More Inheritance Cycle News.

[kippurbird]

This just in from antishurtugal: The Fourth Brick has been named.


The title of the book is... Brisingr.

There is, however, a problem with naming the book Brisingr. The title of a book is supposed to draw in readers. It's supposed to elicit curiosity about what the book is about, give them an idea of what is to be expected or what might happen.

For example:

Jurassic Park Dinosaurs and a park.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Harry dealing with something called the Deathly Hallows.
A day in the life of the Soviet Union ... well that one's obvious.
Brisingr ... cat on the keyboard? Random letters pulled from a hat? Typo?

The point is, it doesn't invoke any idea of what the story is supposed to be about, which is the entire point of a title. He may be constrained by wanting to only use one word, but there are hundreds of other words that he could have used instead of a made up one that no one will understand unless they've read the previous two books.

What it feels like, instead, is that Paolini is trying to be clever. While the word may "touch on Eragon's inheritance" it doesn't let anyone but him know that. It gives him an air of superiority. He is using a word that in old Norse means "fire" and isn't he clever for knowing that? And not only that but he's sophisticated and intelligent and up in that ivory tower with all the other professors who study such things like Old Norse. He's even in the same league as Tolkien because Tolkien studied such languages.

But Tolkien never needed to show off. (And he had the decency to write titles that people could understand.) At least not in the title. He used his languages subtly and never in such a way that people went "buh" to try and understand what was going on. He didn't use them to show how clever he was for making up a language but instead to help create the feel of a different world, make it rich and look like there was much more going on than what was happening in the story being told.

He didn't aspire to be the next something or another, he just aspired to tell a story and to share his world. Paolini however, and this maybe one of his biggest problems, tries so hard to be the next Tolkien that he's lost sight of the primary purpose of writing, which is to tell a story. Instead he throws in things that will make him look like an intelligent and great writer who deserves to be next to Tolkien without really seeing if it makes sense, which gives his world that patchwork feeling.

And I just COMPLETELY tangented, didn't I?

Comments

[last-servant.livejournal.com]

I'll say this here, instead of on A-S. I actually kinda like the name.

I know it would look terrible.

I know it's difficult for non-Nordic's to say.

But I still like that he's trying for internal consistency.

Of course, it won't stop the book from being terrible. But on A-S, you can't like anything about Eragon.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

It is a nice name, but as stated above it's a lousy title for a book.

[last-servant.livejournal.com]

I know. It's like a show where a antelope is being chased by a cheetah. Even though you want the antelope to escape, you really want the cheetah to take it down and eviscerate it.

Which is what I'm hoping you do to it, by the way.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Which is what I'm hoping you do to it, by the way.

Could I do anything less? :D

[christinaathena.livejournal.com]

Well, it doesn't really matter what he calls it. People who've read, and liked, the first two bricks will buy the third, and those who don't like the first two won't buy the third, so he could call it Book Three and it wouldn't make any difference.

Tolkien's languages actually came before the story. :) The stories were written to give the languages a setting.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Well, it doesn't really matter what he calls it. People who've read, and liked, the first two bricks will buy the third, and those who don't like the first two won't buy the third, so he could call it Book Three and it wouldn't make any difference.

Yes, but the idea is to draw in new readers.

Tolkien's languages actually came before the story. :) The stories were written to give the languages a setting.

I knew that.

[(Anonymous)]

The stories were written to give the languages a setting.

I rather like that idea. =D It's the exact opposite of randomly dropping 'culture' in wherever you feel like it. *coughPaolinicough*

[wariena.livejournal.com]

Wasn't "Brisinger" his speshul wurd for fire or something? And it's actually Norse? Wow, way to rip off a language! I love how he tried to make it okay by taking away the 'e'.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[kellicat.livejournal.com]

Don't you just love how he mauls perfectly legitimate words?

[eddiesteddy4711.livejournal.com]

*wanders over from Deletrius*

Paolini. Hah. I lost interest at the end of the second book.

:) This, kiddies, is why my novels have fun names. "Mythfits" and "Fostering Hell". Go on. Guess what they're about. You get a lolly if you guess correctly.

[(Anonymous)]

He should have just kept the 'E' format.
1- Eragon
2- Eldest
3- Empire
4- Erection?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think Christopher Paolini was trying to make himself look more intelligent. At least, that wasn't my first impression. I simply thought it was either a way to give it a title that didn't give anything away, or it was an appropriate title related to whatever the story is.

I can't disagree with you though, Paolini does lack creativity. But I give him kudos for writing such a long book as well as he did. It's not the best book in the world. Sometimes I roll my eyes at the way he writes parts of his books. But it's pretty hard to write a decently long book.

But the movie... I don't even know what to say. "Disappointment" just doesn't cut it.