kerravonsen | Temet Nosce

Rebecca has this post which refers to this post this post by witchqueen about "What is the one story you keep on writing? Or reading?"

Oh yes. I have a friend, who has a theory about stories, and names. To put it badly and shortly: some people do write the same story over and over again, and what it is about, underneath, is redeeming their Name. The full theory is deep into the meanings and origins of names, of legends and mytholgy and history, allusions (including bilingual puns) and symbols. It's almost Jungian, though a significant difference is that she reckons that the symbols themselves are not universal, but what they point to is. The difference between the sign and the signified.

Half the time I want to take it with several grains of salt, and the other half of the time I get bowled over by the level on which she can make predictions about stories when the only thing she knows about them are the names. And the seeds of history and legend and myth she manages to tie together -- like the connection between "Hickory Dickory Dock" and the Grail legend. (No, don't ask me to repeat it, I would only get it all wrong)

So, yes, indeed I believe that for many people, there is "one story" we keep on writing/reading -- as if we're searching for that one perfect rendition that will get everything right. Like Lucy in "The Voyage of the Dawntreader" after she read the Spell For The Refreshment Of The Spirit, we know that something is a "good story" if it reminds us of that Perfect Story which we once knew but have forgotten; or which our unconscious knows but can't tell us, except by recognising it when we see it.

So what are my recurring themes, in what I like? I am fascinated by the Other, by the Familiar Made Strange (and the Strange Made Familiar), and by Faithful Secrets, or maybe that's Silent Faithfulness. What do I mean by Faithful Secrets? I mean, where someone is being faithful by keeping a secret, to protect someone else. This is the opposite to the usual kind of secret, constructed for harm and deception, with malice aforethought.

Or to take two quotes from VR.5 (Love and Death):

Sydney: How come you won't tell me anything? Why all the secrets?
Morgan: Secrets.....are for safety!

Duncan: Why all the secrets, Syd?  Secrets are lies!
Sydney: I'm trying to protect you.....

"The Familiar Made Strange" rather explains why I'm into crossovers and "Faithful Secrets" why I like secret identities. My favourite "classic" hero is the Scarlet Pimpernel; my favourite historical novel (The Beacon At Alexandria) has the heroine pretending to be a eunuch, not to mention that the author writes as if the past is an alien planet. My favourite fairytale is The Wild Swans (see, that's Silent Faithfulness, innit?) My favourite Shakespeare is Twelfth Night. And you could say that Jim in The Sentinel has a sort of secret identity.

But what do I write in my own writing? Well, the crossovers are obvious on one level -- seeing the familiar made strange. But what are these people doing in my stories? Well, Avon is discovering what it's like to be Immortal. Jim and Blair are discovering that the world isn't what it seems to be. Lisa discovers that despair isn't the only option. Hmmmm. Maybe it's about Discovering a New World. And possibly finding your place in that world.

So... what are your recurring themes?