Review 8

Rajeet Guha New School Homework 8 Writers have a compelling duty to generate a world that seduces the reader and keeps him spellbound through intricate plots that entail conflicts, crises and resolution according to Nancy Huddleston Packer in Burroway’s classic textbook Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. For Burroway and other writers like Elizabeth Bowen and Jerome Stern who take a scientific approach to writing, setting (place) and atmosphere is indispensable for generating a sustained interest in the readers. Giving short shrift to the atmosphere of the place and ignoring the where and when the plot is in motion, can bewilder readers and bore them to death. Like the rhythm of prose must be in sync with intention, place must be in harmony with the denouement. Setting anchors the story to a particular place and is one of the elements of the story. Setting should be seamlessly woven into the symbolic features of the story and also mirror the mixed moods and nuanced facets of the dramatis personae. Character does not come out of thin air. Character itself is inextricably interlinked to plot, setting and the ambience immanent in that setting. In order to find the rationale behind a character’s momentous actions, it will be imperative to research not only how old the character is along with his or her race and religion but undeniably also the culture and ambience of the place. Sometimes the place may be unwholesome and insalubrious to the protagonist and can often result in friction and discord in the story. In order to ground the setting of the story in reality in the minds of the reader so that he can visualize it crystal clear, the writer’s memory, which is a storehouse of details and knowledge, is used time and again. A lucid and vivid setting in the minds of the reader can also be created through primary research or experiment where the writer goes and lives in those areas and immerses himself in the culture of the place and experiences life there like an anthropologist. Each place or setting has its unique characteristics like geographical demarcations, weather, soil, traditions, culture, history, folklore, music and dance, food, economic development, racial relations and tensions, religious denominations, morality, rationality, terrain and ecology. It is in such a milieu that every character interacts with others and ultimately changes and makes others change as well. Place or setting is seldom simple. Rather it is very complex and often has contradictory or antagonistic forces competing against each other. There is a perennial struggle between the past and the present, the old and the new, the static and the dynamic and finally there is a disruption. Ultimately, a new equilibrium comes to the forefront. Like setting, place or space, there is another vital element in fiction. This vital element in literature is none other than time. Time is an intrinsic and inseparable aspect in literature. Time is a paradigm used in literature to talk about the external world. Nonetheless, literature is primarily focused on content time that is the time period in which the story is written. At times, the duration of time in the plot is compressed while on other occasions it is expanded. It is the writer’s volition to introduce either a condensed time frame or a magnified time. Time is dealt with in literature using the tools of summary and scene. Summary encapsulates a prolonged period of time. A scene in contrast elaborates a small frame in a story. Summary is a utilitarian and critical instrument used by writers to convey knowledge, enlighten the readers about the background of the person in question, and understand the prime movers of certain events and the actions committed, change the pace of the story, rewind or fast forward or transition from one mood or emotion to another without any jagged edges and finally also give an account of the evolution of a relationship encompassing its birth, growth, maturity, decline, decay and end. Flashback and slow motion are devices used both in summary and scene to modify the pace of the story and signal changes in emotions of characters. In literature, a summary must be replete with specific and definite details to pique the curiosity of the reader. A lucid and vibrant summary holds forth the attention of the reader. A vapid and generic summary that goes through the motions puts off the reader. A summary is the base or foundation of the story. It is on this sound and solid base that scenes are used to propel the story forward. Scenes are the staple of stories. Scenes portray the story in all its richness. Scene is the medium to immerse the reader into the fluid world of stories with its unexpected twists and turns. A scene witnesses two people or more engaged in dialogue and action. Within a story, each scene has a climax of its own. Scene creates sensory prose. A scene where there is a climax is not about any moment in time but is the moment in time. The climax or crisis in a scene must be predated by a conflict or nouement. Every climax in turn is succeeded by an anticlimax and finally a resolution. A story can have a single scene and a stellar example of this is William Carlos Williams’ superb story titled ‘The Use of Force’. But it must be kept in mind that a lone summary cannot tell a story. Amateur writers are susceptible to summarizing stories. These make stillborn stories. Novices must not fall into the bait of putting momentous events in a nutshell. A consequence of this will be sterile stories as summaries create a barrier or wall between the reader and the story. Instead, new writers must try to capture momentous moments in their stories through well-crafted dialogue and febrile action that makes a lasting imprint in the minds of readers. A scene is like a magic carpet that takes the reader into the setting and action of the plot in a split second. Sapid scenes in literature make memorable memories in humans that they often later on recall years later with fondness and a wee bit of nostalgia. Scenes are summary often alternated and have their distinct purposes. The two must effortlessly blend into the story. They must also complement each other and add layers of complexity to the story. The English Pupil is a short story by Andrea Barrett. It is told by the narrator in the third person point of view. The setting is Uppsala in Sweden and the tale is set in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The story chronicles the last days of the Swedish natural historian and scientist Carl Linnaeus who is in the depressing and dark winter of his illustrious life. It is pertinent that the story is set in the frighteningly dark and dreary winter of Scandinavia. It is ironic that Linnaeus who was an intellectual giant with a enviable and unforgettable memory is now having severe problems in cognition and memory. Linnaeus is suffering possibly from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. He is hallucinating and has not been able to come to grips with his drastic deterioration in physical and mental health. He is nostalgic about his past glory. He has also a lot of regret and guilt, as he feels responsible for the deaths of his students or ‘apostles’ whom he sent out on expeditions. He imagines seeing their ghosts. It is a tragic story that shows that even intellectual giants turn into dwarfs. Wickedness is set in the American Midwest. It is a story by Ron Hansen. It talks about the destructiveness of nature; how nature in its wrath can wreak havoc over the lives of humans and uproot everyone’s existence. Even manmade materials like buildings, houses and schools are crushed. Wickedness actually portrays the blizzard of the 1880s that ravaged the MidWest. Here the blizzard typifies wickedness at its peak. The blizzard here personifies Satan or the Devil. The Brobdingnagian blizzard demonstrates its devilish deeds by deracinating existence and eviscerating life. Not even pious or good people are spared. The innocuous ones and the not so innocuous ones are devoured alike by the Devil. Wickedness ultimately demonstrates the fragility of human existence. Love and Hydrogen is written by Jim Shepard. It is a titanic tragedy. It is written in the third person. This is a Greek tragedy, as the reader already knows the outcome. It is about the fatal flight of the famed airship Hindenburg in May 1937. The Hindenburg was a German airship that exploded in New Jersey. Several of its crewmembers and passengers died in this hydrogen filled airship. The Hindenburg was a treasured airship of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party. The captain of the airship was a Nazi through and through. The Nazis were insufferable racists who persecuted vulnerable groups. One of the groups that they targeted were homosexuals. Two of the crewmembers were homosexual men who had a steamy relationship with one another. Ultimately they were caught which signaled the end of their careers. The writer wants to make the point that despite discrimination being rampant in Nazi Germany there were gays who indulged in lovemaking, as humans are humans. Throughout history in all parts of the world there have been homosexuals. The story explores a love triangle as one of the homosexual men also has flirtatious relations with a girl and the other homosexual man is consumed by jealousy. It is this jealousy that leads to the jealous guy’s loss of equanimity and makes him commit a blunder that plays a part in the explosion. The story is in the genre of historical fiction. Raymond Carver wrote succinct stories. His lucid and vivid prose was conspicuous for its minimalistic style. His stories are very realistic. A serious talk is written in the third person point of view. It discusses a jealous and possessive ex-husband who cannot come to terms with the fact that he has lost his wife, his children and his home. His heart burns after he learns that his wife is having an affair with another man. Loss of home and family, jealousy, possessiveness, control and unable to accept the inevitable are some of the main themes in the story by Carver. The Swimmer is a surreal story written by John Cheever. This short story is written in the third person point of view. The protagonist of the story is a man called Neddy. He lives in a wealthy suburb of New York. He lives an opulent lifestyle and is a socialite in high society. The story on the surface is about Neddy taking a swim through all pools in the county before reaching his house after an arduous and marathon swim. But in Neddy’s journey we find out that Neddy is actually traveling through time. There is flashback employed here subtly. Neddy was earlier rich but his fortunes have taken a hit. He is now broke and tries to borrow money from people. He is divorced after his wife learns of his extramarital affair. His wife has taken the kids with her. His mistress has broken up with him and treats him with contempt. Those who earlier were unctuous towards him look at him with scorn. He doesn’t have any genuine friends. There are genuine friendships in affluent suburbs. There is only the veneer of bonding and friendship. The story goes from summer to autumn. This signifies that Neddy is in the twilight of his life. His vitality is sapped and he will soon pass away. Adultery, divorce, impermanence of wealth and status, shallow acquaintances masquerading as frienships, depression and ultimately death are the themes in this story. Mrs. Dutta writes a letter is a short story. It is written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It was written in 1998 and published first in the Atlantic Monthly. It is a story told by the narrator/writer in the third person point of view. The story is set in San Francisco in California in the 1990s. San Francisco Bay Area is a place where many South Asians including people from India reside. Many Indian Americans flood Silicon Valley, which is the information technology hub of America. Sagar Dutta is one such character in the story. He has his wife Shyamoli and kids. His wife works too. He and his family have embraced the American way of living with their love of soap operas, sitcoms, talk shows, etc. Mrs. Dutta, the protagonist and Sagar’s mother, has recently relocated to America after suffering from crippling pneumonia in India, where she lived alone for three years after the demise of her husband. She bid farewell to her relatives and buddies in India. She even bid adieu to her bosom buddy Mrs. Basu. But after almost three months of living in the San Francisco Bay Area she has become totally disillusioned with American customs and culture. She belongs to a different generation and finds the culture in America diametrically opposite that of India and certainly unpalatable. She is also appalled by the perceived disrespect shown to her by her independent minded daughter in law and garrulous grandchildren. She wrongly feels that they are being irreverent towards her. In flashback she recounts how diffident Shyamoli was as a new bride. She recalls fond memories of Sagar’s childhood and also recalls her terrifying relationship with her mother-in-law. She genuflected before her mother-in-law as is the custom in the Orient contrasted to the Occident. She was servile to her husband and relegated her own joys to the backburner. She comes back to the present day and thinks of Shyamoli as a conceited daughter-in-law and a cocky wife who has no qualms of conscience about making her husband do household chores. Mrs. Dutta feels America is an individualistic society whereas India is community oriented. People in America are aloof while people in India are friendly according to her perspective. She is completely disenchanted with America. She feels that she has the psyche of an Indian while Sagar and his family have become true blue Americans. Finally she writes back a letter to her friend Mrs. Basu requesting her to rent her downstairs flat to her when she comes back to India soon.