[Dragaera] Steven Erikson (was: Reading series)

[Philip Hart]

On Tue, 20 Jan 2009, Casey Rousseau wrote:

> http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030203/brust.shtml
> SB: The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature states that all literature consists
> of whatever the writer thinks is cool, and the reader will enjoy the work to
> the degree that the reader and writer agree about what's cool -- and this
> functions all the way from the external trappings to deepest level of theme
> and to the way the writer uses words.

What does this mean in practice?  That the value of a work is a 
collaborative decision between the writer and reader?  To me "cool"
in this context means something with style, something surprising and
immediately gratifying.  But one might think that a work is cool if
it is full of colorful incidents or if it is highly streamlined.

"From classical Greek and Roman times, two literary traditions have grown 
alongside each other. One, a florid oratorical style called Asiatic prose, 
sported elaborate antitheses, complicated syntax, and correspondences in 
sense and sound. The other, Attic prose, was refined conversation: 
concise, restrained, shorn of intricacy." (Garner, The Elements of Legal 
Style.)  Which is cool?

There are episodes in e.g. _The New Sun_ which are cool as cool can be 
but add little to our understanding of Severian and his story - consider 
the stories told in the lazarette.  Compare those chapters to the brief 
incident with the alzabo, which is at once thrilling, moving, and 
thematically important (since questions of identity and memory are so 
central to the book).  Except for the tale of Loyal to the Group of 
Seventeen (which has relevant world-building import along with its 
maybe-sledgehammer political commentary), the stories would be just as 
cool and lovely out of context.  Or say the sorcerers' duel compared to 
the avern duel - both cool, the former of (as far as I can recall) no 
utility to the plot.  The detail about the gloves in the latter is both 
very cool and instructive - the reader suddenly understands the whole idea 
behind the challenge.  Similarly, the description of the messenger at the 
beginning of _FHYA_ (discussed in recent threads) is both cool and 
effective.  I claim everything in the latter work is at least effective.