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the dark tower, redux
I so like using the word "redux". I should probably verify at some point that I'm using it correctly, but I've neither heard from William Safire or been smitten about the head with a copy of Strunk & White, so. Anyway. As promised, I've started going through the Dark Tower books again, and I'm already on book 2. Here are some more thoughts.
The first thing is that yes, King was doing the foreshadowing from the start. About thirty or so pages into the first book, he says of Allie, "that was the next to last time he saw her alive". As foreshadowing goes, this isn't quite as annoying as the bits that irked me in the later books; it may also not have been the first instance - there may have been some prior reference to him killing everyone in Tull - but it was certainly the first outre instance. As I say, it doesn't really spoil the story in the same way as, for example, the foreshadowing of Eddie's and Jake's deaths, but it does establish a precedent which King is only too willing to follow.
Secondly, I'd kinda lost track of what happened where in the earlier books. As I understand it, King wrote the first over the course of a decade, with notes for the plot arc; the second and third followed soon enough after; the fourth was several more years in arriving; and the final three, plus a revised version of the first, were pretty much pumped out as fast as he could manage, possibly not least for the reasons that show up in the books themselves - that he felt he had to tell this tale, and get it done, and so forth. As such, I don't think I've done my usual trick of rereading over and over because the story was incomplete. I may have read the first book more than once, but I think that's about it.
Thirdly, it's interesting to imagine - since I've not bought the revised edition - what the "backports" to the first book might be. For a start, the first book seems to only hint at the tower; it's more concerned with Roland's pursuit of the man in black, and the tower only gets a hint here and there and a big shove at the end when Walter deals Tarot for Roland. Ka, which dominates the later books, isn't mentioned once in the first book and doesn't appear until some way into the second book where it's used pretty much as a drop-in for ki or life-force or spirit or what have you. The parallels between Roland's world and ours are somehow incongruous with the later versions; it's hard to describe exactly, but for example the presence of the song, "Hey Jude" seems a little jarring by comparison to Roland's later unfamiliarity with pretty much all things on the Keystone Earth. The mythos of the tower seems a little garbled as well; the implication seems to be that Walter works for some unspecified boss who works for the guy in the tower, which doesn't really mesh with the Crimson King storyline later on - the Crimson King seems to be sort of Walter's jeffe, sure, but he doesn't appear to have another level to answer to above him, and he doesn't reside in the tower. Indeed, he's stuck on a balcony outside it, having tried to gain entry to it. (a side question: when the Crimson King tried to gain the tower, did he see traces of his own life? and how did he get past the sigil of Arthur Eld?)
Fourthly, I found it kinda sad to meet Eddie again, knowing that he was going to be pointlessly slain before the tale was out. I suspect my second encounter with Jake may wind up the same.
That's all for now. I've only just gotten to Balazaar's place, so there's quite a bit of reading to do yet.
The first thing is that yes, King was doing the foreshadowing from the start. About thirty or so pages into the first book, he says of Allie, "that was the next to last time he saw her alive". As foreshadowing goes, this isn't quite as annoying as the bits that irked me in the later books; it may also not have been the first instance - there may have been some prior reference to him killing everyone in Tull - but it was certainly the first outre instance. As I say, it doesn't really spoil the story in the same way as, for example, the foreshadowing of Eddie's and Jake's deaths, but it does establish a precedent which King is only too willing to follow.
Secondly, I'd kinda lost track of what happened where in the earlier books. As I understand it, King wrote the first over the course of a decade, with notes for the plot arc; the second and third followed soon enough after; the fourth was several more years in arriving; and the final three, plus a revised version of the first, were pretty much pumped out as fast as he could manage, possibly not least for the reasons that show up in the books themselves - that he felt he had to tell this tale, and get it done, and so forth. As such, I don't think I've done my usual trick of rereading over and over because the story was incomplete. I may have read the first book more than once, but I think that's about it.
Thirdly, it's interesting to imagine - since I've not bought the revised edition - what the "backports" to the first book might be. For a start, the first book seems to only hint at the tower; it's more concerned with Roland's pursuit of the man in black, and the tower only gets a hint here and there and a big shove at the end when Walter deals Tarot for Roland. Ka, which dominates the later books, isn't mentioned once in the first book and doesn't appear until some way into the second book where it's used pretty much as a drop-in for ki or life-force or spirit or what have you. The parallels between Roland's world and ours are somehow incongruous with the later versions; it's hard to describe exactly, but for example the presence of the song, "Hey Jude" seems a little jarring by comparison to Roland's later unfamiliarity with pretty much all things on the Keystone Earth. The mythos of the tower seems a little garbled as well; the implication seems to be that Walter works for some unspecified boss who works for the guy in the tower, which doesn't really mesh with the Crimson King storyline later on - the Crimson King seems to be sort of Walter's jeffe, sure, but he doesn't appear to have another level to answer to above him, and he doesn't reside in the tower. Indeed, he's stuck on a balcony outside it, having tried to gain entry to it. (a side question: when the Crimson King tried to gain the tower, did he see traces of his own life? and how did he get past the sigil of Arthur Eld?)
Fourthly, I found it kinda sad to meet Eddie again, knowing that he was going to be pointlessly slain before the tale was out. I suspect my second encounter with Jake may wind up the same.
That's all for now. I've only just gotten to Balazaar's place, so there's quite a bit of reading to do yet.
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I reread the "old" books a few months ago, and am getting the new ones as they come out in trade p-back. I'm about 1/3 into Wolves of the Calla.
Another thing he does that jars me--and is a tangent of what you speak of--is when he introduces an idea or saying or Midworld-thing and pretends that it's nothing new & has been there all along.
I just keep telling myself that hey, it's fluff, big deal. The plot has always been the thing for me, anyway.