[Dragaera] _Iorich_ random brief comments (spoilers!)

[Eugene Zaretskiy]

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 1:48 PM, Howard Brazee <howard at brazee.net> wrote:
> On 2/5/2010 11:36 AM, Jon%20Lincicum wrote:
>>>
>>> I meant to bring this up in a thread, too, but didn't really have
>>> >anything to say about it. Iorich*did*  seem unusually vulgar... I
>>> >don't have a problem with that, but I, too, wonder if there's
>>> >something we're supposed to learn or if it's just a change in style.
>>>
>>
>> This was a Zelazny trick, so that's probably where Steve got it.
>>
>> Am re-reading the Amber Chronicles right now, and the swearing in those
>> books uses similar masking techniques.
>
> What is the Zelazny trick, inconsistent usage of the old replacement of
> "unprintable" words?
>
> Growing up, I remember reading books where the author mentions the
> protagonist admiring the creative cursing of another character.   This
> wasn't uncommon at all.   But this worked only when the cursing was
> off-stage.   When our society changed so that we could actually print it, I
> found that authors were not up to the task of creating it.
>
> Unprintable cursing seems to be a reference to those days.   Use of words
> such as asshole is just dialog.

Masking aside, there just seems to be more usage, masked or otherwise,
in Iorich than in previous books. Not that I've counted or anything.

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-- 
Eugene Z
http://blog.eugenez.net