Friday, April 24, 2015

SHAKESPEARE

Some want to bury him; I want to praise him. That line is from one of his plays, paraphrased. I heard at dinner tonight that only four universities in this country are still teaching the greatest writer the English language has ever had. I'm surprised at not falling off my chair when I heard that. I do not want to discuss this great bard just now, but I especially want to stress an important fact found in the college departments of philosophy, perhaps psychology, perhaps several others on campuses if any good at all. This is it: If you have not studied unabridged Shakespeare (more than one play) with good satisfactory grades in it, and that unabridgement has not been ruined by modern lingo, you have NO VOTE whether we bury Shakespeare or not. It's the same as with Latin: if you have never studied Latin for two or more years with satisfactory grades, don't knock it. 

Why would a college faculty or Broad of Trustees want to do away with Shakespeare? Here are two possible reasons: If a good class, it takes some heavy studying (this might hinder one's playing time and having fun), and a C grade, for example, might lower one's Grade Point Average and one might lose a scholarship). Why should so many want the easiest way out? Think about it.  
OMEER

Omeer is a character in a published story, not my story , but it won a prize and is excellent writing. I thought it was going to be under 5,000 words long but it was not. It seemed more like 10,000 words or even longer. I tried to read it several times but the story didn't grab me, as a short story is to do immediately, even in the first sentence, even the first line, and dare I say even first word? Yes! That would be good. I laid Omeer aside all those times, and finally got his story read weeks after getting the magazine in the mail. I kept waiting for it to show the Inciting Moment so that the plot could get on the road. It never really did that. There is no Climax in the plotting either and perhaps only a week Culmination. 

The rules for a short story have not changed. They are more like the rules for poetry rather than like those for a novel where almost anything can happen at any time and with many words. A short story needs every word it takes to tell it, with none wasted. It covers a short period of time, such as a month (and that is stretching it a bit), two weeks, one day, or even just fifteen minutes. It portrays one impression and all hangs on that. This is the skeleton of a short story: a short period of time with the Inciting Moment (the cause of the story's being written), the Climax (the highest point of interest in the story, near the end), and the Culmination (the ending). It does not cover a character's entire life; that belongs in a novel. Omeer's story lacked all of these requirements and if it had been part one of a novel, I could praise it, but not as it is. 

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

MY STORY IS READY TO GO

About a year ago I wrote a short story and in the following months I marked time in Rehab and Assisted Living, and many people read the story, almost 100 readers in all. When I returned to Independent Living I began picking at the story. Picking at your story is what you do till it goes out in the mail. I am mailing my story electronically tomorrow. It is a feeling most people will never experience, although it's somewhat like expecting the birth of a baby. One author wrote the night before she knows the story is going out, she sleeps in the room where the manuscript pages are. Sleep, I said, but I have an idea not much sleeping gets done because the presence of the story in the room may be like that of a live being, even an intruder.

I've waited this long to submit the story, for I couldn't imagine what magazine would be interested in such a story as mine is. Then I found one that has a contest going for any genre of fiction! As I read the rules, I got some more ideas and that meant more picking at. The story is so much better now. Next January we'll find out if it was good enough.
  
ANOTHER UPDATE

Here is a conversation that really happened today in the dining room. As I headed for lunch, I went by the office of our Executive Director but she was not there. She had gone "that-a-way." I found her standing at the next dining table to mine, and I just tapped her on the shoulder and kept walking. The brilliant conversation went like this:

Me: Guess who has just won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Her: You're kidding.
Me: No, he really won it. 

End of conversation. 

Of course, we were both talking about Anthony Doerr, Boise author who wrote All the Light We Cannot See, but we hadn't talked about him recently but about other people's books. You've heard of this book right here on this blog. If you haven't read it yet, Amazon is going to run out of them. Better hurry.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

UPDATE ON WAR AND PEACE

Although it's difficult to lay this book aside to attend to the business of living, I will say -- without having read the literary criticism in the volume -- that if Tolstoy hadn't been so busy with putting smiling faces on so many characters and so many times, if not scowling ones -- he might have spared us at least 200 pages. (He wouldn't get by with that from today's editors.) This does not lessen the artistry of the genius Tolstoy was, but it does amuse us. In time, we may learn we can skip over several phrases and know still what the words were. In spite of this literary idiosyncrasy, the rest of his wording is excellent. It is, at the present time, a character-driven story which may change to plot-driven. After all, we know there is to be more war. War is usually plot-driven, wouldn't you say?

One of the most annoying literary fixtures we must put up with in most great Russian literature are the patronymics the language is blessed with. It's not enough to iterate the first name of a character, but also the middle name, and occasionally the surname. A three-name appellation can take a whole line of print, depending on the publication, and the length of names. Many times it's also easy to just nod a "hi" to the character's patronymic and move on. The most important characters you will never forget.   

I will leave that till the next time, for I want to tell you about a novelette Tolstoy wrote which is one of the best stories I've read in my long lifetime of reading. It is Master and Man, with primarily only the two characters, a terrific snow storm, and gorgeous figures of speech. If you can't get War and Peace, or if not inclined to do so, I beg you to have the librarian locate this short work for you (probably published in an anthology) and read it. It is on the list of my ten most favorite literary masterpieces. Perhaps I'll give you that list one day.

Monday, April 6, 2015

THE SMALLEST AND THE GREATEST

Books, that is. You've already heard about the 151-page book I was reading a few days ago, Face of a Hero by Pierre Roulle, published in 1956. Although it is a short work, it was nevertheless taking its time in letting me get through it. What long words he used, not difficult ones, just long, with many -ment's, -ion's, -ty's, etc., suffixes that in good writing we are taught to avoid. It was suspense and actually a murder mystery, but that crept up on the reader. I would not call it a thriller, by any means, because of these very reasons. On the other hand, I finally did appreciate it after the reading. I had wondered who this hero was who had the face, and what about his face? I didn't understand that title, till the end of the last chapter. If it is the only book around for you to read, fine, read it. Otherwise, don't waste your time unless you are into literature in a big way. 

Before that book, I completed reading The Coffee Trader, also on my shelves for years and years. These two books have been donated to the library here where I live. Someone will perhaps enjoy them.

But now the greatest novel. Tolstoy's War and Peace has been in my possession for many years, possibly 40 years, and I have not read it. I have begun it--am on page 14--but I must tell you about the surgery I worked upon it last night. Its 1,483 total pages, including notes and aids--which one does want to read in this book--all this in a soft cover format with tiny margins on the pages, was entirely too much to hold for reading. So, I began tearing the book apart. So far, only Book 1 and Book 2, a total of 213 pages, have been separated from the rest. There are 15 books, plus the first epilogue and then a second one. My plan is not to have 15 separate books, but perhaps seven or eight . I would like to have each little book professionally hardbound for future readers. In seven or eight different colors. But such doings are a long way off. 

But the thing is to read the book. These first pages I've covered so far are one scene at a Russian soiree with several rooms in the setting and much laughter and talking, and lovely dresses and splendid uniforms. Tolstoy is also quite good at describing faces as Pierre Roulle was in his work. Imagine (in this one) a beautiful sister who has an ugly brother, but they have the same features! I will not be retelling the story for you as I read it, but I might point out something significant, such as a character in the first paragraph's declaring Napoleon is the Antichrist. Well, the title tells us the story will be about war and peace. Do you suppose any anno Domino world leader, especially a conqueror in time of war, has not been called the Antichrist? I doubt it. These guests at the soiree are smug in their safety, but we'll see how their world turns upside down. 

I can hardly wait to get the book read, for I also possess the film version of this story in Russian. (Have had it for several years too, but not more than 15 perhaps.) It is expert photography and one can get much of the story without knowing the language.

If any of my members will be reading this masterpiece too, or have read it, I'd love to know about it. Your input would be welcome. You will finish the task much faster than I, of course. And now to read before bed.