Margo Berendsen
asked
Jo Walton:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[What is the main character's real name in Among Others? I picked up this book based on Rachel Hartman's review, and LOVED it! Read it "all in one gulp". Rachel writes, "one minuscule reference to her real name...WOW" but I must not have picked up on that? At one point I thought she referred to herself as Morganna, so did she switch places with her sister? (hide spoiler)]
Jo Walton
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Her "real" name is a moot point, really. She says they were Morwenna and Morganna, and they were both called Mo, and Mor, and Mori, but names were pretty fluid between them. For convenience in the book, I call the dead twin Mor and the live one Mori. As for their formal names, yes, she's now Morwenna and before on occasions when formal names were needed she was mostly Morganna. This was a grief reaction. And some of her family know that she did this, it just wasn't a big deal and they didn't make a fuss about it. By the time we see her Morwenna is her "real" name, it's on all her paperwork.
It's odd actually, I wrote her with all this fluidity of name, and of surname too, and people writing reviews need to settle on one thing, of course, to say that she's Mori Phelps, or Morwenna Markova or whatever. I find it very interesting to see what decisions they come to about what they want to call her. I didn't have to settle to that because of course it's first person so I didn't have to label her in the text beyond the way she labels herself. (hide spoiler)]
It's odd actually, I wrote her with all this fluidity of name, and of surname too, and people writing reviews need to settle on one thing, of course, to say that she's Mori Phelps, or Morwenna Markova or whatever. I find it very interesting to see what decisions they come to about what they want to call her. I didn't have to settle to that because of course it's first person so I didn't have to label her in the text beyond the way she labels herself. (hide spoiler)]
More Answered Questions
Kelly
asked
Jo Walton:
Ms. Walton, I admire the ingenuity of Tooth and Claw, namely that it's animal fiction for adults. In my experience as an author, the market for these types of novels has all but died in the last decade. Have you considered continuing the Tooth and Claw story or creating another animal universe? If so, is the present market a deterring factor?
J.A. Ironside
asked
Jo Walton:
Hi, I just wanted to ask how you came up with the concept for the fairies in 'Among Others'? They are both intangible and yet as real as every other character in the book. What made you think of them the way you've depicted them there? (Absolutely loved the book by the way!)
Sam
asked
Jo Walton:
How do you reconcile feminism with Plato's following quote: "Completeness seems to require that something should be briefly said about other animals: first of women, who are probably degenerate and cowardly men" from Timaeus? And how do you rate highly someone who thought extreme eugenics is the way to go?
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