words in the author's draft that did not appear in such a dictionary. This could have been done while confining the rest of the text to words that have passed essentially unchanged from c. 1713 to now, instead of sticking in ancientisms to show off one's preparations. There seems little point for me in introducing the characters and events, as you probably have seen such an introduction already when deciding to buy it. (Thank you, by the way.) You'll get to know them and the turf they inhabit as you go through the book. Daniel M. Ryan has been writing on the Internet since early 1999. Thought the bulk of his work has been non-fiction, he had put his hand to writing both novels and short stories for Net readers. His first novel-length effort was "Revolt of the Sheep." After roaming from Site to Site, he can now be found at Useless-Knowledge.com |
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| This novel is set in Brittany, in March of 1713. A local seigneur, Jean de Pion, tends his fief tucked away in one of the more isolated areas of the province in much the same manner as his ancestors. A man judged by the higher notables as too much of a dolt for politics, he nevertheless is considered a good and brave chevalier. His isolation from up high is changed when the son of his Baron, Jacques de Tondeur, arrives in a carriage with a guest, a tax farmer named Narquois who has sub-leased the wine duty for the Baron's land. Like most deals of this sort, the marginal parcel, the tranche with the fewest prospects, is the one that is sold to this expatriate Frenchman and Huguenot. Narquois rightly considers himself a progressive sort; de Pion sensibly considers his customs and feif to be eternal and permanent, as his high stature is backed up with a sword he is well trained to wield. [NOTE: This is an adult book.] |
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eBooks - Titles - Authors - Education - Literary Studies - Daniel M. Ryan - Life In A Mirror eBooks