Talking About Writing: The Black Company & Cannery Row with Steven Erikson 

Excellent video! I enjoyed the discussion of these openings very much. When Mr. Erikson mentioned the first person narration in The Black Company avoiding use of the singular ("I"), I thought of Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" (probably because I'm teaching it today), where the narrator uses only "we" and never "I," making the narrator a representation of the townspeople as a collective entity, including all of their prejudices and quirks. My thanks to you both for all these enjoyable insights!

I started Black Company while lifeguarding this passed summer, after Brandon Sandy roped me into reading again; Glen Cooked up some of the most quick hitting and fun fantasy I've read in years. Raven is literally me. Malazan is masterful I have a torrented 10 books in 1. And my kobo shows 1/8400 pages so I do it by percent, and I just crossed 1% into 2% and the 1% of Malazan (5% of Gardens of Moon) have me convinced Anomander Rex is the coolest guy of all time

Well this is perfect timing for me! I just finished the first Black Company trilogy last week!

This was a great video to listen to! What I love the most is the breakdown of the texts. Regarding the Cannery Row text, I can't believe that there are people who would complain about the use of commas. He is obviously not trying to ennumerate stuff for the purpose of description. He is grouping things based on a certain logic, aiming for a certain psychological effect and a certain emotional reaction. There is more to it than painting a visual image. Anybody who has done a little bit of reading can tell that without need for academic studies. Or at least they should. I can't believe that there are people who would criticize it as wrong, or a breaking of the rules! And in the end, what is life if we don't break a few rules?

I reread the Chronicles of the Black Company, the first 3, after finishing Aspect Emperor. I needed something lighter...and funnier. I forgot how good they were. Goblin and One-Eye hit the spot. I am glad to see his resurgence on RU-vid. Perhaps looking for a post Malazan fix. It is obvious why Reaper's Gale was dedicated to Cook. His overall writing style, compared to more recent authors, might come off as choppy and lacking detail. Which unfortunately doesn't jive with some modern readers who almost demand 800 page books. But Cook says what he wants to say and calls it good. I call it very good and am looking forward to continuing my reread.

I fell asleep the other night listening to this and dreamt that you guys were sitting on my couch. Just wanted to let you know.

It's really interesting to listen to. It makes you think about construction of novel 🙋

One thing I noticed is that the opening sentences of Cannery Row are almost biblical in style. I don't know the technical term, but the way they're set up to almost mirror one another is fascinating. A poem- Gathered and scattered A stink- tin and iron and rust and splintered wood A grating noise-chipped pavements and weedy lots and junk heaps A quality of light-sardine canneries of corrugated iron A tone-honky tonks A habit-restaurants and whore houses A nostalgia-little crowded groceries A dream-laboratories and flophouses. There certainly isnt a 1 to 1 ratio or connection, but the last three comparisons do kinda run together. We also see a similar pairing of four with Whores-saints Pimps-angels Gamblers-martyrs Sons of bitches-holymen In biblical texts these types of pairings are usually intentional. I dunno if its quite the same here, but really struck me. The first two sentences are also a great example of having more figurative/tonal elements but then grounding them in the setting/world. In my writing i like to dive off the deep end, so this reminder/example to tie them to tangible elements could be very helpful. Illuminating conversation!

That Cannery Row passage is pretty immense, gotta say.

I love these! Thank you.

I'm always excited to see Mr. Erikson on here; it guarantees I'm going to learn something. I love the comparison of Cook and Steinbeck, especially given how they are using similar techniques to achieve an effect in these excerpts. I also love the implicit point that fantasy literature is literature, given that that seems to be in debate. This sort of thing really helps demonstrate that the ghettoization of fantasy is just prejudice.

Wow that excerpt of The Black Company was so much fun. I should read Cook's series straight away.

This was beyond wonderful. I always learn a lot from these videos, and now I really want to read Cannery Row. Friend recommendations are great, but A.P. recommendations are even better! Your bookshelves are a great place to find new books to read, I've found. I hope you don't mind the bookshelf stalking. :)

Another excellent video, well-timed from my perspective. The Black Company is on my list to read this spring.

Ooooh looking forward to Grendel now! What a fantastic book! Also loved this, two wonderful styles on display.

One thing that struck me regarding the use of "we" instead of "I" in the opening of the Black Company, is that "we" includes the reader, while "I" excludes him/her. This isn't stated outright, but the use of "we" place the narrator together with the reader, "we are going to experience this". If you use the word "I" you are distancing yourself from all others and excluding them to be spectators instead of participants. But then I'm Swedish and might have lost something when I read it.

thanks for the chat, gents!

This is a fantastic discussion. More please. I really like how you discuss the language use like word choice and punctuation.

I have just started reading the black company, as I have finished all the malazan books with the exception of the necromancer novellas. I will get round to reading them eventually. Thanks for the videos.

Very nice discussion! Hit all the right buttons for me and it's always a pleasure to see Mr. Erikson on here. I love putting on my thinking cap and listening to these master classes in the making. My goal is always continual learning to be a better reader and critic and these videos help me progress, so thank you!... Jarrod C.

This was great. I am very much looking forward to your discussion of Grendel!

The conversation on the first two lines was really interesting. Even when I do randomly stand in a bookstore, I’m more likely to pick a random page in the middle to read some and get a sense of the prose and tone. That, in conjunction with the genre and basic plot I can get from the blurb, is how I make my decision. The first two lines as a way of making a decision is bizarre and I’m not sure anyone actually does it.

"hello Clarice.."

Nice! You do know that 20/20 is a per-eye measurement, right? It means you see at 20 feet what others see at 20 feet. If the second number is higher than 20, your vision is worse than average; lower is better. One eye could be 20/20, the other could be 20/40. Or 20/10. TIL that 6/6 is the 'metric' version of 20/20. -Scott the annoying pedant.