I have a hard time believing that Archie has been with Wolfe for 7 years at the start of Fer-de-lance. I think the whole gosh-golly-aint-this-fantastic tone would have worn off more after 7 years...though, I guess from an Archie-as-author pov, he could be writing at a later date and trying to write himself as he remembers instead of how he actually was. That would explain why he occasionally comes across as twelve instead of twenty-something. People tend to have really distorted memories regarding their younger selves.
I don't buy his story about being ending up with Wolfe because he lost some girl. It sounds like an invention of Archie-as-author, rather then something that actually happened. Archie-as-author = BEST THING that ever happened to fanfic writers! Whenever something seems contradictory you get to shrug and chalk it up to Archie being an unreliable narrator.
Wolfe's characterization also starts to evolve, shifting away from kind of a moody, deep, tortured super-genius in FDL to a more human, flawed (petty, lazy, etc.) man in later books-- it's kind of cute to imagine that it's because Archie himself is maturing and isn't as over-awed by Wolfe as he used to be
I think there's more to it then maturity...
a) In my mind Wolfe was suffering pretty intense PTSD as a result of his involvement in WWI. I think before Archie came along Wolfe spent most of his time shut up alone in his house, having really horrible depressive episodes and panic attacks ie Relapses. Wolfe gets better as time passes so there aren't as many incidents as there would have been in the early years. Also, I think Archie's presence in his house would have contributed a great deal to his recovery.
b) Archie isn't understood to be a minor NYC celebrity in the early books. Later in the series other characters recognize him supposedly from reading his previous books, so he would be conscious of people reading them in a way that he wouldn't be when he was younger. It's a bit like teenagers today who pour their souls out on facebook or livejournal etc. People never understand the value of privacy until they are confronted with losing it.
It's too bad that you couldn't really *write* "How Wolfe And Archie Super-Adorably Hooked Up After Archie Was Bonked On The Head On The Docks" without including Archie's early-days casual racism, which is not so bad (and by not so bad I mean only in comparison to other parts in Fer-de-Lance. Which sadly isn't saying much) in the short form version but would be kind of unavoidably ugly in an expanded version. Unless you wrote it from like 2010!Archie's POV, I suppose.
...hmmm, I'm writing it in my Rentboy!Archie WIP. I'm sure it will probably be made of fail for lots people, but I'm from the George McDonald Fraser school of historical fiction. I think it's better to include historical racism with it's unavoidable ugliness than to ignore it as though it didn't happen.
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I have a hard time believing that Archie has been with Wolfe for 7 years at the start of Fer-de-lance. I think the whole gosh-golly-aint-this-fantastic tone would have worn off more after 7 years...though, I guess from an Archie-as-author pov, he could be writing at a later date and trying to write himself as he remembers instead of how he actually was. That would explain why he occasionally comes across as twelve instead of twenty-something. People tend to have really distorted memories regarding their younger selves.
I don't buy his story about being ending up with Wolfe because he lost some girl. It sounds like an invention of Archie-as-author, rather then something that actually happened. Archie-as-author = BEST THING that ever happened to fanfic writers! Whenever something seems contradictory you get to shrug and chalk it up to Archie being an unreliable narrator.
Wolfe's characterization also starts to evolve, shifting away from kind of a moody, deep, tortured super-genius in FDL to a more human, flawed (petty, lazy, etc.) man in later books-- it's kind of cute to imagine that it's because Archie himself is maturing and isn't as over-awed by Wolfe as he used to be
I think there's more to it then maturity...
a) In my mind Wolfe was suffering pretty intense PTSD as a result of his involvement in WWI. I think before Archie came along Wolfe spent most of his time shut up alone in his house, having really horrible depressive episodes and panic attacks ie Relapses. Wolfe gets better as time passes so there aren't as many incidents as there would have been in the early years. Also, I think Archie's presence in his house would have contributed a great deal to his recovery.
b) Archie isn't understood to be a minor NYC celebrity in the early books. Later in the series other characters recognize him supposedly from reading his previous books, so he would be conscious of people reading them in a way that he wouldn't be when he was younger. It's a bit like teenagers today who pour their souls out on facebook or livejournal etc. People never understand the value of privacy until they are confronted with losing it.
It's too bad that you couldn't really *write* "How Wolfe And Archie Super-Adorably Hooked Up After Archie Was Bonked On The Head On The Docks" without including Archie's early-days casual racism, which is not so bad (and by not so bad I mean only in comparison to other parts in Fer-de-Lance. Which sadly isn't saying much) in the short form version but would be kind of unavoidably ugly in an expanded version. Unless you wrote it from like 2010!Archie's POV, I suppose.
...hmmm, I'm writing it in my Rentboy!Archie WIP. I'm sure it will probably be made of fail for lots people, but I'm from the George McDonald Fraser school of historical fiction. I think it's better to include historical racism with it's unavoidable ugliness than to ignore it as though it didn't happen.