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Pleasure I get from The Dying Urth stories is the irony and subtle
humor.<br>
It's the way that whenever Cugel is about to be outsmarted, he
refers to himself as "Cugel the Clever". It's the way certain plot
details are described rather than explained.<em></em><i><em></em></i>
<br>
Terry Pratchett owes as much to Vance as Wolfe, but I can see that
Wolfe learned more from Vance than the plot element of a dying sun.<br>
<br>
J.<br>
<br>
On 5/10/2011 10:03 AM, Sergei SOLOVIEV wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4DC953B9.3040308@irit.fr" type="cite">I read
Vance partly because he was mentioned with great respect by Gene
Wolfe
<br>
as one of the writers who influenced the New Sun series (with his
"Dying Earth").
<br>
Honestly, I was disappointed by literary quality of his work. The
characters are
<br>
in general very schematic, the language is sometimes interesting
but dialogues
<br>
are extremely artificial, nobody does speak like this, the
composition very linear
<br>
(Vance does use most of the time "travelogue" plan - "Ports of
call" and travels
<br>
of Cugel are typical examples). It doesn't mean that there is no
impressive episodes/ideas -
<br>
and great deal of intelligent irony that I like. I liked "Guyal of
Sphere" for example.
<br>
<br>
Best
<br>
<br>
Sergei
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
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