Book Review A
For the sake of having some opinions, the plodding reader can distinguish between two kinds of fiction.
In the first kind, the narrator or protagonist acts as a surrogate for the plodding reader, allowing an experience of empathy or vicariousness. John Updike's sensitive mensch has a boner in Pennsylvania, so the plodding reader has a boner in Michigan, and so on.
In the second kind, the narrator or protagonist forms the third vertex of a triangle comprised of him, the reader, and the world. The area of the triangle is the space of satire. The difference between the reader's point of view and the narrator or protagonist's point of view permits the irrationalities, shortcomings, immoralities, quirks, and/or injustices of the third vertex to be estranged and thereby recognized.
The power of method #1 is that nobody turns away a surrogate boner, except perhaps girls.
The power of method #2 is that wrongs can be righted, insensitiveness can be sensitized, tyrants can be mocked and deposed, and marginal minds relax in centers of vast readerly sympathy. Except that these effects last exactly as long as the book is open. Once it's closed, the wrongs right themselves back into wrongness, people spit on babies, tyrants rule, and marginal minds get locked up and buggered.
In THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, Mark Haddon creates a triangle between you, an autistic boy, and people who separate maritally. He allows the reader to feel both charitable and clever, creating a protagonist who tests the reader's ability to get what he's saying. It's an easy test.
Books written by the rules of method #2, with a satirical narrator, depend for success on two criteria.
The first criterion is the importance of the satire - its magnitude, acuity, and relevance. The greater the importance, the greater the righteousness with which the reader can shut the cover of the book and sit on his duff. By this criteria SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE receives an A, HUCKLEBERRY FINN receives an A, and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME receives a B-.
The second criterion is the delight and invention of the satirical point of view. The greater the delight, the more the book resembles something made by a genius. By this criteria, SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE receives an A, HUCKLEBERRY FINN receives an A, and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME receives a B-.
In the first kind, the narrator or protagonist acts as a surrogate for the plodding reader, allowing an experience of empathy or vicariousness. John Updike's sensitive mensch has a boner in Pennsylvania, so the plodding reader has a boner in Michigan, and so on.
In the second kind, the narrator or protagonist forms the third vertex of a triangle comprised of him, the reader, and the world. The area of the triangle is the space of satire. The difference between the reader's point of view and the narrator or protagonist's point of view permits the irrationalities, shortcomings, immoralities, quirks, and/or injustices of the third vertex to be estranged and thereby recognized.
The power of method #1 is that nobody turns away a surrogate boner, except perhaps girls.
The power of method #2 is that wrongs can be righted, insensitiveness can be sensitized, tyrants can be mocked and deposed, and marginal minds relax in centers of vast readerly sympathy. Except that these effects last exactly as long as the book is open. Once it's closed, the wrongs right themselves back into wrongness, people spit on babies, tyrants rule, and marginal minds get locked up and buggered.
In THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, Mark Haddon creates a triangle between you, an autistic boy, and people who separate maritally. He allows the reader to feel both charitable and clever, creating a protagonist who tests the reader's ability to get what he's saying. It's an easy test.
Books written by the rules of method #2, with a satirical narrator, depend for success on two criteria.
The first criterion is the importance of the satire - its magnitude, acuity, and relevance. The greater the importance, the greater the righteousness with which the reader can shut the cover of the book and sit on his duff. By this criteria SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE receives an A, HUCKLEBERRY FINN receives an A, and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME receives a B-.
The second criterion is the delight and invention of the satirical point of view. The greater the delight, the more the book resembles something made by a genius. By this criteria, SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE receives an A, HUCKLEBERRY FINN receives an A, and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME receives a B-.
posted by James K. Swivet at 8:22 PM
1 Comments:
Is the Curious Incident book a #1 in the clothes of a #2?
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