The book opens with Anatole in the present day, having recently gone on a tour of Tiger Castle, but most of the book takes place five hundred years in the past. Why do you think the author included the first chapter? What does it convey that would be lost if the novel just began with chapter 2?
The author’s present day chapters “set the stage” for the story - especially the part of the potion he develops for longevity. Present day examples seem to help this reader have a greater appreciation for today’s world.
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So often books set in the past do not feel authentic because they have a present-day perspective. Opening the book in the present day allows the author to reflect on the past, but to then tell the story as it might have really occurred without hindsight.
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I think it is a gentle way to be introduced into the Tiger Castle and Anatole (and his mouse but we don’t know that yet!). It encouraged me to want to find out what happened to the Castle and the people. I think it worked.
I think a lot of the humor would be lost. When Anatole reflected on how times have changed, I found myself chuckling.
I agree, I laughed out loud when he mentioned using fungus to cure disease and how he wasn’t mentioned in the history books about penicillin since he was using it way before it was “discovered.”
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My cynical perspective: because everything has to be meta-fiction these days?
Great point! This makes the narrator qualified to talk to us modern English-language readers since he speaks both “our language” and that of the medieval era.
Often I dislike stories that jump around in time, but I feel that this works well. Anatole is recalling events to himself as he is revisiting his old home region, and helps us to understand his perspectives.