I'm currently reading Edwin Torres' CARLITO'S WAY, which I'm
enjoying so far (rare-birds may remember the film version by
Brian de Palma). It's written in the first person & very
much in New York Puerto Rican dialect
(with liberal doses of Afro-American & Italo-American).
IMO it works very well - one certainly doesn't get the sense
that the protagonist, Carlito Brigante, is a fool by any
stretch of the imagination nor that the use of dialect is an
indication of lower mental faculties. The narration flows
pretty smoothly & I don't feel that the use of the
dialect intrudes on the story, in fact it gives the narrative
an easy conversational tone that is very readable. I guess it
boils down to the writer's skill in making the language seem
both real while at the same time perhaps judicially choosing
which words to spell phonetically & how often to do it
without jarring on the reader. In that area, I think Chester
Himes also had a skilful touch when it came to portraying
dialect without it becoming a chore to read. Many of the old
pulp writers were particularly poor at portraying the
dialects of ethnic minorities but I don't think it's
inevitable that attempts to capture dialect will be
unsuccessful, as demonstrated by the 2 authors I've
mentioned. Anyone else read anything by Torres & what
didja tink (I mean think, bloody spell checker)?
Rene
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