Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Roman a clef

Roman a clef: This is French for ‘a novel with a key’, and describes a novel about real life, overlain with a façade of fiction. Fictitious names actually represent real people, and the ‘key’ works through the relationship between the reality and the fiction. This ‘key’ may be produced separately by the author, or deduced through the use of literary devices like epigraphs.

Examples of Roman a clef novels are:

Glenarvon (1816) by Lady Caroline Lamb: chronicles her affair with Lord Byron, who is thinly disguised as the title character.

The Carpetbaggers (1961) by Harold Robbins: fictionalized version of Hollywood exploits of Howard Hughes and actress Jean Harlow.

The Ghost (2007) by Robert Harris: the character of Adam Lang is loosely based on former Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Ghost Writer is a movie by Director Roman Polanski who turned the book into a film with Pierce Brosnan playing the character. 

Pic: Farm drive above North Dalton, East Yorkshire.

Accept or Except

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Away from the desk and all things computer for the moment. So, I’ll keep things going with scheduled blogs dealing with the language we use as writers. I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t reply to any comments for the time being, but I’m having a very well-earned (I think so, anyway) rest from work for a couple of weeks.

When to use Accept or Except:  

accept: to agree to, to receive, to believe, to answer positively.  ‘Though it pains me say this, I accept your argument about Tony Blair.’

except: excluding, not including, omitting. ‘Raffles, the burglar, took everything except the kitchen sink.’