(no subject)

[d_aulnoy]

Have you ever read a sequel to a much beloved book?  Has that sequel ever managed to recreate the initial experience?  I'm thinking, no.  It's like asking if you've ever managed to recapture a first love ...  You might find something new, something different, which is as marvelous in its own way, but never, never, will you manage to recapture that intangible something - the dart of the eyes, the quirk of the brow, the brush of the skin - that spells "first love" to you.  Well, inversely, I've just found the literary equivalent of the attempt to rekindle an old flame: it came complete with the first surge of delight ("It's so good to see you again!), the stilted efforts at previously comfortable conversation ("So ... the NIN album, hm?") and the eventual floundering sensation of realizing that the protestations of undying love ("It's amazing how nothing's ... changed ...") are ringing falsely enough to make Shitzu's howl.

Tanith Lee's Metallic Love. 

I'm off for a nice rebound relationship with Skin Folk ...

Comments

[vschanoes.livejournal.com]

Nah. Most of the Discworld books are much better than the first one.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Point. Rincewind just doesn't measure up to Granny Weather (as she'd be more then happy to tell you).

[erratic0101.livejournal.com]

Hmmm 2010 was pretty good. The 2nd Golden Compass book was not so good =(
and the 1st HP was still the best (IMO).

Hmmm,
Tough one, I haven't read Asimov's Foundation series yet.

Actually, even though its kinda pulpy. The original Zahn Star Wars Trilogy was r0x0rs. ;)

[kylielee1000.livejournal.com]

the eventual floundering sensation of realizing that the protestations of undying love

You are so right: there is no way to recapture that first moment of love, the moment that made you love the text in the first place. I remember inhaling Anne McCaffrey's books, so much did I love the place she evoked and the culture she created, only to discover that she writes the same events over and over again, from various POVs.

Same with Diana Gabaldon: the first book is the best, and all the others lack that spark, that certain something, and it doesn't help that she's phoning them in now—narratively, they are a mess.

This desire for the created world, though, I think is an important one (you call it "first love"), and it's one impetus for people writing fan fiction: you want to extend the initial experience, draw it out, become a part of it, immerse yourself in it, drown in it.

It's this kind of almost physical desire that creates English majors.

[blackholly.livejournal.com]

WAH!

*stabs sequel*

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Whoops! Forgot about the authors on my friends-list ...

I do see a huge difference between planned series and decades-down the line follow-ups. I'm looking forward to _Valiant_ immensely ... but after the debacle of Storm Constantine's second Wraethu trilogy, and now _Metallic Love_ ... bah. I'm also now remembering Caroline Stevermer's gorgeous _Scholar of Magics_ (which had to have followed _A College of Magics_ by a good decade or so), as well as, to go back to the metaphor, all of those people who say things like "And the second time I met X, we were both so much more mature ..."

And once again, generalization shoots Helen in the foot.