Influences and Style
Robert Ross, the protagonist, was inspired by T. E. Lawrence and the author's uncle, Thomas Irving Findley, to whom the novel is dedicated. Findley named the character after Canadian literary figure Robbie Ross. Robert Ross' sister, Rowena, was inspired by Mary Macdonald, daughter of Sir John A. Macdonald.
The Wars utilizes first-, second-, and third-person narrative, which is very rare in literature. The novel is also an example of historiographic metafiction.
Read more about this topic: The Wars
Famous quotes containing the words influences and/or style:
“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. Once and again one of those great influences which we call a Cause arises in the midst of a nation. Men of strenuous minds and high ideals come forward.... The attacks they sustain are more cruel than the collision of arms.... Friends desert and despise them.... They stand alone and oftentimes are made bitter by their isolation.... They are doing nothing less than defy public opinion, and shall they convert it by blows. Yes.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“To write well, to have style ... is to paint. The master faculty of style is therefore the visual memory. If a writer does not see what he describes—countrysides and figures, movements and gestures—how could he have a style, that is originality?”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)