RARA-AVIS: third person narrative

Bill Hagen (billha@ionet.net)
Sat, 2 Aug 1997 23:26:02 -0500 (CDT) > These days, so-called "hardboiled" gumshoes talk too much, brood too much,
> express their feelings too much, and justify or rationalize their actions
> too much--to pad books? I know they have feelings but please don't say it,
> just act it out and let readers think how they feel.

Well said, Juro. Echo of something Hemingway was supposed to have said
about first person narration being diarhea of the mouth. In line, too,
with whole modernistic tendency to "show" or dramatize, rather than "tell"
or summarize/comment. Limited third person is more dramatic and
supposedly cools the author's temptation to play god, or its modern
variant, to play therapist. [Is this so, writers? Does choice of limited
third act as a constraint?]

HOWEVER I have some sympathy for mystery writers who want to build
character from one book to the next in a series. They want to avoid the
old adventure series trap: exactly the same guy in "pick your place"
encountering "pick your villain." So a # of writers seem to be pushing
their characters into changes, whether relationships, aging, or injury, so
that the books have a "life plot" or "growing up story" that continues as a
second level of interest, beneath the crime plot. For someone like P.D.
James or Tony Hillerman, this feature builds character loyalty among the
fans. As the characters accumulate a "history," there may be more reason
for reflectiveness. There's danger here, to be sure, but, finally, I'm in
sympathy with the authors who attempt some density in their major (and
minor) characters, even if it slows things down.

But I'm also with Juro, Dan and others who are tired of the little internal
"self-talks" or set-piece heart-to-heart talks with minor characters who
just don't matter very much.

Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>

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