ANALYSIS: Robert Stone's protagonists
Jorn Barger
similarities and differences between them. The standard RS novel has
a left-leaning, drug-using, flawed protagonist, with a wife or
girlfriend who plays a major role, plus a second male lead who's
different in some important ways. The main plot involves a trip to
the edge, with violent death always hovering.
1967: A Hall of Mirrors (HoM)
1974: Dog Soldiers (DS)
1981: A Flag for Sunrise (FfS)
1986: Children of Light (CoL)
1992: Outerbridge Reach (OR)
1998: Damascus Gate (DG)
HoM qualifies as juvenilia, imho, because Stone hasn't even committed
to realism fully. The male lead is an apolitical alcoholic with a
alcohol-challenged girlfriend. But the flawed leftist is the second
lead here, and only appears a third of the way thru, getting treated
very cruelly by everyone else. (Neither male is especially likeable.)
Dramatically, the villain is Southern Racism, embodied especially in
the minor characters Bingamon and Minnow. The 'edge' is much less
edgy, with only occasional threats of violence. (The main source of
suspense is whether the male leads will keep their jobs!) The female
lead is Stone's white-trashiest female by far, but she's more
sympathetic than the guys.
DS follows the formula most closely, with Hicks as the 2nd lead who
dominates the last two thirds. The first lead is extremely flawed,
left-leaning, but not drug-dependent in any significant way. His wife
is a Dilaudid addict, and the violent edge is always strongly present
when Hicks is around. All three are likeable, with Hicks being
Stone's most heroic character, I think. The book works very well as a
thriller.
FfS has a left-leaning, alcohol-challenged, flawed male lead, but his
wife is irrelevant. The female lead is a nun, also left-leaning and
sympathetic. The second male lead (Pablo) doesn't meet either of them
until the last fifth of the book, and he's Stone's white-trashiest
major male character, entirely despicable. There's a building sense
of menace thruout the book, but the main characters are rarely in real
danger.
CoL has only two main characters, both left-leaning and seriously
drug-dependent, flawed but likeable. Her husband might have served as
a third, but we see very little of him. (The drugs themselves serve
as the antagonist.) There's never any danger except self-destruction,
and consequently not much suspense. Lu Anne is Stone's most
clinically-schizophrenic character, but also the biggest worldly
success (movie star).
OR has four main characters: a right-leaning couple (she drinks to
excess but he's totally sober), and a left-leaning couple (he's a
successful filmmaker, she's an addictive prostitute but plays a more
minor role). The righties get most of the story, which ties Stone's
hands quite a bit. The danger is mostly very distant and confined to
the righty male, so the suspense is also low key. None of the
characters is especially likeable-- their flaws seriously undermine
their strengths in each case.
DG fits the formula almost as well as DS: a flawed left-leaning male
lead, his drug-challenged singer girlfriend, and a drug-challenged
second male (Raziel). All three are quite likeable. The danger and
suspense are again slow to build.
info: http://www.robotwisdom.com/jorn/stone.html
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Dr.D
of Mirrors and Dog Soliders, and I'm not sure I can remeber much about
his characters... a young man learns about evil, and an edgy Vietnam
vet is transfigured into Christ---that's about it. But what I
remember, still vividly, are Stone's PLACES. New Orleans, bright,
menacing, and breathing evil, and most of all, his Saigon. The first
30 or so pages of Dog Soldiers, the Saigon sequence, is terrifying and
vivid, and still---though I should read it again I suppose---ranks
with me as one of the best novel openings ever.
D
Jorn Barger
> A funny thing about Stone . . . it's been 20 years since I read Hall
> of Mirrors and Dog Soliders, and I'm not sure I can remeber much about
> his characters... a young man learns about evil, and an edgy Vietnam
> vet is transfigured into Christ---that's about it.
Nicely abstracted!
> But what I
> remember, still vividly, are Stone's PLACES. New Orleans, bright,
> menacing, and breathing evil, and most of all, his Saigon. The first
> 30 or so pages of Dog Soldiers, the Saigon sequence, is terrifying and
> vivid, and still---though I should read it again I suppose---ranks
> with me as one of the best novel openings ever.
Did you (already, personally) know N.O. or Saigon when you read them?
Because I didn't have that reaction at all...
.