Dragaera

Some thoughts on Tazendra

Tue Oct 19 19:44:58 PDT 2004

David Silberstein wrote:

>On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 gomi at speakeasy.net wrote:
>
>  
>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: David Silberstein
>>>Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 07:29 PM
>>>      
>>>
>>>And to some extent, Paarfi undermines his protrayal of her as
>>>a naif with the scene in Gyorg Lavode's room, or for that
>>>matter, writing about her when she is a Lavode herself.
>>>      
>>>
>>It seemed pretty clear to me that the whole point of the Gyorg
>>Lavode's room scene was to establish that Tazendra is, in fact,
>>putting us all on, and that Sethra asked her to dispense with that
>>put-on for a few moments. It never even occurred to me that Paarfi
>>might be making a serious attempt to portray her as a for-real
>>naif. 
>>
>>    
>>
>
>Huh.  I wonder if SKZB will deign to let us know if his intent was
>for Tazendra to have been putting us on, or for Paarfi to have been
>the one responsible for a certain inconsistency in the way he
>portrayed Tazendra?
>  
>
Well, Paarfi did (in, I think, chapter the 18th of Paths of the Dead) 
use Tazendra as an example of writing in an ironic mode, in which the 
character is portrayed in a manner inconsistent with how he or she 
really would have been.  From that, I take it that Tazendra's portrayal 
is not meant to be taken entirely seriously, and that we should 
recognise that her characterisation is, in part, a plot device or 
narrative mode.

But i could be wrong.

-- 
J A Dusty Sayers

Home Page http://www.sayersnet.com/~dusty/
Rescue the Princess http://www.sayersnet.com/~dusty/rescue/

'Everybody generalizes from one example.  At least, I do.'
     -- Steven Brust