Thursday, 15 May 2008
-
A BRILLIANT LITERARY DEVICE....WINESBURG,OHIO AND LIFE IN THE CUL DE SAC
One of the more ingenious literary devices I’ve come across is the idea of telling a novel length story through interlocking short stories with either a shared character or some other point of intersection as the linking factor.
The granddaddy of this type of novel is WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson….A complex, thoughtful book about the residents of a small town….The linking character here is the local newsman; a young reporter named George Willard….Anderson’s book is striking in a number of ways….His insights into his characters thoughts and frustrations (and frustration is really the word as none of the characters are truly happy or feel satisfied with their lives) are like those of a master psychologist….The spare yet meticulous language he uses in his scenes make any writer envious….I particularly like how he uses little quirks or physical gestures to tell about his characters….One of the greatest American works of literature of all time IMO.
I’m thinking of WINESBURG,OHIO because I just finished reading LIFE IN THE CUL DE SAC by Senji Kuroi (courtesy of my father’s literary care package)….This books shows us four families living as neighbors in a cul de sac in a suburb of Tokyo in the early 1980’s….In this book, there is no George Willard character to act as point of reference….Rather the four groups of characters each head towards an uncertain future occasionally putting in appearances in each other’s chapters.
This is a very interesting, extremely well-crafted book(which won the Tanizaki Prize, Japanese version of the Pulitzer or Booker prize, in 1984) that I have been thinking about a lot since I finished reading it a couple of days ago….The four families each represent a different age group (Young couple with no children, thirty somethings with two young children, middle-aged couple with college age and high school kids and older couple with grown up children)….There are also two chapters in the book that are seen through the eyes of visitors to the cul de sac(including the unsettling last chapter)….The perspective of an outsider is an even more brilliant way to get information across to the reader.
In the end, WINESBURG, OHIO ends on a note of hope while LIFE IN THE CUL DE SAC ends with the idea that storm clouds are brewing and trouble is around the bend but what they both share is an insight into what makes people tick and a brilliant format in which to tell the story….Both books are highly recommended!
-
recommend
- recs 0
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Post a Comment