Author fuses genres in unconventional novels
By: Joan Ruddiman
When a bunch of English majors get together, talk turns to books. Here’s a thank-you to English teacher friends Melissa and Matt for suggesting Jasper Fforde’s offbeat novels. Note that the spelling of Fforde is correct it’s Welsh, adding credence to the old saw that the Hawaiians got the vowels and the Welsh the consonants.
Mr. Fforde also reveals his British roots in his books with his affinity for quirky humor. His style has been likened to a mix of Monty Python and Bridget Jones with a strong dash of Stephen Hawking’s quantum physics thrown in just for fun.
Mr. Fforde’s books are in a category all their own, though. When asked about genre, he replied to an interviewer, "Genre, I think, is the measles of the book world … one of those annoying habits that people have got into … "
Fforde fans just reference the novels by series the Tuesday Next novels and the Nursery Crimes. Both build on familiar characters from classic literature like Bronte and Shakespeare. Mr. Fforde says of his unique style that he takes characters out of context and reinvents them.
"You remember the nursery rhyme," he says, or the classic literary character like Jane Eyre. "They still maintain their familiarity, they’re just in a different environment … I find it funny."
So do his readers. Anyone who loves literature will delight in Mr. Fforde’s unique spin on the classics. His first published novel, "The Eyre Affair" (Viking, 2002), introduces his high-spirited, fast on the trigger heroine named Thursday Next. Yes, the name inspires many bad jokes but Next is rarely in a joking mood.
This thirty-something ex-soldier now serves as a special operative in literary detection. As a LiteraTec, Next ensures that the essence of classic British literature is unsullied by forgers, bad translations or worse.
Worse happens, however, when a megalomaniac named Hades (let’s not be subtle) kidnaps Jane Eyre from Rochester’s bedroom before the fire in his covers is doused.
Without Jane, there is no story. Will there even be a Rochester, or is he now just toast? Eyre fanatics across England are out of their armchairs and up in arms. Next is on the case.
Reading a Fforde novel is like wandering through a great museum. Here we are with the Egyptian sarcophagus, now we see Chinese silks, and then Oh look! bicycles from the 19th century. Times and places shift at every turn.
Mr. Fforde’s world has been aptly described as "a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985." The U.K.’s penchant for government control has evolved into a police state where every government ministry is now armed and ready for action against literary rogues, errant time travelers and assorted nuisances like werewolves and vampires.
The Crimean War rages on, 131 years after the actual fact. Wales is a socialist republic behind a Berlin-esque barrier. Cloning has gone mainstream with the extinct dodo bird the pet of choice. Japanese tourists take trips into literature where they snap photos of protagonists without interfering with the story line.
Next’s father is a Chronocop gone bad. He pops in and out of her time from past and future, freezing everyone in the moment but his daughter who he wishes to chat with for a bit.
It just all sounds so bizarre, but oddly, it works in a rather straightforward narrative.
Next is a detective and the book is, technically, a mystery. It is also fantasy and sci-fi with elements of a lovely romance working throughout.
Melissa, Matt and I have suggested the Fforde books to some of our avid middle school readers. Booklist suggests them for high school students and adults, but we find they offer a potent mix of popular genres for younger teens.
Mr. Fforde suggests on his Web site www.thursdaynext.com that this series is best read in order. Following "The Eyre Affair" in 2002, he’s published all with Viking for the United States release "Lost in a Good Book" (2003), "The Well of Lost Plots" (2004) and "Something Rotten" (2004).
The latest Thursday Next novel "First Among Sequels"is due in the U.S. on July 23 with the added bonus that Mr. Fforde is doing a book tour across the country. He will appear in New York City on July 23 and 24, and then he’s off to Washington, D.C., Boston and California.
Between his 2004 and 2007 Thursday Next releases, Mr. Fforde launched the Nursery Crime adventures beginning with "The Big Over Easy" (Viking, 2005). Now think about this "over easy" as in eggs…
In the late 1980s, Mr. Fforde played around with turning nursery rhymes into murder mysteries. Humpty Dumpty (see, you guessed it!) was one of his first victims.
"The Fourth Bear" (Viking, 2006) is the second in the Nursery Crimes series, though not a sequel. The author suggests these are "just random." Ironically, this recently published novel was one of his first short stories that he played with while he was working in the film industry decades ago.
We are in the Three Bears territory as a "mysterious blonde goes missing." Mr. Fforde can be counted on to add other odd elements: she is then found dead at SommeWorld, a World War I theme park. Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde’s guy, also figures into the plot as a used car salesman.
Just for the record, Mr. Fforde had 76 rejections before "The Eyre Affair" was picked up. He believes that the first publisher and the first literary agent that actually read the novel, rather than just the precis, jumped on it.
For such a creative mind, Mr. Fforde’s background in the film industry was on the technical side. His job was to stand next to the camera and make sure it was in focus. How ironic considering he is making a career out of slightly out-of-focus novels.
A few years ago on his Web site, Mr. Fforde said that his long-range plans included writing for "about 10 years to get established" and then he wanted to pursue his passions for photography and flying he is a "keen pilot." He has long lived in the Swidon area, which is why Thursday Next goes home to Swidon. Mr. Fforde also candidly admits that his female protagonist is his dream woman blazing bullets and all, one assumes.
Maybe the ffun of the ffantasy will keep Mr. Fforde writing beyond this first decade. Ffans would be pleased.
Joan Ruddiman, Ed.D., is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.

