Vassilissa:I think irony functioned for my friend the way
metaphor may for Michael Knight or anyone else who won't let
zombies be zombies: a set of tongs for handling the story. Or a
snorkel and mask so you don't have to be completely submerged in
story.
If I may offer an alternative perspective: For some of us, the
irony and the metaphor and the assorted not-story bits are what we
enjoy chewing on. Just as Jack Spratt and his wife had vastly
different criteria for judging the quality of a steak, so do (let's
call us) story-positive and story-neutral people have differient
criteria by which we evaluate a work of fiction.
Speaking solely for myself, the story element, no matter how
cracking, rarely satisfies. Nifty non-story bits attached to an
unstriking story, though, can really prod my pleasure centers.
Metaphor'n'such, at least for me, isn't a security blanket or a
reassuring tether to reality, it's the prize in the Cracker
Jacks.
(Two food analogies in two paragraphs? Must be time for
dinner.)
Also, like cija I fail to see the dismissiveness or lack of
understanding in Knight's review, but I've yet to read the book in
question.
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