Kerry, I won't tell you why handcuffs are on my list. That'd
spoil everything. And it's kind of my point. I don't need to
say anything about the list and already you're making
judgments and asking questions. That's what we do as readers.
Different readers might imagine the list belongs to: someone
into kinky sex; a serial killer; a cop; an escapologist; a
one-handed man with a sense of humour. But the list is simply
a list. It does not instruct per se but it is open to
interpretation.
Incidentally, the examples of the use of the baseball bat you
refer to are not atypical. No baseball is played in Scotland
and we have virtually no exposure to the sport on television.
Baseball bats typically serve only one purpose in this dark
corner of the planet. They're also the weapon of choice among
enforcers.
As for the good writing/bad writing thing, I think Oscar
Wilde had it right: "There is no such thing as a moral or
immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written, that
is all."
Al
----- Original Message -----
From: Kerry J. Schooley
To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 5:08 PM
Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Name Your
Poison
At 09:38 AM 30/08/2006 +0100, Al wrote:
>I can see how you can derive a moral theme from a
shopping list (bread,
>milk, handcuffs, tape, spade), if you're so
inclined, but that's -- as I
>said before -- the reader's interpretation. It's
very far from giving a
>moral lesson. A lesson requires intent on the part
of the author to
>instruct the reader.
Sure Al, but you can't blame it all on the
reader. Like, why are handcuffs
on the list? It's your list. You tell me- which
you probably would do if
the list were used in fiction. Ditto your use of
the baseball bat in Kiss
Her Goodbye. Your book. Your bat. You provided
examples of its use in an
atypical fashion. Not the first time that a
baseball bat has been used as a
weapon, in or outside of fiction, but you're the
one who raised the subject
in this case, not the reader.
But to put the thing in what I think is its
proper perspective- nobody is
innocent. You took up the responsibility to know
what you were writing
about when you decided to become a writer. You
pass along information, even
in a fictional context. As the reader in this
case, I make my own use of
the information provided. It's a loop- culture
affects and reports
perceived reality. For much of this stuff, as
Mark said, we share common
knowledge of this stuff already, to the extent
that we take it for granted.
And we become aware of how pervasive it is only
when we perceive
alternatives to accepted reality. Which I think
was my starting point on
this, way back when I read Kevin's rant (and a
good rant it was, too.)
And Mark said:
"All art contains ideology, but that doesn't mean
the ideology must be
the point of art. Didacticism, which also bores
me, happens when all
other aspects of art -- plot, character,
entertainment, etc -- are
manipulated in order to call attention to,
usually to sell, a specific
ideology."
I agree with this in the broad strokes, but I
think it enters into the
mushy ambiguities Al enjoys when we get to some
specifics. Specifically,
I'm now thinking of the Prone Gunman. Seemed to
me that the author intended
to illustrate the application of an existential
philosophy (whether it's
possible to know what's actually in another
person's mind I'll save for
another debate.) So it's didactic. And manipulate
characters, plots,
entertainment, is what writers do. Does that
automatically make it boring?
I think what you're saying is that the
manipulation to make a specific
point should not be obvious to the reader. We're
really just talking good
versus bad writing. Or am I putting words in your
mouth?
And Mr. Borgers said:
"And I'm not convince at all that "entertainment"
is the final goal of lit."
Actually, I'd make it the first goal. Works that
don't entertain have few,
or at least fewer, readers, limiting the capacity
to instruct, intended or
otherwise. Such books are often found on
mandatory course reading lists.
Here endeth the lesson,
Kerry
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