take what the water gave me

When I studied the Odyssey at school, I learnt about static or stock phrases: ‘rosy-fingered dawn’ is the one that’s stuck in my memory the strongest; I seem to remember things like ‘wily Odysseus’ cropping up a lot. These phrases are part of the vocabulary of the epic tale, and can be used every time a thing (like dawn) is referred to. I was told that this aids in memorising the tale.

This weekend, at the British Library, I was reading a book about Central Asian oral epics, and they have static phrases too, things like ‘Bokhara with six gates’.

And then there are the ones about other groups of people. ‘The Russians with hairy mouths’ refers to the Russians’ beards. There’s one about the Chinese having an incomprehensible language. But some of them are not just minor barbs; they are involved, impressive insults. ‘The stinking Kalmucks with round tasselled caps, who cut up pork and tie it to their saddles’, for instance. Or ‘The Sarts who love their asses as if they were horses, and who carry their bread in their bosoms’.

I also learnt some relevant-to-my-novel things at the BL, specifically concerning how the Russian presence in Central Asia expanded and affected specific regions of what is now Turkmenistan. It’s really complicated, as all political history is, and not wholly interesting (there’s a reason I never specialised in the political side of history, or even the ‘and some dudes were here, and then some other dudes were over here’ aspect of military history), but it’s very useful in giving me a context for my story’s plot.

It’s also reminded me that I need to be thinking about stakes. While the novel is domestic and quiet in a lot of ways, I think it will be even better – tighter, better paced, less prone to meandering every which way as it’s currently doing – with a greater raising of the stakes; and there are ways in which it is not domestic, and these need to integrate better throughout the novel instead of suddenly appearing towards the end. Meandering is good and serves the nature of the novel, as long as it is not left to grow by itself like those ridiculous weeds in the garden that are now as tall as me. Triffids.

There was an interesting throwaway remark, in one book, about the trade-based economy of the Central Asians at that time and how it fundamentally differed to our money-based economy, and it made the part of me that gets excited about economics sit up and go Oooh. Basically, it was an economy that placed little value on cash – why have a bunch of metal coins that you have to safeguard in a box, when you can have a herd, an obvious sign of your wealth that’s also a little bit harder for a bunch of dudes to run off with in its entirey? And you wouldn’t necessarily push for a fair trade, as we see it – you would also consider factors like building up credit and a good relationship with someone, making a loss (as we see it) on one transaction because later down the line it will benefit you. It’s such a different way of thinking about economics to the way I usually do, and I know my way of thinking has coloured how I’ve written the trade relationships in the book so far. So that needs some re-thinking.

And then I did no more work for the rest of the weekend! It was quite glorious, really. Sleeping and reading and gaming and shopping, even, wherein I found that Clarks biggest women’s trainers are now too small for me ARGH (size changes on their end, not my feet growing) and their men’s trainers are silly money for non-athletic shoes. To a sports shop, I guess. Egh. Fugly and expensive. I want smaller feet. (Eur 42, UK 8/9, US 10/11 = VERY VEXING in a country where women’s shoes often stop at Eur 41 and men’s shoes look like arse for twice the price. Help me, M&S, you are my only hope.)

Russian Embassy tomorrow. Wish me luuck!

The ‘Donestre’

Penny recently bought a book of mythical beasts, which I temporarily stole: to look up Tibetan creatures, primarily, for novel research. Inevitably, a few others caught my eye.

This one is from legends surrounding Alexander the Great (presumably from the Medieval Romance, with its diving bells, etc), and is called the ‘Donestre’.

“It had the head of a lion, huge eyes, furry ears and a long mane that extended over the shoulders, almost to the waist. The Donestre were said to know all the languages of the human race, and would greet lone travellers in their own tongue, thus reassuring them and enabling the Donestre to lure their victims to their deaths. A Donestre kill would usually be known by the fact that the only thing left behind was the head; even more strange was the fact that after it had killed, the creature would sit by the head of its victim and weep.”

I need to write about this.