Tuesday, April 03, 2007

on novels

"I think of novels in architectural terms. You have to enter at the gate, and this gate must be constructed in such a way that the reader has immediate confidence in the strength of the building."

Ian McEwan

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:18 AM

    P,
    I'm reading David Metzenthen's new novel Black Water and thinking just that. All this economical setting up of furniture done in a way that lets the reader inhabit this time and place. Furniture that I fully expect to see smashed into seawrack two-thirds of the way through the novel. Expectation has both the pleasure of anticipation and a creeping fear that good people will suffer. Is this why we read?
    Mike

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  2. I always feel utterly ripped off when I think about the past or the future tha I can't view firsthand, when I think about countries I probably won't see in my lifetime, or think about the fact that i only really get to inhabit one point of view. So I am sure my love of reading and writing comes from trying to exceed these limitations - to walk in someone else's building for a while, to admire the architecture of otherness.

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