Loved this post. I think I know which novel you mean - and agree - it was cute, until the the third or fourth mention of the greatness of the author.
To some extent, author intrusion is impossible to avoid (we all put ourselves in our writing) but the examples you have given can quickly jar us out the story.
Excessive author intrusion was one thing that put me off some of the 18th century authors - eg Vanity Fair had whole chapters of diatribe or philosophical mutterings by the author.
Enjoying your posts :)
Thanks Jenny. Yes, I'm sure you know which author I'm talking about, but I didn't want to 'name and shame' as I do like her earlier books. When you mentioned 'diatribes and philosophical mutterings', it reminded me of the 20 or so pages in 1984 where Winston reads from a political book. I wonder how much of that was George Orwell putting his own political ideas across? It's easy to fall prey to the more subtle kinds of author intrusions. Will have to keep a check on them in my own writing. Thanks for commenting :)
Loved this post. I think I know which novel you mean -
and agree - it was cute, until the the third or fourth mention of the greatness of the author.
To some extent, author intrusion is impossible to avoid (we all put ourselves in our writing) but the examples you have given can quickly jar us out the story.
Excessive author intrusion was one thing that put me off some of the 18th century authors - eg Vanity Fair had whole chapters of diatribe or philosophical mutterings by the author.
Enjoying your posts :)
Thanks Jenny. Yes, I'm sure you know which author I'm talking about, but I didn't want to 'name and shame' as I do like her earlier books. When you mentioned 'diatribes and philosophical mutterings', it reminded me of the 20 or so pages in 1984 where Winston reads from a political book. I wonder how much of that was George Orwell putting his own political ideas across? It's easy to fall prey to the more subtle kinds of author intrusions. Will have to keep a check on them in my own writing. Thanks for commenting :)