“Who Knows What?” is a post by scribblerworks about depicting the strangeness of an object from a character's point of view. “The point is that when is the 'mysterious object' approach workable, and when isn't it?” There's a lot more to her post, but it got me thinking tangentially.
I don't want to see today's terminology intruded in historical fiction. It's got to be "seamless styling" or I don't like it. I want the narrative era portrayed as it was--not mixed up with this era. Sometimes it takes patience on the part of the reader to find and relax into a style--which is inseparable from narrative.
For me it's a matter of style. I was reading THE VOLCANO LOVER, published in 1992, described in a blurb by A. S. Byatt as "slippery". This word fits the style, which is fully incorporated into the structure of the narrative. Susan Sontag has made anachronism part of its style. On first encountering one of her language anachronisms, I didn't like it, but soon saw it as part of the pattern, partly because it was rhythmic, and each time it occurred we were aware she was briefly speaking to her contemporaries outside the reference of her historical fiction. More than a matter of style, she used anachronism to interpret for her contemporaries.
This story is set partly in Naples in the Napoleonic/ Republican era. She rarely names the fictionalized characters but the temperament/time seem believable to me -- except at first when today's way of seeing was opposed against them. The overall acculturative verbal sense has of course changed from what it was then. Usually VOLCANO’s contemporary interpretations are briefly involved, metaphorical paragraphs. But sometimes individual terms alone speak for her. The last instance I noted was "advanced alcoholism." Alcoholism wasn't thought of then—not as “alcoholism” until 1852 (and then I assume not in popular terms)—but is common usage today. It's how we see it now. But, if she had not established anachronism as part of the narrative style asymmetrically placed—I would not have wanted to see it in THE VOLCANO LOVER.
the book on e-bay
Disclaimer: when I write about individual books it is not a broad evaluation, recommendation, or condemnation. it's me interacting with the book. I don't write such reviews. It's just me going with how the book has made me think or feel. Also do not like to rehearse plots