A Writer's Thoughts on Writing
I just had to share this piece from Swann's Way as I'm always fascinated by what great writers thought about their craft. Hemingway did this in many of his novels--revealed his ideas and opinions through his characters.
The scene below takes place in Proust's garden at Combray, where he is mentally commenting on a book he is reading by one of his favorite authors, Bergotte.
Enjoy!!
"And once the novelist has put us in that state, in which, as in all purely internal states, every emotion is multiplied tenfold, in which his book will disturb us as might a dream but a dream more lucid than those we have while sleeping and whose memory will last longer, then see how he provokes in us within one hour all possible happinesses and all possible unhappinesses just a few of which we would spend years of our lives coming to know and the most intense of which would never be revealed to us because the slowness with which they occur prevents us from perceiving them....." (pg. 87)
posted by Wacky World | 4:11 PM
2 Comments:
If the author intends to touch the emotion of the reader as though in a dream state, why did he use such a unique style of long never ending sentences weaving one emotion against another, up and down, side to side, until we are mesmerized in a trance-like state of mind.... oh yeah, now I get it!
John, I so enjoy reading your comments. And if Proust has any influence on the way you read classic literature, then it makes my blog so much more enjoyable to do.
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