The Lie of the Land :: Haydn Middleton The Lie of the Land Essays

The Lie of the LandThis is a list of explications--things a North American reader might need to know in sight to make most sense out of Haydn Middletons The Lie of the Land. I re-read the novel and make a list of unclear references or ambiguous words or terms. I included the page number and a short explanation of the context I then proffered each word with the definition I was adequate to find Before delving into my textual explications, let me add a short preface first. As I re-read Middletons novel, I found myself intensely interested in the cultural differences between North Americans and the English from (you guessed it...) England. My fascination with the inexplicable difference, yet explicable intertwining of our two cultures is probably provoked by a book Im denotation for another class, Cultural Misunderstandings by Raymonde Carroll, a French anthropologist. Carroll has extensively studied the differences between Americans and Europeans, mainly French. She gave an interest ing analysis concerning Americans and our way of conducting or cultivating relationships. Well, I was practice session the novel again, and if you caught it, Rachel offers Alasdair an invitation to dinner. This might not strike you as significant at all, but hold on--note that here in the United States, we will frequently terminate a conversation with, Call me or Lets get together, sometime, okay? Ill call you sometime These advances are never realized, of course, but are merely conversation climaxers. Rachel says to Alasdair, estimate . . . you should come round some time with Maggie. Wed love to see you . . . (25). A couple of chapters later, the dinner scene is a very significant addition to the story, hmm? Carroll made the comment that Americans portray themselves as superficial and flighty with their many unrealized invitations. Europeans, on the other hand, tend to extend invitations and set the date in the feat avenue of discourse. Details. Dr. Gilgun taught my Fiction c lass last semester, and we learned that details develop ordestroy the story. Details divorce me from the story or seduce me, leaving me wondering where man ends and the surreal begins. Details characterize the culture behind the author, the culture in and within where delight is reached, found, discovered and eventually shared. But anyway . . . enough of excursus TEXTUAL EXPLICATIONS--please feign acquiescence, and pretend that this list is complete and can stand alone there were so many more textual nuances that I cute to include Hmm .