Posted by Till Noever on September 26, 1996 at 17:53:01:
In Reply to: Re: Obscurity is the refuge of incompetence posted by Richard Chandler on September 23, 1996 at 07:06:56:
: Another obvious candidate is Apollon Zamp (sp?) from "The Magnificient Riverboats . . ."
: Also Rhialto the Marvelous perhaps to a lesser extent.
That was 'Showboat World', wasn't it? Or was it also published under another title? Hmm, I'll have to check in Jerry Hewett's biblio...
Anyway, yes, he was another roguish kind of guy.
And there was the protagonist (actually both of them! - forgot their names just now) of "The World Thinker". Magnus Ridolph also had a touch of rogue... And there are, I'm sure, more of them.
Rhialto, of course, is a different kind. He's a magician! - and they make their own rules (an enforce them!).
Overall though Vance's heros tend to be serious, sober people with a fairly highly developed sense of ethics (which may have its grim side): Kirth Gersen, Schaine Madduc, Gastel Etzwane, Sklar Haast, Glawen Clattuc and Wayness Tamm, Aillas, Madouc (half-fairy maybe, but not a rogue), all the 'Alastor' series protagonists. Maybe too serious sometimes. In fact, that's what they're often told by other characters in those stories. Still, they are the ones whom he depicts with affection and tolerance. They are the ones that survive, eventually triumph over the vicissitudes of fate.
The point? Well, it's that the picaresque characters are more a light relief which Jack has, on occasion indulged in. Also, one may notice, most of the stories containing such characters come from his early days. I think he has become more serious as time went on, and his characters have become correspondingly more earnest.
Nothing wrong with that, by the way. I, for one, really *like* his serious characters. They don't take life in a frivolous vein. With me that works very well, because I happen to agree with that point of view.
;)