tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post6270103270198503272..comments2024-03-29T09:22:57.031+00:00Comments on Declan Burke: On The Philosophical Potency Of NarrativeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post-28041512958413342032009-01-28T03:23:00.000+00:002009-01-28T03:23:00.000+00:00But I think writing might be like figure skating a...But I think writing <I>might</I> be like figure skating and flashy stuff might get you a few points. It's cant and jargon and specialist language that will kill your chances. To wit, see first example.seana grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03774794086733027289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post-67362264253907106822009-01-27T23:45:00.000+00:002009-01-27T23:45:00.000+00:00Dec, I picked up 'How Not to write a novel' last A...Dec, I picked up 'How Not to write a novel' last April in the states when I was over for work in San Fran. Got to say I marked a bunch of pages where I said to myself 'Yup that's something I'm prone to that I need to have flagged from hre on in' - so there's lots of mini post-its jammed in my copy. The nonsense excerpts they create to illustrate how not to do things do grate after a while - though some are quite funny and absurd.<BR/>One of my favourite of the 200 not-to-do's was "The Unruly Zit - When the author has read too much Bukowski" i.e don't gross-out your readers with every paragraph and scene. <BR/> All in all a worthwhile book to sit beside the trusty dictionary.<BR/> <BR/>As for Banville, don't know about the Kenny book but I saw some doc on rte at xmas and he's a big Sopranos fan! - though of course he had to place it in terms of representing some kind of modern Greek tragedy....ho humLrakyawnochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14689942008846896966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post-40214117292817976222009-01-27T14:21:00.000+00:002009-01-27T14:21:00.000+00:00Leaving aside the fact that I'm a Banville fan, I'...Leaving aside the fact that I'm a Banville fan, I'm curious as to how a narrative - potently philosophical, or philosophically potent - could simultaneously pursue silence and eloquence. Are we talking Beckettian / Pinteresque pauses? More to the point, why would any narrative <I>want</I> to pursue silence? Wouldn't that just logically lead to a blank page, guv?<BR/><BR/>If this is the kind of rot they're teaching the kids out in UCD, it's no wonder the literary novel is disappearing up its own fundament. <BR/><BR/>Cheers, DecDeclan Burkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14322645323239292406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post-82573333547492494602009-01-27T12:10:00.000+00:002009-01-27T12:10:00.000+00:00Post-modern? Figure skating?Hmm.Post-modern? Figure skating?<BR/><BR/>Hmm.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post-72380967552023736112009-01-27T10:17:00.000+00:002009-01-27T10:17:00.000+00:00I take it this guy is writing one of your crime fi...I take it this guy is writing one of your crime fiction essays? Obviously you have just plucked out a particularly damning paragraph at random, choosing to ignore his one liners further down the review?Colinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08433332584935362768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post-40569210223009351712009-01-27T10:07:00.000+00:002009-01-27T10:07:00.000+00:00*snigger smiley*I think you may already have forme...*snigger smiley*<BR/><BR/>I think you may already have formed an opinion, Dec.Fionahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09563849027802245148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post-85846100903904568562009-01-27T09:42:00.000+00:002009-01-27T09:42:00.000+00:00"If only there was an emoticon for the wanker sign...<I>"If only there was an emoticon for the wanker sign."</I><BR/><BR/>Ah, Jesus. I near choked on my coffee there.<BR/><BR/>gbGerard Brennanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18301381067485712366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4938060587020568315.post-7583084267292346972009-01-27T08:37:00.000+00:002009-01-27T08:37:00.000+00:00“[Kenny] successfully teases out many of the parad...<I>“[Kenny] successfully teases out many of the paradoxical features of Banville’s fiction: its refusal of, but underlying alignment with, an Irish aesthetic, its advocacy of a post-modern playfulness with a form that yet coincides with a late modernist belief in the philosophical potency of narrative and its simultaneous pursuit of silence and an exacting eloquence.”</I><BR/><BR/>If only there was an emoticon for the wanker sign.Twenty Majorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371000451615091448noreply@blogger.com