Subj : smelled like horse
To   : alexander koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Fri Mar 02 2018 18:00:57

Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  Context, Alexander... context!!  I'm unacquainted with
AH>  anybody named "Arthas" & I have no idea who the Lich King
AH>  might be.  You could have told us more about where the
AH>  quote came from, so we wouldn't have to look it up.  ;-)

ak>  Well, Arthas is a boy of 11, a prince. Let me give a small
ak>  fragment:

-->  Arthas was silent and  did  not  look  up  at  Uther.


           Ah.  What I was curious about was the setting, i.e. when & where the 
story takes place, because that might help explain the omission of the article.

           "Uther Pendragon" is a name I recognize from tales about King Arthur 
(sixth century)... so the name "Uther" is an important clue AFAIC.  While there 
are British names which have survived more or less unchanged to the present day 
this doesn't seem to be among them.  The other details you've just added... the 
young scion of the upper classes being trained in horsemanship, the routine use 
of herbal medicine, and the expected attendance at a church service... are also 
reminiscent of the medieval period.  My understanding is that WORLD OF WARCRAFT 
occurs in a fictitious time & locale but the weapons used tend to be similar to 
those used in Britain and/or continental Europe during medieval times.

           Now, following up on Mark's diagnosis of "poetic licence"... I think 
that's it in a nutshell.  Awhile back you cited a passage from IVANHOE, a novel 
in which the events occur several hundred years after King Arthur.  Recognizing 
that even the English majors among us might need a cheat sheet to make sense of 
Middle English, however, the author employed old-fashioned turns of phrase such 
as one might see in the works of Shakespeare or in the King James Bible... both 
of which would have been very familiar to his audience.  I suspect the same may 
apply here.  In the example of Middle English which I can most easily lay hands 
on, articles are noticeable by their absence.  Golden & others may be trying to 
establish the mood in whatever way they think their readers can relate to.  :-)



ak>  Probably articles are not so necessary as many think.
ak>  For instance, people don't put articles in newspaper
ak>  titles, in TV line news; and everybody finds it
ak>  perfectly OK.


           Uh-huh.  Telegrams are another example....  :-)



ak>  Although... that were the words of the author, and he
ak>  was a writer. ;)


           As was Sir Walter Scott.  We're referring to historical fiction &/or 
fantasy, in which it is sufficient to give the reader a bit of the "feeling" of 
the period.  A few folks may be inspired to examine the history in more detail. 
But if the author wants to make a living, he must reach a larger audience.  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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