At 05:16 PM 09/08/2007, you wrote:
>The character driven stories
>like Mildred Pierce did not sell so well as
books,
>although the movie did his reputation a lot of
good.
As I recall, the movie contained plot devices that were not
part of the book.
>So he looked for good, complex plots and tried
to
>people them with strong characters, but the story,
he
>believed, needed to be there for readers and
critics
>to warm to the book. I think that's an
interesting
>distinction.
Plot reveals character. That's pretty basic insight into the
narrative process, but it still gets overlooked, despite our
long history with this simple code for conveying information.
It extends well beyond fiction, too. Doesn't mean we don't
get to play with the process, though. (Beginning, middle and
end, but not necessarily in that order- you read it here
first!)
In an interview I googled recently, James Sallis said his Lew
Griffin series contains no plot. I disagree. Although it is
sometimes vague and unfolds in non-linear ways, I believe I
detected a minimalist plot arcing over the series. Perhaps
somewhat perversely, I found reading the Griffin series more
satisfying in terms of plot resolution than I did reading
Mildred Pierce, and about on a par with Postman. Maybe Sallis
meant no "deliberate" plot, and maybe I've imposed some of my
own expectations on the Griffin series. That's sort of a
development of Cain's point too, I think with the same
certainty that I think Sallis' point might be that as humans
we try to impose order in a random universe. Certainly the
dialogue between writer and reader regarding plot is one of
the things I enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, about Sallis'
Griffin series, but I bet it costs him a lot of readers
too.
But what do I know? Kerry
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