125. (September 2023) The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde — The Tabletop Roleplayers' Book Club

The Eyre Affair 1: Style

RichardAbbott — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:04:28 +0000

I deliberately chose The Eyre Affair, with its comic slant, to be different from the last couple of more martial ones. Did the shift in style and intention work for you?

The Eyre Affair 7: Sequels

RichardAbbott — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:11:42 +0000

There are now seven books in the series, The Eyre Affair being the first (and Jasper Fforde's first published novel). Are you tempted to read more of them? Why or why not?

The Eyre Affair 6: Gaming

RichardAbbott — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:11:03 +0000

What if anything might you take from this into a game? What couldn't possibly work? Would you like to set up and/or play in a game based on the world of The Eyre Affair?

The Eyre Affair 5: SpecOps and ChronoGuard

RichardAbbott — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:10:08 +0000

It kind of makes sense in a world where literature is so important - to the point of obsession where the authorship of Shakespeare plays is an everyday conversation - that there would be enforcement agencies dealing with various kinds of literary crime. Did the time travelling aspect of this (eg Thursday's father) interest you or were the literary aspects more appealing? Do you think Jasper Fforde intended the occasional suggestions that Thursday's father was involved in large-scale temporal changes (eg the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar get a mention) to be taken seriously or are they just a comic background touch?

The Eyre Affair 4: The Alternate World

RichardAbbott — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:08:08 +0000

There are some clear differences between the world of The Eyre Affair and our own, in particular the extraordinarily long Crimean War and the formation of a separate Welsh state. There are hints of other changes (eg the Russian Revolution seems not to have taken place, and was England at one stage occupied by Germany?) but there is no great focus on exactly what the differences are and when they started. Would you have liked to know more? Is it at all possible to reconstruct the history of that world? Does Jasper Fforde care about that?

The Eyre Affair 3: Book-travel

RichardAbbott — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:06:40 +0000

An important part of the world being explored is inside books, especially Jane Eyre, and instead of space and/or time travel we have transport between our world (well, the alternate version of it) and the internal world of books. What book would you most want to go into and/or meet characters from?

The Eyre Affair 2: Humour

RichardAbbott — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:05:38 +0000

A number of authors have chosen humour as a science-fiction vehicle, eg Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett amongst others. Jasper Fforde rests his humour partly on situation and heavily on name puns. The author of the very first chapter heading, Millon de Floss, is a pretty obvious play on a George Eliot novel, and things carry on in much the same vein throughout. (It reminds me a little bit of a cafe near here, The Flock Inn, where every other word strains hard to be a pun on sheep and sheep farming in some way). Did this work for you or turn you off? Was too much of the humour UK-specific or did it work across the Atlantic?

About Jasper Fforde

RichardAbbott — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 20:29:14 +0000

(Aggregated from the Amazon description and Wiki)

Jasper Fforde (born 11 January 1961) is an English novelist, whose first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001. He is known mainly for his Thursday Next novels, but has published two books in the loosely connected Nursery Crime series and the first books of two other independent series: The Last Dragonslayer and Shades of Grey. Fforde's books abound in literary allusions and wordplay, tightly scripted plots and playfulness with the conventional, traditional genres. They usually contain elements of metafiction, parody, and fantasy.

Fforde was born in London on 11 January 1961, the son of John Standish Fforde, the 24th Chief Cashier for the Bank of England. He is a grandson of the Polish political activist, Joseph Retinger, and a great-grandson of the journalist E. D. Morel.

Originating with the Fforde Ffestival in September 2005, the Fforde Ffiesta is an annual event built around Fforde's books and held in Thursday Next's home town of Swindon over the May bank holiday weekend. People travel from afar to take part in a wide range of events, including a reenactment of the gameshow Name That Fruit, Hamlet Speed Reading competitions, and interactive performances of Richard III. (Note from @RichardAbbott - this appears to still be happening after a covid break and you can already book for 4th and 5th May 2024).

After giving up a varied career in the film world, he now lives and writes in Wales, and has a passion for aviation.

Cover blurb of The Eyre Affair

RichardAbbott — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 20:05:40 +0000

The first book in the phenomenally successful Thursday Next series, from Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde.

'Always ridiculous, often hilarious ... blink and you miss a vital narrative leap. There are shades of Douglas Adams, Lewis Carroll, 'Clockwork Orange' and '1984'. And that's just for starters' - Time Out

Meet Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, fear or boyfriend.

There is another 1985, where London's criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of the new crime wave's MR Big.

Acheron Hades has been kidnapping certain characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom. Jane Eyre is gone. Missing.

Thursday sets out to find a way into the book to repair the damage. But solving crimes against literature isn't easy when you also have to find time to halt the Crimean War, persuade the man you love to marry you, and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare's plays.

Perhaps today just isn't going to be Thursday's day. Join her on a truly breathtaking adventure, and find out for yourself. Fiction will never be the same again ...