J C
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Thank you for answering all these questions! I especially appreciate that, as a reader, I can't tell that you "build [the story] backwards, starting with the characters and their story and building the world around them". Question time! Re-read Mirror Dance; what theory of mind did you draw from to describe Mark?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Glad you're enjoying my work!
I was aware of the mid-20th-C. pop-sci theories of multiple personality disorder viz. The Seven Faces of Eve, and that the earlier versions were largely debunked, but the symptoms had been shifted to what is presently typed "dissociative disorders". A friend (and test reader) of mine had a version of this, a type of protective deep dissociation/code-switching-of-presentation under stress; some long conversations with her were enlightening in a more global fashion. She described it as feeling from the inside not so much as a split or separation, but a retreat of some aspects of herself down long dim corridors while other parts took front and center.
With that frame, and being more than a touch dissociative myself (it's a pretty writerly thing), the rest of Mark came from a deep dive into my own head. So Mark was more generated than constructed, less theory than data, which may account for his character-density.
However Mark appeared, he was apparently artistically convincing enough that a large block quote from Mirror Dance was used illustratively by a psychological scholar in an article on the subject in Chapter 53 of The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry (2013, Oxford University Press) "Personal Identity and Identity Disorders" by Stephen R. L. Clark.
The author footnotes it thus: "...[Mark's] broken personalities allow him to cope; at once distinct centres of consciousness and servants of the whole. Whether there really are such experiences remain uncertain; at least the story, and its more immediate and maybe-factual cognates provide metaphors for living."
How this got past peer review, I do not know... But certainly one of my more flattering pieces of reader-response.
Ta, L.
Glad you're enjoying my work!
I was aware of the mid-20th-C. pop-sci theories of multiple personality disorder viz. The Seven Faces of Eve, and that the earlier versions were largely debunked, but the symptoms had been shifted to what is presently typed "dissociative disorders". A friend (and test reader) of mine had a version of this, a type of protective deep dissociation/code-switching-of-presentation under stress; some long conversations with her were enlightening in a more global fashion. She described it as feeling from the inside not so much as a split or separation, but a retreat of some aspects of herself down long dim corridors while other parts took front and center.
With that frame, and being more than a touch dissociative myself (it's a pretty writerly thing), the rest of Mark came from a deep dive into my own head. So Mark was more generated than constructed, less theory than data, which may account for his character-density.
However Mark appeared, he was apparently artistically convincing enough that a large block quote from Mirror Dance was used illustratively by a psychological scholar in an article on the subject in Chapter 53 of The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry (2013, Oxford University Press) "Personal Identity and Identity Disorders" by Stephen R. L. Clark.
The author footnotes it thus: "...[Mark's] broken personalities allow him to cope; at once distinct centres of consciousness and servants of the whole. Whether there really are such experiences remain uncertain; at least the story, and its more immediate and maybe-factual cognates provide metaphors for living."
How this got past peer review, I do not know... But certainly one of my more flattering pieces of reader-response.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Steve
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hi and greetings from Texas! May I ask, have you ever read the Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud?
Carol
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I really enjoy the Sharing Knife world. I liked the explanation of the age gap you had in the book. Lifespans. The lakewalkers live far longer than the farmers. Dag has family that lived to 120. Fauns 18 and Dags 54 with 60 more years together would reach old age together at 78 and 114. I know you are done with Faun and Dags story. Are you going to write anymore stories in this world?
Allison Strandberg
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I just finished Andrew Roberts' excellent biography of Napoleon. I kept thinking, "This guy sure reminds me of Miles Vorkosigan." I was tickled by one detail: Miles' opinion that a shower is as good as three hours' sleep (from Cryoburn, I think?) is shared by Napoleon, although his quote is about a bath and four hours. I'm curious about the extent to which biographical details about Napoleon inspired Miles.
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