Influences on Un Lun Dun

[sawyl]

Talking about his new novel, Un Lun Dun on Open Book, Chine Miéville admitted that his decision to make his protagonists female was partly influenced by Joan Aiken's heroine, Dido Twite. I now feel extremely tempted to pass part of the Easter holidays rereading Aiken's James III series, just to see if they really are as good as I remember them being.

Comments

[drspleen.livejournal.com]

you mean he wasn't influenced by that quintissential literary heroine miss marple! i feel gypped. now there's someone that needs to be updated for the noughties, i'm thinking leather and guns.

[sawyl.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised apple_ree hasn't set you straight on Joan Aiken — she's normally very up on children's books.

On the subject of Miss Marple, I think you've missed the point: her apparent fluffiness is in deliberate contrast to the grimness of the murders becomes involved with — if she was updated to be all Mrs Peel-ish, she just wouldn't work...

[doctor-squale.livejournal.com]

Am I going to upset you if I tell you that I did not really like
Perdido Street Station ?

[sawyl.livejournal.com]

I think I can probably see things from your point of view. I thought that The Scar was a better novel than Perdido, probably because I found Bellis Coldwine to be a more convincing protagonist than Isaac. I also liked The Iron Council, but I thought it lacked the immediacy of its antecedents. I haven't read Between Equal Rights, Miéville's PhD thesis, but I'm assured by someone who has that it's extremely soporific...