tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 16 13:01:32 2001
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Literary "pacing", "flow," etc.
Qor'etlh asks:
: Voragh, is there a better word for 'pacing', 'flow,' or something
: like that in Canon?
Not really. Although we know that Klingon poetry, novels, and assorted other
belles lettres exist and the names of a few basic literary forms, we don't
really know how to discuss them in any detail (i.e. plot, characterization,
dialogue, description, theme, imagery, symbolism, flow, pacing, meter, rhyme,
etc.) in Klingon. Okrand's native informant Maltz was a science officer after
all!
You might say that the story "proceeds well" {ghoSchu'} - if {ghoS} can be used
metaphorically - or even that it literally "moves" {vIH}. On the model of
matay'DI' vIHtaHbogh bIQ rur mu'qaDmey
Between us, curses run like water. PK
(lit. "curses resemble running [moving] water")
you might say something like:
vIHtaHbogh bIQ rur lut
the story runs "like water" (i.e. it flows well)
Then again, you might not.
If you mean that the story is well-written, then say it's well-composed
{qonchu'} or simply that it's good {QaQ/QaQqu'/QaQchu'}, "profound" {chong}
(slang), "excellent" {pov}, "great/wonderful" {qu'} (slang), possibly even
"delicious" {'ey} (slang). (If {'ey} can refer idiomatically to music and
songs (cf. KGT p.84), it *might* be used to refer to other forms of recorded
{qon} art, such as stories or novels. Then again, it might not.)
Tell me what you want to say and I'll make some suggestions.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons