Re: RARA-AVIS: Big hardboiled epics

From: DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net
Date: 28 Sep 2004


Doug wrote:

"I wouldn't include Derek Raymond or Jack O'Connell, both of whom I like immensely but are too "anti-realistic" to properly fit into an "epic" class."

It's been a long time since my intro to lit classes (and I didn't pay that much attention when I was taking them), but why are
"anti-realistic" and "epic" mutually exclusive? (I'm not being snarky, I'm actually interested in this idea.) The original epics weren't realistic, were they? Or did the Greeks think of these Tales of Brave Ulysses are realism? Come to think of it, what is the official definition of "epic"? I was using the term loosely, following Bill's reference to a set of interconnected books that, while they may each work on their own, are actually sections of a greater work.

"(You might stretch a point and squeeze in O'Connell, but if it's an epic, it's a very postmodern, intellectualized kind of epic.)"

No doubt.

Mark

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