(no subject)

[fajrdrako]

to Francis Crawford of Lymond:



The perfect hero of the 16th century, and the perfect hero of the 20th.

Comments

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

And the same from me!!

(I take it that's one candle for every 160 years? ;-D)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Token candles... I considered repeating the picture 160 times, but that would be overkill.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Delightful, anyway!
I don't think any of my favourite fictionals has a birthday.
Nor do some of my historical pets... (though some have 2 due to calendar change).

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Hm...

What to do when one of one's best-beloved's doesn't have a recorded birthday?
A moveable feast?
Any excuse for a party whenever?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I like the 'excuse for a party' idea. We could pick memorial days.

With Conrad, we could do like they do with the Saints, and celebrate the 'feast-day' of his death, in honour. Though that tends to strike me as a little morbid. Better, I think, to celebrate his victory at Tyre. I think he would like that to be remembered, rather than just his death.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

The anniversary of his death is 28 April, which I tend to commemorate anyway (usually with wine and Italian food).
Siege of Tyre... The start or the end? The end overlaps with New Year celebrations.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hmm. April. Am I wrong, or do April dates often also overlap with dates of Easter? In any case, 28 April is a nice memorial date... and Italian food is always worth celebrating!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's definitely a problem with the 12th century: few of my guys have birthdates. We're lucky if we know what decade they were born in. Drives me nuts.

Many of my later heroes have birthdays: I always celebrate Shelley's, one way or another, even if just with a private toast.

Thanks to the astrology angle, Lymond's birthday is a plot point in the novels, so we are able to celebrate it.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Pattie can have 2 birthdays, because the calendar change took place when he was 8!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Did he get an extra birthday party out of it?

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

People seem to have made the transition pretty smoothly - but we could have 2 parties for him!

I can also double up on anniversaries for all my Russians, too, because of the calendar issue there!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Where is the pic from? is that the one Dunnett painted of him? (I've always wanted to see that!)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Dorothy Dunnett painted a picture of Lymond. Fascinating! The only portrait I knew of that she did of one of her own characters was a beautiful portrait of Archie Abernethy, which she had hanging in her studio. (The buyer had died, and his widow didn't want it.)

That picture is from one of the published paperbacks - I don't remember which one. An American edition, I think - it's not one I've ever owned.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I don't know how accurate it is, but word went round Dunnett fandom in the late seventies or early eighties that she had painted a portrait of him. (We do know she was an artist; her portrait of her spouse reputedly hung in the National Gallery in Edinborough.)

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've seen a number of her portraits - if one of Lymond exists, we must find a way to track it down! I wonder who wouls have it?

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I do believe she only ever painted Archie, at the request of a patron, but refused to paint any characters otherwise, unless she did it in secret!

I saw the painting of Alastair in the Writing Museum in Edinburgh. Lovely.

[majkia.livejournal.com]

ugh. I FORCED myself to read the first book of that series. And again, told how truly wonderful Dunnet was and how truly magnificent Lymond was, I forced myself to get halfway through the second.

I absolutely HATED the books and HATED worse, Lymond.

Just goes to show, to each her own.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hee. I've heard other people have that reaction, so you're not alone. Myself, I fell in love with Lymond on page 3 or 4 and never stopped loving him - or Dorothy Dunnett's style. "The Game of Kings" (the one you hated)has been my favourite novel since I was fifteen years old.

It's a 'love it or hate it' thing, I guess.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I like Lymond. I don't love or hate him. I often wonder if I would feel different if I had read his books before Niccolo, but I'll never know now.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Maybe you should try The House of Niccolo? I fell in love with Nicholas but never had the same 'huzzah!' feeling with Lymond.

Though I do like Dunnett's writing, so if it's the writing that might not work.

And I seem to be the only one who ever fell in love with Nicholas...

[majkia.livejournal.com]

you know, there are too many books I will enjoy to read. so I'm not worrying about missing out on those books. ;-)

just finished The ThirteenthTale and loved that one.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I fell in love with Nicholas - for a while. For the space of roughly the first three books of the series. It didn't last the way my love of Lymond did.

And you're quite right, some people who find the Lymond books unreadable like the Nicholas books. They are less stylized.

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

Awwww! James Marsters coulda played him in the movie a few years ago (he's a little too old now, but think back to first season Buffy)!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I like that casting choice - but then, I have a weakness for James Marsters.