Personal Favourites: Akira & Dune
"After three days, fish and guests begin to stink" goes the curiously astute proverb. Being visited recently by some old friends evoked an unusual blend of emotions in me, one of which was that of otherworldly visitation. The world had turned since I last saw them and things had moved on. That earlier memory-existence superimposed itself onto the present while they’re there and vice versa, familiar faces appeared in unfamiliar settings, things have changed yet nothing has changed. The visitation shifts things for a few days and the collision of worlds and times is both exciting and unsettling. On the other hand, maybe it’s nothing more than a piss-up with good buddies.
I’ve been seeing old worlds a fair bit recently, re-reading some old books and comics, old favourites that is. There’s something safe and cozy in the prior knowledge that the book is going to be good, that in fact it’s going to be very good, which feels like slowly relaxing into a nice, hot bath. Comic books lend themselves to re-reading more than literature I suppose due to ease of reading. Bound-up graphics novels and trade paperbacks are inviting rather than intimidating, but a six-hundred page novel you’ve already read can seem like a slightly pointless mountain to climb. However, this highlights one of the things that we might forget from time-to-time: are we reading to find out what happens? To reach a destination? Or are we reading because the act of reading itself is pleasurable?
I recently read my battered copy of Frank Herbert’s Dune for the fourth or fifth time (I lose count) and each time I wander out onto the Funeral Plain I am reminded of just how much I enjoy reading this book and wonder why it has been so long since I last felt the Arrakis sand in-between my toes. The internal intrigues, strange technologies and stilted language create a world which I enjoy visiting and each time I flesh out their characters with increasing detail and familiarity. Another world I paid a repeat visit to was that of Katsuhiro Otomo’s post-apocalyptic Tokyo from his manga epic Akira, soaking up the cinematic spectacle and grandeur inked into every panel – the volumes of which are markedly less veteran-looking than my copy of Dune, because comics need taking care of after all. On the second read of a comic there’s a comfortable freedom of pace: I can whizz through it at breakneck pace, taking it in as an intravenous hit to a major artery, or I can take my time poring over it and savouring it. With books I can’t speed read like some can, I have to take a steady pace slow enough not to miss anything but fast enough not to lose momentum.
But do all stories warrant a second go? And if they don’t what does this say about them? With both of those examples I find it hard to pick a preference between the world-setting and the characters themselves. I wouldn’t go so far as to say those are both necessary to warrant a return, and while having both certainly helps I would suggest that the characters are the more important facet. I’m pretty sure great plot on its own with shallow characters just won’t warrant it for me, and that without good characters to sink my teeth into – be it in film, comics, or books – I probably just won’t care and invest enough to come back. So perhaps it’s the same for our stories as it is in life: it’s not about the where and the when and the how, but it’s the people and the characters that keep you coming back, the old friends. Perhaps.
-
This thing about re-reading things struck a nerve in me, I must say. Not only that I experience exactly the same thing with old and well-known books of mine from time to time- I also find myself reading books with plots that I don’t hold the slightest interest in.
For instance, I like to read old John LeCarré books. I like it a lot. Makes it even weirder that I find myself forgetting nearly all major plot twists, well before I’m done reading the book. Obviously, there’s not a big investment between me and those plots, but I still enjoy reading those books for the sake of the incredible characters.
A few weeks ago I read one of his newer novels. It took me thirty or so pages to find out I didn’t like the main character which in turn made me recognize how boring some of LeCarrés books must be if you don’t enjoy finding out more about the people in them.
It must be true, I guess. It’s really more about the ‘who’ than the ‘what’.
-
Actually, Smiley appears in quite a few of LeCarré’s books.
The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People are the direct successors to Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy, both in order of appearance and regarding their plots, forming a trilogy of some sorts.
He also appears in Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality.
I guess a character that gets carried on through as many books as smiley does can’t help but be very well developed.
-
For over a decade, before I started my Phd, I would take an annual pilgrimage to Clive Barker’s world of ‘Imajica’ and Eiji Yoshikawa’s world of ‘Taiko’. I never grew tired of re-reading them and each read brought fourth different emotions and memories with each successive reading. In many ways for me both books are very much like that old coat you can never bear to throw out. I started reading both of them in my late teens, so in a way I guess they were my point of reference in a world that was constantly changing. I still have them, alas not the time to read them.
I think when I have finished my Phd I will dust them off and read both of them again. It will be like you say, catching up with old friends. What will be interesting to see is if I have changed so much in the course of my studies that either book will not hold my attention as they use to. Fond memories and reality sometimes are not the best of bedfellows.
-
I recently listened to Dune on audiobook format. What grabs me is first the characters, but intricately tied to them is the world. Did Frank Herbert visit deserts before writing Dune? His desert world is so real down to the minutia like the various kinds of sands. I don’t write but I know good writing when I read it and Herbert was a genius. One reason I read Dune again and again is I want to be in the presence of such genius.
Comments are now closed.
5 comments
Trackback link: http://octopusrex.co.uk/index.php/archives/298/trackback