Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 25 -- Radio Days and Saturday Matinees
In the larger perspective -- ten chapters worth, actually -- we've compiled hundreds of works
ranging from foundational works of modern fiction to the ephemerallity of pop culture. Thus, let
us return to the question raised at the beginning.
What commonalities of literary device have we discovered in our bibliographic sojourn?
Our impressions may relate to myth (Chapter 1), metaphor (Chapter 29 ahead), psychology
(Chapter 37) or our need for belief (Chapter 90), but here, perhaps like the bulk of our writers,
we'll be more pedestrian. What are the repetitions?
For the fledgling author seeking a well-trod, marketable path, we suggest a few.
Fictional underground rivers tend to serve one of two purposes:
• As entry to a place of adventure, sometimes at the wish of the protagonists, sometimes (and
perhaps more often) as the result of a mishap.
• As exit from the above. Deus ex Machina: a boat moored on the subterranean bank. The
tale ends again in daylight.
Fictional underground rivers tend to have common attributes:
• Illumination of some sort. A tale requires an envisionable setting.
• Rapids, perhaps Class III. A plot must never drag.
• An absence of siphons (Chapter 44). Few protagonists carry air tanks.
• Stream banks suitable for disembarkation. Options for on-the-water action are limited.
• Precious stones and phototrophic vegetation. Awesome scenery over blasé.
• Hydraulic implausibilities, particularly in terms of mass and energy conservation. Where does
the water end up and what makes it get there?
Fictional underground rivers tend to elicit particular emotions.
• Isolation. We're alone in a dark environment.
• Introspection. There's time to ponder.
• Fear. What omen lurks around the next bend?
• Inevitability. The tunnel's path is not of our choosing.
The list is by no means complete, but perhaps the suggestions can serve as a revisable
framework as we pursue our own forms of fiction.
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