Despite everything that can be said to the contrary, modern literature has made some progress in getting closer to everyday life. And if the banality of plots and characters is sometimes annoying, it is certain that possibilities have opened up in this commonplace scenario, and something new can be said. If the previous tradition expanded the imagination, the new one has led to greater identification with the reader, who now finds it easier to read about his own life narrated by someone else, perhaps venturing into possibilities he had not imagined. In this sense, literature has become richer, and it is good that it has.
Tag: literature
Much Can Be Learned From the Way…
Much can be learned from the way these sailors, hunters and other adventurers narrate their experiences. In short, all these narratives consist of the pursuit of a goal, which is hindered by various circumstances. Sometimes the adversity is so great that the goal becomes mere survival. But the narrative always continues with a clear purpose, to which everything else is subordinate. The reader never hesitates about the relative importance of the events, and understands everything so clearly that he feels he is living the story. The story therefore succeeds literarily, presenting the reader with an experience, a life, full of meaning.
It Is Interesting to See How Some of…
It is interesting to see how some of these adventure books make better literature than most fictional novels. It is curious because, at least theoretically, an account sticks to the facts, that is, it comes off as lacking in imaginative possibilities. Even so, it is often better than ingenious mental constructions. Why is that? Certainly not because of the language. As an advantage, one could point to its guaranteed verisimilitude: since it is real, it is easier to convince. But when we think about it a little more, these details give way to the obvious: making good literature is, essentially and simply, telling a good story. If the story is good, the book is good. If it is not good, there is no point in sustaining it with artifice. In the end, it is the same with reports as with fictional literature.
It Is Said That the Poet Merejkovsky…
It is said that the poet Merejkovsky, at the age of fifteen, asked Dostoevsky for an opinion on the quality of his first verses. After judging them to be worthless, the experienced novelist justified himself by saying that in order to write well, one has to suffer. Suffer! Of course, there is a lot of truth in this statement: nothing important can be understood before a good dose of suffering, and therefore nothing important can be expressed. But the curious thing is to see that in the hardships, exactly in them, a spark springs up as a response to the circumstantial challenge. The mind, affected, suffers and needs to overcome the situation. Then it has to understand it, scale it, absorb it. The effort ultimately enhances it. Suffering leaves a mark, and the result brings a lesson. It is by experiencing it several times that the writer is able to have something authentic to say.