Posted by iotar on December 17, 1997 at 11:16:39:
In Reply to: Is Vance's work an autobiographical roman a clef? posted by Rodger Whitlock on December 16, 1997 at 13:22:40:
Rodger wrote:
: I've often mused on the possible influences on Vance's writing, particularly his great power of inventing cultures. As he and his family were wont to settle down for a long period in one location after another overseas, he must be quite familliar with many odd corners of this earth of ours. I wonder if when we read about the Lokhars, we are really reading a veiled travelogue.
: The amazing patchwork of cultures in "The Planet of Adventure" series, where one goes a few miles and things change completely, reminds me very much of descriptions of China as it once was, particularly the western marches where Tibetans, Chinese, and many other groups mingled.
: Sometimes I even think most of Vance's work is autobiographical at its roots and the entire oeuvre is a gigantic roman a clef.
Interesting!
The recent novel that made me think along similar lines is NIGHT LAMP. The way that they discover these fantastical books of dreams in the old libraries and set up a business selling them to the rest of the galaxy. Perhaps this reflects Vance's own working method of discovering obscure stories hidden in his own unconscious libraries orbiting dim distant suns and brings them out to the waking world for pragmatic purposes.
I sort of wonder about the twin (Soz, I forget their names and I'm at work!) who has to be removed to allow the hero to thrive. Is this a real sibling of Vances, or just a Jungian shadow archetype?
IOTAR.