The Art of Fiction by David Lodge

The Beginning

The book clearly opens with a “beginning” to a chronology or collection of significant aspects of literature. I am brought into the mind of a writer, and told about the process of writing a novel. It is clear to me that David Lodge knows what he is talking about; however, I feel that his words are grandiloquent rather than straightforward and concise. He refers to many books that I have never heard of, and it is useless to point out their connection because I have no contextual understanding of his reference. He writes, “There are, of course, many other ways of beginning a novel, and readers browsing through this book will have opportunities to consider some of them, because I have often chosen the opening paragraph of a novel or story to illustrate other aspects of the art of fiction. But perhaps it is worth indicting the range of possibilities here” (7). Lodge completely depicts the passage, in some instances down to the word. His interpretations are certainly scholarly and useful. The chapter explains how much thought goes into the first sentence, paragraph, and chapter for that matter. The reason for this is, the author must draw in the reader; especially one that is not familiar with the style of the writer.

The Intrusive Author

            This chapter explains how the simplest way of telling a story is by utilizing the storyteller, or anonymous voice. This voice serves as a companion to the reader, proving him or her with all of the relevant information of a folk-tale. This form takes away from the story because it “reduces emotional intensity” and it “detracts from realistic illusion.” Many readers of the 21^st century are not too found of a omniscient narrator because the authority of one teller is seldom granted. I agree with Lodge in believing that this type of narrator is not as welcomed as other kinds. By referencing the characters as if they are real people, often the reader will sympathize with the characters; thereby becoming emotional involved. Lodge is doing a fair job portraying his point; I still don’t like random references though. “We read fiction, after all, not just for the story, by to enlarge our knowledge and understanding of the world…”

Suspense

 Suspense is a particularly useful way of holding the audiences interest in any medium. Suspense essentially raises questions, and concerns, and then delays the answers. This can sometimes be refereed to as a cliff hanger; because often times the reader is fearful for what is going to happen to the protagonist and makes the reader sit on the edge of his or her seat. Sometimes the author will make it more suspenseful on the reader by taking note of more than one vantage point, or move on to another episode in the book.

Teenage Skaz

            This is type of first-person narration has the characteristics “of the spoken rather than the written word.” The reader is addressed as you, and the narrator refers to himself or herself as “I.” This is particularly appealing because it creates the desired affect of authenticity and real, truth-telling. This was a popular narrative form for many early American writers because it allowed them to escape the “inherited literary traditions of England and Europe.” The reader should feel as if the narrator is talking directly to him or her in a conversation. It is informal and transcribes spontaneity and authenticity. This type of novel is enjoyable because it swings from one paragraph to another. I like reading this type of novel because it holds my attention and isn’t so verbose.

The Epistolary Novel

            This type of novel is written in the form of letters. The convention is no longer plausible because people rarely write long, personal and interesting letters for correspondence because we have email, the telephone, and other forms of communication. This first person narrative is a type of autobiographical literature, however, the outcome of the everything in the life of the author is unknown. This is the chronology of an ongoing process. One event can be portrayed to the reader in different points of view because there can be more than one correspondent; thereby giving diverse interpretations. Also, this form can be quite revealing and complicated. “The pseudo-documentary realism of the epistolary method gave the early novelists an unprecedented power over their audiences…” I think that may be a bit to extreme. How would a book full of letter give unruly power to the author? I’m not so sure I would be interested in this type of novel; although I don’t think I’ve ever read one.

Point of View

 An unlimited amount of vantages points can be given to the reader by the author. It is most popular for there to be an omniscient narrator who will give the reader the point of view of a couple other characters. The reader of a novel often likes to know how a certain event will directly affect a character, and not just what the God-like narrator thinks is best to say. Consistency is very important when writing a story. Is it not too uncommon for an inexperienced write to stick to one point of view the entire book, and then give an arbitrary point of view from a character who might have something to say for that one instance. I like reading about the point of view of other the protagonist, and not necessarily an omniscient narrator the most.

Mystery

 “What will happen?” “How did she do it? “Who killed him?” “Will he get caught?” Readers love to be guided through a good mystery. They want to be held in suspense, and they desire to know the unknown of the enigma. The reader loves knowing that there is a mystery, and is going to be solved so long as he or she keeps turning the pages; although sometimes there are exceptions. “Hints, clues and puzzling data” provide a steady income of information to digest for the reader. I feel that reader’s emotions often get involved with mystery novels in the same way that suspense does. I think the reader grows empathetic, and often sympathetic to the protagonist who often times suffers from adversity, or some type of misfortune. I like mysteries because I enjoy observing the characters make discoveries, connect their leads, and make conclusions.

Names

 Lodge makes an interesting investigation into the history and relevance of ones name. He goes on to say that the name of a person/character, object, or place can greatly affect the way we interpret that certain thing. Lodge points out that names aren’t neutral, and that they always have some sort of signification. Some authors, such as those of comic or satire work, create pretty outrageous and allegorical names. Whereas realistic authors usually use boring, common names. Naming a character or place can be just as important as any one of their other characteristics. I will admit to making stereotypes, expectations or other pre-determined notions regarding the names of people and places before. For instance, Winesburg, Ohio—one would expect a boring, under populated town. Huck Finn—I expected a spontaneous, and interesting kid. Both assumptions were proved correct. Although they could be bias examples because I have already having read the books).

The Stream of Consciousness

  In this type of literature, the author tries to write in a “stream,” or constant flow of thought and sensation. In this form, the author openly writes about “emotions, sensations, memories, and fantasies.” One’s own experience can be regarded as the only “real” way of telling a story. The reader is offered an imaginitvie front row seat to the mind and workings of another human being which provides a much needed escape from reality. The two techniques for representing consciousness in prose fiction is the interior monologue, and the other is called free indirect style.

Interior Monologue

 The interior monologue is often lethargic, slow, and boring for the reader because it has so much “trivial detail.” This type of literature can show seemingly instantaneous reactions, authentic consciousness, original thoughts, motivations, and customs. I agree in thinking that this type of monologue is unexciting. I think it is too much information, in short segments which makes it confusing. There seem to be few catchy phrases, and the point to the paragraph is not always apparent.

Defamiliarization

Defamiliarization discusses common things in an unfamiliar context, giving a new, strange outlook on the object being discussed. This is commonly used in visual art, where artists take ordinary objects and put them in completely new environments. “..the writer has invented something without precedent, but that she has made us “perceive” what we already, in a conceptual sense, “know”, by deviating from the conventional, habitual ways of representing reality. Defamiliarization, in short, is another word for “originality”.

The Sense of Place

The reader likes to know where the story is taking place. Often times it can truly add the interest and understanding of the context surrounding the plot. The perfect settings are chosen for romance, comedy, tragedy, satire, seriousness, and light-heartedness to name a few. The right choice for setting can really engage the reader because it provokes more interesting descriptions and vivid mental images for the reader juxtaposed to a boring black background. Choosing a setting is difficult and important because it involves the natural surroundings, as well as the inhabitants, romantic origin and historical reference etc. The challenge lies in making the novel’s chosen form “eloquently descriptive” and expressive of the narrator or protagonists character. This connection may be hard to find and expand upon, but the great authors can do it. Slang and native language can be intertwined within the story as well.

Lists

Fictional prose can adapt lists in order to help develop characters, set the agenda, offer outside information or insight, and show a schedule or routine to abide. Often times authors will offer subtle or critical connections in lists. Other times, the list will be quite irrelevant. As in the Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-time, Chris uses many lists so that he can tell the reader about his problems, his favorite things, the things he dislikes, his goals and aspirations, his schedule, and other things that bring the reader closer to the protagonist. I like lists that are set apart from the paragraph, for instance vertically, because it draws special attention towards it.

The Reader in the Text:

“Every novel must have a narrator, however impersonal, but not necessarily a narratee. The narratee is any evocation of, or surrogate for, the reader of the novel within the text itself.” Sometime the author of the text will step away from the storyline, and he will speak directly the reader. In some of the examples given, the narratee tries to keep the readers attention by saying something such as “Relax, concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade…” I can’t remember too many books where this was the case, but I think I would like the occasional narratee, because it’s a direct personal connection to the author.  

Weather

Weather is an easy and significant way for the author to portray the environment and mood of the particular scene. Often times, the reader can empathize with the characters because he or she has been in, or hear of similar weather circumstances. The reader may fear for the protagonist in a lightning storm in the middle of the forest because the reader knows it is dangerous and scary. Lodge says, “…used with intelligence and discretion it is a rhetorical device capable of moving and powerful effects.” Weather has been used as a literary method from in such books as Odysseus and The Tempest. It can also serve as philosophical symbol like in The Great Gatsby.

Repetition

English, like most languages, innately necessitates the use of repetitive language. The repetition of grammatical words and syntax phrases isn’t usually not recognized or given any attention because it is so common. The repletion of lexical words is less evenly distributed. It is considered good literary prose to have “elegant variation” in ones writing. If something, whether an idea or simply a phrase must be referred to more than once, it should be done in an alternative approach. Sometimes words carry such meaning, such as the example of “hospital,” that they should not be replaced by pronouns.  

Fancy Prose

“Variation and decoration” is another writing style where the words used as chosen carefully, so as to express eloquence. Sometimes this involves “parallel syntactical structures and similar sounds.” It’s important to take note that this sort of writing can often be considered “clever, and amusing in short extracts, but after a few pages it is apt to weary the modern reader by the sameness of its stylistic exhibitionism.”

Intertexuality

            “There are many way by which one text can refer to another: parody, pastiche, echo, allusion, direct quotation, structural parallelism. Some theorists believe that intertexuality is the very condition of literature, that all texts are woven from tissues of other texts, whether their authors know it or not.” Many texts either subconsciously, subliminally or very obviously make references to other literature before their own. For instance, in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the author clearly makes a connection to William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

The Experimental Novel

“An experimental novel is one that ostentatiously deviates from the received ways of representing reality—either in narrative organization or in style, or in both—to heighten or change our perception of that reality.” Brave New World could be considered an experimental novel because it was, and still is considered quite radical in its ideas. Also, Huckleberry Finn can be considered an experimental novel because of its controversial use of profane and racist language. This use of language had not been seen before in literature, and came as a shock to most northerners. It is still considered a literary masterpiece.

The Comic Novel

“Comedy in fiction would appear to have two primary sources, though they are intimately connected: situation (which entails character—a situation that is comic for on character wouldn’t necessarily be so for another) and style.” Timing is essential when comedy is put into a book. Of course comedy is subjective; what is funny to one person, may not be considered funny to another. Comic relief can be a very much appreciated literary method for the reader. Sometimes comedy can help reveal insightful things about characters and the situations.

Magic Realism

This is “when marvelous and impossible events occur in what otherwise purports to be a realistic narrative.” The most common images of magic involved defiance of gravity included images of flight, levitation, and free fall. Even though we know that certain events are impossible, we set our sensibility aside and suspend our disbelief because of the poignant and powerful expressions typically involved.

Staying on the Surface

“A novelist chooses to stay on the surface of human behavior we register the absence of psychological depth with a surprised attentiveness, and perhaps uneasiness, even if we cannot immediately put out finger on the reason.”  In this instance, the reader is not granted access to a different analytical vantage point such as the authors ( in the form of the narrator). “Many find [found] a texts refusal to comment, to give unambiguous guidance as to how its characters should be evaluated, disturbing, but this is undoubtedly the source of its power and fascination.” This type of writing provokes the reader to think of oneself and not be handed exactly what the author is trying to say.

Showing and Telling

 There is often a variation between showing  us what happened and telling  us what happened. One of the best ways of showing is to use quotes from characters in the book. The best way of telling is called authorial summary, “in which the conciseness and abstraction of the narrator’s language effaces the particularity and individuality of the characters and their actions.” An author must vary his use of showing and telling, for a novel written entirely in one fashion would not be enjoyable or gainly. Summary can be used to help the author pass time quickly, so as to create suspense or to skip past mundane events and pass a long amount of time.

Telling in Different Voices

“The summary narrative method seems to suit our modern taste for irony, pace, and pithiness. It’s a particularly effective way of handling a large cast of characters and a story that spreads itself over a long period of time, without getting bogged down in the slow temporal rhythms and dense detail of the classic novel.” The syntax and vocabulary should not be uninteresting and dreary. If a summary is up-tempo, interesting, and varied it can have a stylistic liveliness that is attractive to the reader. Some authors use varied levels of speech in novelistic discourse but often times it appears to be a medley of styles and voices; making it democratic and vivacious. The voices are not immune for contradiction, as various vantage points can be insightful.

A Sense of the Past

“Historical novels in that they dealt with historical personages and events; but they also evoked the past in terms of culture, ideology, mangers and morals—by describing the whole “way of life” of ordinary people. This method highlights social and cultural change, brings resonant past events and people to the present to make connections among other things. Sometimes the reader may not be interested in what happened in the past, and can easily be lost in seemingly useless details. 

Imagining the Future

Writing in the future is a very difficult literary method. The past tense is the natural tone for a narrative because everything has already happened and we can easily become situated with the atmosphere of the book. This is considered a novelistic illusion of reality. This sometimes invokes, modifies, or recombines images that the reader is already familiar. As in Brave New World, Huxley’s foresight is sort of too far off and rather uninteresting. Most times when people look into the future, they imagine a highly technical, physics-law-defying society of their imagination. The image created from Brave New World was a daunting one that is pessimistic and not appealing. Some futuristic novels can offer interesting insight and predictions for the future.

Symbolism

“Anything that stands for something else is a symbol…literary symbolism is less decoded because it tries to be original and tends towards a rich plurality, even ambiguity, of meaning.” A metaphor or simile is a common way to symbolize something. Often times a simple noun is used to represent an idea or subtle message of greater importance. Symbolism is used in almost every novel from Great Expectations to Heart of Darkness.

Allegory

“Allegory is a specialized form of symbolic narrative, which does not merely suggest something beyond its literal meaning, but insists on being decoded in terms of another meaning. “A surface realism of presentation gives fantastic events a kind of weird plausibility, and the game of correspondences is played with such wit and ingenuity that it never becomes boringly predictable. Allegory is another technique of defamiliarization.

Epiphany

The term means, a comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization. It is applied to any descriptive passage in which “external reality is charged with a kind of transcendental significance for the perceiver. A decisive action typically performs the function; which provides the climax or resolution to a story or episode.” The bible is the most obvious example of an epiphany, as it signifies the showing of the infant Jesus to three Magi. An epiphany can show how important an action or event is. It also highlights a significant change in a central character due to a enlightening experience. An epiphanic description is likely to profound in its use of speech, sound, and syntax.

Coincidence

“Coincidence, which surprises us in real life with symmetries we don’t expect to find there, is all too obviously a structural device in fiction, and an excessive reliance on it can jeopardize the verisimilitude of a narrative.” I think that if the author uses more than one coincidence in a short period of time (keeping in mind the “chance in a million” theory), the reader will loose faith in the trustworthiness of the author’s story and therefore loose interest. Sometimes even if the author does not intend to, it may seem like a certain event took place as a coincidence and it may seem stretched and unnatural.  

The Unreliable Narrator

They are narrators that are essentially invented. They are part of the stories they tell. The omniscient narrator is one that is all knowing, and can see all sides of the story. An unreliable omniscient narrator is some what contradictory because we don’t know whether or not we can trust the narrator in what he is telling us. This could be because we know the narrator has a mental illness or is a diagnosed pathological liar, or something else more simple. The reader likes to know, or at least like to think, that almost everything we are reading is truth…or we can at least decipher what is and isn’t true. If we can make that distinction, then we can become interested in the novel. If we know there is a chance that the narrator is making up the majority of its interactions with other characters, then we might not be as entertained.