Style
Quicksilver is a historical fiction novel that occasionally uses fantasy and science fiction techniques. The book is written in "an omniscient modern presence occasionally given to wisecracks, with extensive use of the continuous present". Mark Sanderson of The Daily Telegraph and Steven Poole of The Guardian both describe the novel as in the picaresque genre, a genre common to 17th and 18th century Europe. Humor permeates the text, both situational and in the language itself, which emulates the picaresque style.
The narrative often presents protracted digressions. These digressions follow a multitude of events and subjects related to history, philosophy and scientific subjects. For example, USA Today, commented on the length of discussion of Newton's interest in the nature of gravity. With these digressions, the narrative also rapidly changes between multiple perspectives, first and third person, as well as utilizes multiple writing techniques, both those familiar to the modern reader and those popular during the Early Modern period. These techniques include letters, drama, cryptographic messaging, genealogies and "more interesting footnotes than found in many academic papers."
Stephenson incorporates 17th century sentence structure and orthography throughout Quicksilver, most apparent in his use of italicization and capitalization. He adapts a combination of period and anachronistic language throughout the books, mostly to good effect, while allowing diction from modern usage, such as "canal rage" an allusion to road rage. Stephenson chose not to adapt period language for the entire text; instead he allowed such language to enter his writing when it was appropriate, often turning to modern English and modern labels for ideas familiar to modern readers. Stephenson said "I never tried to entertain the illusion that I was going to write something that had no trace of the 20th or the 21st century in it."
Read more about this topic: Quicksilver (novel)
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“The flattering, if arbitrary, label, First Lady of the Theatre, takes its toll. The demands are great, not only in energy but eventually in dramatic focus. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a star to occupy an inch of space without bursting seams, cramping everyone else’s style and unbalancing a play. No matter how self-effacing a famous player may be, he makes an entrance as a casual neighbor and the audience interest shifts to the house next door.”
—Helen Hayes (1900–1993)
“I shall christen this style the Mandarin, since it is beloved by literary pundits, by those who would make the written word as unlike as possible to the spoken one. It is the style of all those writers whose tendency is to make their language convey more than they mean or more than they feel, it is the style of most artists and all humbugs.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)
“I concluded that I was skilled, however poorly, at only one thing: marriage. And so I set about the business of selling myself and two children to some unsuspecting man who might think me a desirable second-hand mate, a man of good means and disposition willing to support another man’s children in some semblance of the style to which they were accustomed. My heart was not in the chase, but I was tired and there was no alternative. I could not afford freedom.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)