Learning From the Not So Great Novels
This really cute guy came into the library a couple of weeks ago to look for a particular book, Nietzsche’s Kisses. Of course this lousy library didn’t have it, but it gave me a chance to talk to Frank a little more. He seems great, but I’m sure he will never ask me out. Anyway, back to the book. I ordered the book and Frank came in to check it out as soon as I called him. He returned it on Friday, and since I have no life that is what this past weekend consisted of…READINGL Oh well.
After all of this I was quite disappointed with the novel. It is set back in the year 1900, around the month of August. One of the eye catching things was that of the names of the chapters throughout the book. The narrative goes on in a sequence of hours, body parts and flashbacks. The hours run from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. and beyond. The body parts range all the way from the “tail”, to the “teeth”, “tongue”, “stomach”, “bowels”, and the “nervous system”. The flashbacks are part of every third cycle, to remember important moments in Nietzsche’s life, although calling them strictly biographical is to have misunderstand them in a way. I wanted to make sure I was understanding the book, so I looked up some information on the author Lance Olsen. To continue to talk about the chapter titles I was interested in the names of them and how they may have came about. Here is an interview from Olsen talking about specifically the cycles of the chapters and the varying point-of-view:
“the first-person, representing real-time; the second-, representing dream-time; and the third-, representing a failed attempt on Nietzsche’s part to pin down memory and therefore history. The consequence, I hope, is for the reader to feel increasingly unmoored in time and space, in fact and fiction, in “selfhood” and “personality”.”
After reading his greater interpretations on this topic of the names of the title, in this case the flashback scenes. Even though the book didn’t hit me in a place, the author’s writing ideas can help in some way or another. Olsen is has a great hand at writing prose, this book shows that in many instances. I don’ t know if other people feel that way or not, but after reading someone else’s work can inspire you to try that technique in your own personal writing. Or maybe that is just me? Opening myself and my writing up to new ideas and others perspectives is something may broaden my skills or help me to create a new piece of writing.
1 comment:
I don't know about Nietzsche's witting but I know that if I read something that is very interesting, I'll at least try and emulate it somewhat in my own work. I think that they way he structured that is really interesting though, "teeth" to "tongue", gives it a very processional feeling, that each part of this serves a function and leads on to the next part. It gives it, of course, an organic feel and makes the whole thing sound animalistic at the same time. It’s hard to find inspiration sometimes, so it’s good to see that someone is giving it to you. Keep trying with that boy also, good luck!
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