So mid-semester ‘break’ has flown by, and so now I am rekindling my relationship with the ol’ blog. The lack of blogging over the break felt a little strange, but so did being sick in bed for the week. Oh the fun times! But, Felicia is back on the Networked Media horse, and ready to tackle another brutal Symposium question.
Without further adieu…
Q-
Without a conventional narrative structure, how much control does the author loose?
A-
This is just one of those really tough questions that you think you have the answer to, which you then find intrinsic flaws in and subsequently end up back at the drawing board.
I suppose it depends how the individually perceives the author, and the weight of narrative structure in the understanding of the book. If a book is structured in a non conventional, lets say experimental way, the reader is immediately faced with a challenge. Take Virgina Woolf’s ‘Orlando’, this book within its 300 0r so pages, Orlando travels across numerous historical times and even experiences a sex change. The major and influential jumps in time are unconventional although I don’t believe they cause Woolf’s metaphorical death.
When reading this book, I was constantly questioning my own understanding and wondering what Woolf’s motives were when including elements of the narrative. In fact, this occurs with most unconventional books. It becomes a challenge for myself as the reader to just seep into and become lost within the pages, because I’m caught up trying to follow the story and why it is told in such a way.
The Author continues to hold the power, because they know the true reasoning behind such unconventional structures. I always get left with the feeling that, no matter how extraordinary my insight and understanding is, it will always be secondary to the author’s true and original meaning behind, in most cases, outrageous story telling.
-Felicia-
