leitura desabada

  "An Incident," Part Three To Frame, or not to Frame... George Saunders Jan 30 In my  first post  about “ An Incident ,” I mentioned the structure of the story.  It is, fundamentally, a “frame story,” its essential action book-ended between an introduction (paragraphs 1 and 2) and an epilogue (paragraph 18).   In this post, I want to talk about this device and, specifically, about how the frame justifies itself (how it “earns its keep.”)  I’m sure you can all think of other examples of frame stories (Raymond Carver’s “The Calm,” comes to mind for me).  If I’m remembering correctly, Heart of Darkness is another.  I don’t have any big, overarching theories about frame stories, except that the frame and the inner story should, you know, cross-talk, in some way that causes the inner story to be more meaningful than it would if told alone. The implicit claim of a frame story is: “I’m better with the framing device.”  So, here, re. “An Incide...

  "An Incident," Part Two Dynamism George Saunders Jan 27 First, thank you all so much for the wonderful insights and energy you are bringing to the Comments.  I’m trying to read as many as I can.  But I also think we should recognize that the Comments have two purposes: one is fulfilled when we read a Comment and it light us up; the second is fulfilled when we make the effort to write one ourselves and  that  lights us up (i.e., moves us further down our own path.)  So don’t worry, at all, if you’re not “keeping up with” the Comments.  I doubt anyone is, really. In other words, if reading the Comments is helpful to you, great.  If not, that’s great too.  They are just part of our larger mission here, which is to give ourselves an intense interaction with the stories. I’d also – lovingly, with a smile on my face – say that, if you are doing Story Club during your writing time…don’t do that.     (And this is advice I am trying t...