tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post178414524464190914..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: A psychical complex of the most intricate possible structure. - a Freudian reading of Lady Audley's Secret - no, not like that, but still FreudianAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-90064026997519321252013-02-14T23:25:31.038-06:002013-02-14T23:25:31.038-06:00Good choices - with Dostoyevsky, it sometimes seem...Good choices - with Dostoyevsky, it sometimes seems like it is <i>all</i> instinct - but what instinct!<br /><br />That novel of yours sounds like it was influenced by Schopenhauer. Now that I am reading Schopenhauer, everything seems like it was influenced by Schopenhauer. It is like I have been bit by a venomous snake.<br /><br />I will bet you are right about <i>The Defense</i>, although that is as likely to be self-parody as actual method.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-25527488488212807672013-02-14T17:18:40.689-06:002013-02-14T17:18:40.689-06:00I would claim that Chekhov and Dostoyevski also ha...I would claim that Chekhov and Dostoyevski also had this sort of artistic sense, though Chekhov lacked VN's sense of the narrative as a skilled high-wire performance (and his stories were usually too short--and written too quickly--to allow this sort of process of discovery) and Dostoyevski lacked the discipline to organize; his novels include not only his sprawling narrative canvas, but also the dirty brushes and still-wet dropcloth. <br /><br />The novel I just drafted has at its core the idea that there is no difference within one's mind between memory, imagination, fantasy and fact. All of it appears to be equal and so all of it belongs in any story we tell, even a supposedly true story. Also, none of it presents itself to inquiry or imagination in any sort of order. Which is just a way of rephrasing your "discovered" comment. <br /><br />Nabokov's description of the writer/father character in <i>The Defense</i> coming upon a new way of creating a story at the end of his career (thinking first about symbols and colors and then, maybe, about character and plot), is a nice partial example of this process, I think.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-18377964319014574202013-02-14T16:35:22.649-06:002013-02-14T16:35:22.649-06:00I think you are describing the kind of process Nab...I think you are describing the kind of process Nabokov followed, to jump straight to the highest possible level. The final text reveals a complete mastery of every element of the fiction, but most of the pieces were <i>discovered</i> in the process of writing, not hatched from the egg.<br /><br />Inventiveness is itself a valuable and rare talent, but I believe the kind of artistic sense you describe is rarer.<br /><br />I have Nabokov on my mind in part because he uses dreams so often, many of them featuring subtle parodies of Freudianism. But in the sense I am talking about here, SF and VN are pretty close.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-13007799726434739152013-02-14T11:10:44.961-06:002013-02-14T11:10:44.961-06:00This is excellent, as was the stuff about the angl...This is excellent, as was the stuff about the angles yesterday. <br /><br />Gardner wrote about "the fictional dream," which I think matches up nicely with Freud here. A writer can't help but get stray bits of one scene/character mixed in with other scenes/characters. The best writers will let it happen and follow their own trails of fingerprints around the narrative. A too-controlling writer will cut all of these unintended overlaps, removing accidental mysteries, diminishing the work.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.com