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Experiments in the narrating voice

#105: Mar. - April 2012 (Fiction)
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oblivion

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Experiments in the narrating voice

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This is not chapter specific, so I started a new topic. I just wanted to say that I originally had no intention of buying or reading this book. I didn't like the title! Fine, I have been chastised....following I don't know how many "hits on the head with a fence post" (as we say in Germany, I finally got the metaphor. Geez, even a character (Lulu) at the end of the book--just for the ones of us who still haven't figured out Goon=time, discusses the use of metaphor, comparing the abbrevaitions and ideas she uses to poor Alex' "old-fashionedness". At this point, I could certainly identify with Alex feeling a bit like a dinosaur myself. Okay, I'm a slow learner.
I had made up my mind to be annoyed with and perhaps even skip over the PowerPoint chapter. And I am so glad that I did not. It worked! I'm amazed! But it worked and it worked really well.
I was also planning on pouting about the narrative voice going from 1st to 2nd to 3rd peron and back again. I was expecting this to be difficult to follow and was thrilled when I found myself floating along with this narrative device before realizing what I was actually doing.
I have finished the book (alas! It could have continued another 300 pages!). What I am irritated with, however, is that I don't really have anything to complain about. I'll keep looking and chew on it a bit :)
Any comments on the narrative voice (s)?
Gods and spirits are parasitic--Pascal Boyer

Religion is the only force in the world that lets a person have his prejudice or hatred and feel good about it --S C Hitchcock

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. --André Gide

Reading is a majority skill but a minority art. --Julian Barnes
lindad_amato
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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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I've just started the book so I won't comment right now, but thank you for your comments. I'll keep this in mind while reading and post some thoughts later. I particularly like discussing this type of nuance while reading.
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heledd
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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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Thanks very much Oblivion. I didn't find the shifts in narrative as disorientating as the shifts in time. Like lindad_Amato, I like to comment as soon as I've read a chapter, otherwise I can't follow my changing opinion. I found this web site, - an Interactive Character Map - but couldn't get it to work. Perhaps because my net is too slow. Does it work for you?
http://www.filosophy.org/projects/goonsquad/
Must say, the title also put me off at first. I thought it was something to do with a totalitarian government, but apparently it is connected also with the television series The Sopranos.
Life's a glitch and then you die - The Simpsons
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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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I have just finished chapter two and have discovered the unique changes in the narrator's dialogue. In this chapter the narrator is Bennie. The narrative seems to be at least in this chapter to be stream of consciousness narrative. Bennie is speaking in the present but he is also bringing forth memories from the past.
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oblivion

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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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Thanks, Helledd.....the chart did indeed work. And helped! The Sopranos? They had a couple of episodes of that here a while ago but I don't think it really went over well. Guess that's why I didn't recognize the title. But that leads me to another thought:exactly how many contemporary references can literature effectively deal with? Granted, one of the greatest pleasures in studying literature is answering that very question (thinking of Dickens and Duerrenmatt here). But this book is excellent and the title had put me off so much that, if it had not been the chosen book here at BT, I never would have read it--and all because of a reference from the Sopranos.
Gods and spirits are parasitic--Pascal Boyer

Religion is the only force in the world that lets a person have his prejudice or hatred and feel good about it --S C Hitchcock

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. --André Gide

Reading is a majority skill but a minority art. --Julian Barnes
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heledd
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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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Suzanne and Oblivion - you could comment on this under the relative chapter headings. I'd be interested to see your views.
Life's a glitch and then you die - The Simpsons
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oblivion

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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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heledd wrote:Suzanne and Oblivion - you could comment on this under the relative chapter headings. I'd be interested to see your views.
I'll try. :blush: I agree to an extent with the chapter by chapter reading but think there are overall themes, devices, etc that don't work quite as well within the chapter limitations.
Gods and spirits are parasitic--Pascal Boyer

Religion is the only force in the world that lets a person have his prejudice or hatred and feel good about it --S C Hitchcock

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. --André Gide

Reading is a majority skill but a minority art. --Julian Barnes
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heledd
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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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Yes that is true But then you have to read the whole book to do that. And in the process of reading the book, one's opinions change. I don't quite know how to deal with this. Help?? Moderators??
Life's a glitch and then you die - The Simpsons
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oblivion

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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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Misunderstanding: I meant the possibility of doing a chapter by chapter as well as just asking a question or making a comment to something that doesn't seem to necessarily fit into one specific chapter.
Gods and spirits are parasitic--Pascal Boyer

Religion is the only force in the world that lets a person have his prejudice or hatred and feel good about it --S C Hitchcock

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. --André Gide

Reading is a majority skill but a minority art. --Julian Barnes
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Suzanne

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Re: Experiments in the narrating voice

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Heledd:

You can add theme threads within the "Goon" forum. For instance you may want to add a thread about the music in the book and members can add to that thread while they read the book. Oblivion makes a good point, sometimes when there is a theme, or a particular writing style that runs throughout a novel creating a thread about that theme makes it easier to talk about it. Oftentimes the themes do not become clear until you start reading the novel. Chapter threads are good for discussing what happens throughout a particular chapter, and theme and writing style threads are good for discussing what happens throughout the entire novel.
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