Od Magic

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I enjoyed this a lot. Patricia McKillip is a writer whom I admire immensely, and always buy immediately in hardcover, but her books, though poetic and as beautiful as the covers by Kinuko Craft, are sometimes strangely inaccessible. It seems a bit odd, therefore, that I've been so loyal to her over the years as I have - other authors have been relegated to the "buy in paperback" or even the "get from library" list, but not McKillip. Her latest novels have been gettimg more and more plot driven, and more kind of "in the moment"; it's hard to explain what I mean if you haven't read her work, but her books are often so dreamlike and almost surreal that, though beautiful, they are hard to get hold of. Her characters have seemed more ciphers than real people, and it has been hard sometimes to work out what, if anything some of her books (say, Atrix Wolf) have been, exactly, "about"... But Od Magic was lovely. I suppose some might say that one of the reasons I liked it so much is that it is essentially a revisiting of the Riddle Master books in many ways, and I've always been waiting for another book like that one. But I found myself reluctant to finish this one, and that's always one of the best things I can say about a reading experience.

Comments

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Do you think she's "inaccessible" because the language is circular and full, like Virginia Woolf?

I find I enjoy her, but like you say about your author, she is definitely hard to read sometimes. I always stop and ask myself why I'm reading this difficult stuff, but I can't turn away from it because the care and obsession she'd put into it is what holds me in place.

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hmmm. That's a good question. Woolf can be more difficult: something like The Waves for example, which I find extremely put-downable - to be read only when strictly in the mood to be challenged. On the other hand, Mrs. Dalloway though rich and complex and beautifully written, I wouldn't hesitate to teach to a 2nd year lit class, as I feel it IS accessible on a level of being able to get "at" the characters and theme and so on... McKillip can be inacessible actually in a somewhat similar way- not on that of language, but in distancing herself from readers, I think. She's writing for poetry, not for plot. And in that sense there is, at some level, some similarity to Woolf... Lit crits would howl, no doubt, but I think that McKillip isn't trying to please an audience. She's certainly not churning out what is called on the sf list "EFP" for Extruded Fantasy Product (something like the fantasy equivalent of cheese whiz)

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haha "EFP--" I'll have to tell my partner that one. He'll laugh, because he reads and writes sf/fantasy.

Another author I thought of after I posted that question was Ondaatje. I don't know if you're familiar with his stuff, but he is like that. He's a poet turned novelist, so the language is sometimes a little obscure, but pretty once you get your head around his speech. There is not much plot, but it is about character and how we function, and an exercise in language. A good one he wrote most recently was called Anil's Ghost. But most people know him best for The English Patient, because they made it into a movie. Agan, not much plot, just character development.

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My first (and only, but not for long) whole book by Woolf was To The Lighthouse. If you can believe it, I read it in grade 12 english class. That seems too advanced in my opinion. I enjoyed it, while everyone hated it around me, because there really was nothing that happened.

I do own copies of Orlando and Mrs. Dalloway that I have every intention of reading.

The last one I read was the unabridged version of A Room of One's Own. I do enjoy her. But then, I like character and don't care about plot as much.

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I adore Ondaatje. I haven't read Anil's Ghost (it's on some mental reading list for the future), but The English Patient is marvellous and I also loved In the Skin of the Lion. You might also like Timothy Findlay, who is not quite so poetic, but similar in some ways. And I think you would _definitely_ like Jeanette Winterson - try Sexing the Cherry or The Passion.

Honestly, I could slaughter high school English teachers with pretensions who could put students off reading for life by forcing them to slog through something like To the Lohthouse. Don't get me wrong - it's a pure and perfect novel and I adore it, but I don't think I would ever teach it. Maybe Dalloway (I'm thinking about it for 286), or Orlando, but it would need really really good teaching... I'm glad you were able to get something out of it - but what about the rest of the class?

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To The Lighthouse, for some reason, just made sense for me. I guess it worked because at the time, I was a highly confused person, and the writing was confused enough to be on the same wavelength as I was. To me, this book was about aspirations gone wrong, being ship-wrecked, and taking one last go at getting to the place you want to be as a person. I was feeling all of those things myself back then.

Others, as far as I know, were highly confused. My friends were all in the same class and jealous of me for having this "bond" with Woolf. None of them pursued literature. But this teacher we had was a really pompous piece of work. I've talked about him with other instructors I've had at Camosun and they've all been blown away with what the public school system lets teachers get away with.

I can put him into context by paraphrasing one event: he kept me out of post-secondary because he told me I could not write. He said that I shouldn't even try because I just didn't get it. I'm a writing major now.

Anyway, I have read some short sotries by Findlay, and one novel called Spadework. I agree, not as poetic as Ondaatje, but Findlay had a simplicity that made his work elegant. Winterson, eh? I've not heard of her. I can try her out, maybe next summer when I have the time to read for myself! I seriously don't read for pleasure during the year because I have so much other reading to do!!