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No one has any comments on this? OK, here we go: How many great novels in English were written by someone for whom it was a third language? Jeez. Even Nabokov
by AlbertCory 4y ago
No one has any comments on this? OK, here we go:
How many great novels in English were written by someone for whom it was a third language? Jeez. Even Nabokov spoke English as a youth, along with Russian and French.
I think the question of "history" is very interesting. Personally, I'd much rather read the Master and Commander series a third time than read a boring history of the Napoleonic Wars. But Conrad's books are always regarded as "fiction" even though you learn an awful lot about life back then, which you wouldn't get from a history book.
- panzagl 4y agoO'Brien wasn't actually alive during the Napoleonic Wars- so how did he get the details to write his stories? He read history and had enough imagination to interpret it, rather than look at it as a 'boring' recitation of facts.
- AlbertCory 4y agoHe's actually interviewed on YouTube, amazingly enough. When he was young, he was sick and confined to his house, where they had a complete collection of the Gazette and lots of other stuff. Basically, he spent his entire life learning about the period. So he digested all that stuff that we'd probably never get to. What's your point?
- Kaibeezy 4y agoI’d say the point was made: enough information plus enough imagination can produce compelling historical fiction. How much of either is enough?