A novel, in the end, is a container, a shape which you are trying to pour your story into.
-Helen Dunmore
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
4 comments:
And the best novels probably break their containers.
I think of it more like the best novels *have* containers, while the lesser ones spill out all over the place.
Matthew, your comment went the way of the twilight zone - I approved it but it seems to have disappeared. In response, I haven't read Helen Dunmore's books, but she's been on the perimeter of my radar for awhile now b/c of the awards her novels have won.
I suppose I was thinking more of the experience. My favorite books are the ones where I feel like I lived another life for a while. The created world completely supplants the real one. It's hard for me to think of such a book in terms of containment.
I understand where you're coming from, however.
It's just different ways of looking at it, Jason.
I think of the container, or vessel, as being almost like an offering the author is giving to the writer - having gathered up that other world made it available for the reader to experience.
The word "containment" is a positive thing to me - probably b/c I come at it from the POV of being a therapist, where being the "container" for someone's experience and story is what helps them heal.
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