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Old 04-19-2004, 08:09 AM   #199
mark12_30
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anachronisms

Okay, I just realized something potentially *very* comfusing is going on.

On the one hand, I'm insisting that Nuru use a non-anachronistic, linguistically consistent name for her "gypsies"-- I think I'll call them "our wayfarers" because Amroth is about to start a conversation with a stray one-- but one post later, Raefindan's dog is being called "George". What's going on?

It all goes back to Raefindan's original character development.

Raefindan is a time-traveller-- who doesn't *know* he's a time traveller. littlemanpoet is using the "Lost Road" method of time travel (via dreams) to displace a 20th century man (Roy) to Middle-Earth. The variation in what lmp is doing, is that this 20th century man is remembering bits of 20th century language, and it is slipping out of him. This is the readers' only real clue that Raefindan doesn't belong in the Fourth Age.

lmp is using some *very* subtle signals to get this across. For one thing, notice lmp's use of contractions. (i think they're called contractions? Grammar was 20+ years ago...) -- words with an apostrophe made from two other words. Don't for Do Not, Won't for Will Not, It'll for It Will... etc. Anyway-- you'll notice that when lmp writes a post, the only character to use apostrophe-words is Raefindan. That's because it's a modern speech pattern. All the other characters use non-apostropheed words.

Any other kind of anachronism is designed to make Raefindan stand out like sore thumb; to show the reader that He Doesn't Belong. He's a stranger and an alein in this place.

So the dog is very anachronistically named "George", or Jorge because he can't remember how to spell it.

Another anachronism: Raefindan's strategy of slowly introducing the dog to Gwillion. I'm guessing (correct me, lmp) that Raefindan is attempting to de-sensitize Gwillion to the dog because he understands some amount of modern psychology-- although he doesn't know why or where it came from. Again, this will make him stand out. Mellonin will be bemused by it all, Aeron may be a bit surprised that it worked-- but pleased-- and Ravion will wonder where this redheaded stranger came from, anyway.

There is an order and a logic to the anachronisms, and it's part of the story being woven about time travel and dreams. Raefindan has traveled to Middle-Earth from the 20th century; *then* he travels back via dreams a thousand years and experiences the life of Imrazor. This is the thread for connecting Amroth and Mellondu, in the end; Raefindan will have lived out both timeframes and will understand both stories, better than any of the other characters (except Erebemlin, but he was only in the northern part of the story.)

And in the very VERY end, it'll be interesting to see what happens to Raefindan, and where he finally ends up.

Does it make sense? Please ask questions if you have them.

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Last edited by mark12_30; 04-19-2004 at 08:15 AM.
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