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Jack Vance: Difference between revisions
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=== Tropes extant within the works penned by this fine author; let the reader not assay overmuch ===
* [[An Aesop]] -- One of the stories with T'sais is definitely one, some of the other ''Dying Earth'' stories could be said to be one also. Arguably, Cugel the Clever learns that backstabbing is bad and trust is good by the end of his second book.
* [[Anti
* [[Artificial Human]] -- T'sais and T'sain
* [[Awesome McCoolname]] -- ''Jack Vance''. Seriously.
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* [[Made of Evil]] -- Blikdak, who is literally unravelled to death
* [[A Man Is Not a Virgin]] -- The hero of ''Emphyrio''.
* [[Moral Myopia]] / [[
* [[Narrative Filigree]] -- A constant in the works of Jack Vance. World building is an objective in and of itself. In ''Lyonnesse'' we learn the exact layout of Suldrun's garden, the names of the plants, how it looks at several times and day and times of year. For the grand plot it would suffice to simply confine Suldrun to her garden. Vance will build up a history, a religion, a race, a river or a plain, never necessarily needing it to advance the core story.
** Vance will seriously create societies and planets to mention them in passing without any relevance to the nominal story.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] / [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]] -- Characters ''often'' screw themselves up this way.
** "The Miracle Workers" is set on a planet where human colonists made [[Hollywood Voodoo]] '''work''' to replace their aging technological weapons. When the planet's natives finally decide to attack the humans, one of the "jinxmen" notices that dying natives spew a purple foam. Deciding this foam must be associated in the aliens' minds with death, he uses his powers to project the image of purple foam into the minds of a large group. Another jinxman explains, "Then he learned that purple foam means not death--purple foam means fear for the safety of the community, purple foam means desperate rage." So he tries to intimidate them with an effect that turns them into [[Determinator]]s. Oops.
* [[Our Nudity Is Different]] -- In "The Moon Moth", everybody keeps their faces covered at all times by stylized masks that show the wearer's current social standing. Not even spouses ever see each other's naked faces.
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