Subject: Re: complex list (Beam me down, Scottie!)
From: jason varsoke (jjv@caesun.msd.ray.com)
Date: Fri Mar 24 2000 - 15:33:56 EST
I think you guys have hit on a wonderful question. What is chronology
in Fiction? At first I'm tempted to say that you should always read as
the author wrote it. The idea being a simple one. More than anything in
Fiction you are following an author's creative wanderings. And I'm sure
all the determinists, psycho-therapist, and jerry springer would agree
that you are unconciously compelled to act in a manner dictated by what
happened before. A writer may be dealing with a certain question that
pops up unintentionally in his first text while writing the second, which
is a pre-qual to the first.
I don't think there is any way possible of getting a sensible reading
on APDFB after you've read Hapworth, or even S:AI. You must read APDFB
first, without Buddy leaning over your shoulder. APDFB is a completely
different story with Buddy. And I don't even think it's all that great
with Buddy pestering me all the time.
I'm with Scottie in one respect: Seymour is pretty unrealistic and
annoying. But in APDFB, w/o Buddy, he's near perfect. The only guy I
like better in a short story is Alkie Alkilovich (Gogol's "Overcoat").
-jason
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