Re: RARA-AVIS: Lassie's social assumptions and other stuff

From: DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net
Date: 05 Sep 2006


Al wrote:

"When a character tells a story is not the same as the author telling a story."

True.

"Any apparent 'social assumptions' are those of the character. That much you can say."

Again, true.

"To make the claim that they are also those of the author may or may not be true but I don't see how a reader can tell simply from the text."

Although an invisible author may be a goal for many, I'm doubtful about how often it is actually achieved. Doesn't the author create the world in which the character's story happens? And can't a reader at least get some hints of the author's worldview by looking at the world in which the character's story is told and how it plays out, who is rewarded and who pays, and whether or not those ends are just? Now it may be too much to extrapolate the author from a single work, but what about several? It's pretty easy to see a consistency of vision in Cain, Thompson, Goodis, etc, regardless of the lead character in a given book. But those various characters seem to exist in the same world. Can't you then form some suppositions about the way the author sees the world?

For instance, Two Way Split and Kiss Her Goodbye seem to exist in the same world. I'm not saying you endorse the thoughts or actions of those characters, but can't we at least draw the conclusion from them that you find certain types of situations and/or characters interesting and worth writing about? And that you hope others will find them interesting to read about?

Mark

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