As I may have mentioned, I've been reading ANNA KARENINA, one paragraph or so at a time on my phone, which somehow tickles me to no end. I'm nearly finished. It is a strange and contradictory piece of literature, at times so achingly poetic I want to cry, and at other times so blandly dry and superficial that I wonder if it's still the same book. However, I think I've concluded there's a method to that madness.
I hit a particularly long and excruciating section of the novel in which Konstantin Levin, the secret heart of the story in my opinion, spends a bunch of time in the confusing world of Russian small-town political machinations. This section seems interminable. I found myself wondering what the hell Tolstoy was up to. Then - BAM! He writes this transcendent description of the birth of Levin's child, and the contrast between these two sections is so shockingly vivid that I can't help but think it's done on purpose. By juxtaposing the banal and the sublime, Tolstoy's given us a potent, in-your-face reminder of what things truly matter in this world, and it ain't political intrigue and bureaucratic backslapping.
So what do I take away from this as a writer? Structure at the service of theme. The courage to take your reader down a side road that will set up a later section. The impact of contrast. The power of a well-written and sympathetic character to keep the reader following them down those side roads. Tolstoy's one-two punch would never have worked if Levin hadn't been such a fully realized internally complex and well-drawn character.
Tried any one-two punches of your own lately?
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I'm not convinced an editor/publisher would let such writing stand today. Seems as if everything has to be the interesting bits, no room for one-two punches of dry vs pow. I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, and it makes me sad. On the other hand, every once in a while I read a modern novel that still takes the time for things like this - mood creation and set up and so forth with patience. I won't completely give up hope yet, but I do often wonder if some of the great classics would make it past the gatekeepers these days.
DeleteI have had authors surprise me at times, made me think they'd done something on purpose for the sake of art. Is it by design or accident though, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point. I tend to start from the assumption that it's on purpose and works, but sometimes I wonder if I'm giving the writer too much credit just because it's a classic.
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