Charles de Lint and the Archetype

Confession: I've made no progress on either "Ferian" or "Dolly" in over a week. This blog is all that's keeping me writing.

Reading:

• Someplace to be Flying, by Charles de Lint

Writing:

• "Ferian Fetlock Cures a Horse"

Revising:

• "Dolly Hobbles"

I've read quite a few novels and short stories by Charles de Lint in the past, and by now they're starting to take on a familiar tone. All of his stories explore the theme of fantasy in a city setting, but that's not what I mean, precisely. It's just that all his characters are so similar.

There is the male character who works in a criminal or borderline criminal occupation, but has a heart of gold. He often wants to improve himself, and yearns for an enlightened life even as he rejects the usual trappings of it.

You also have the female character who is a free spirit and wants to seek beyond the mundane trivialities of life. She sees the good in people, although she is more than usually street smart and often comes from a troubled background.

Finally, there's the sensitive, artistic man who is pretty much just a male version of the female character above. By the way, they are all artists in some way, either writers, or painters, or poets, or musicians, or photographers, or sculptors, or some other purveyor of creativity.

And that's it, really. All the heroes are variations on that them. All the human heroes, at least. Where de Lint really shines is in the character of the otherworldly. The process of discovering that strangeness is what makes me like to read his books.

The human heroes are there to provide eyes for us to see this world. They are good of heart, of course, but their art and creativity provides a sort of key. It's how they deserve to see that other world, at least in the context of de Lint's Newford stories. Once they accept that there is more to reality than they know, they can enter and participate in it, although they never really seem to join it.

What I want to carry away from this reading is the presentation of strangeness in a way that makes the reader want to experience more.