tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post1264230918736354966..comments2024-03-26T03:46:04.937-07:00Comments on Books in Northport: Life on the Line—or NotP. J. Grathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-8635634500793028322010-11-02T03:40:10.344-07:002010-11-02T03:40:10.344-07:00Thanks PJ!Thanks PJ!Dawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00824027366993286152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-67723770647734988892010-11-01T14:32:36.377-07:002010-11-01T14:32:36.377-07:00Stardust to stardust...pools of light surrounded b...Stardust to stardust...pools of light surrounded by dusk...distant shore that may be a haven...on we hurtle...dragging our anchor--Gerry, I'll have to think about this comment for twice as long as you took to think about my post. There is so much here, and I am grateful to you for sharing your thoughts.<br /><br />When you are looking to shake up your mind with nonlinear fiction, I'd like to suggest two that I've read and featured recently as recommendations: L. E. Kimball's A GOOD HIGH PLACE and Naseem Rahka's THE CRYING TREE. I have not yet reviewed the latter--have been falling behind on discussing books read--but you don't want to miss either of these novels, I guarantee. Both are out in paperback. Should be at your library, too. If they're not, request them!P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-80784551136171367622010-11-01T13:00:25.143-07:002010-11-01T13:00:25.143-07:00The line simply begins before we have memory of it...The line simply begins before we have memory of it, and carries us<br />along . . . or perhaps it comes at us, like a spearpoint, out of its own past, pulling behind it everything that made it. It might <br />be a river, where we sit on the bank, watching, casting for fish, <br />bending low to take a drink. But I think the line is the arc of <br />self, come from stardust, returning to stardust, with only the brilliant part in the middle seeming to make sense.<br /><br />I think we experience life in pools of light surrounded by dusk. <br />It is not as if things make sense as we go along. We're oblivious to, well, almost everything. Later on, when enough bits of <br />experience have accumulated, we begin to dimly apprehend the shape <br />of a life--but of course by then we think it's too late to do anything about it anyway, and on we hurtle, trying to steer a ship we can't see through an ocean of indeterminate size and shape toward a distant shore that might be a safe haven or might be a nightmare but in any case is the only place we can imagine going toward. <br /><br />Who can tell, as the waves rise higher and higher, whether we have <br />been in this particular spot before? Whether we are on course? <br /><br />And then some fool drops the anchor, thinking that will put a stop to the motion. On we journey, dragging our anchor below us.<br /><br /><b>No. I do not believe we experience life in linear fashion.</b><br /><br />I cannot for the life of me remember the first time I encountered a nonlinear movie or book, but I gravitate toward them. I like most Altman films, for example, and most every novel or essay Margaret Atwood has ever written. Both of them are frequently either non-linear or something else that literary critics haven't gotten around to pigeonholing yet.<br /><br />When a serious, accomplished artist like Altman or Atwood pulls out all the stops and shows off, it's dazzling. Take, for example, <i>The Blind Assassin</i>. I admire that novel extravagantly. All the time I was reading it I kept thinking about how masterfully Atwood was <br />working her craft. On the other hand, I'd have preferred to be <br />more deeply engrossed in the characters. Sometimes Atwood is too brilliant for her own good. Or mine.<br /><br />Occasionally it is good to read a novel with a beginning, a middle <br />and an end, in that order. It helps me to quiet my mind, which is given to whirling off in several directions at once. <br /><br /><b>Of course I'm confused. I'm confused by everything. But I'm used to that. It doesn't bother me anymore. I just live with it.</b><br /><br /><b>My memory doesn't work at all anymore.</b><br /><br />When a vignette from another time and place does flicker before my <br />eyes, I almost always see more than I did the first time around. <br />But then, I have a very, very good imagination. Who knows what is <br />real and what is something I made up as I slept? If my <br />comprehension of a thing is informed by something that happened years later, is it still the thing itself, or is it a new thing made up of all the perceptions I bring to it?<br /><br />We all rewrite our history, and since we are all a part of some <br />kind of community, we are all subjected to each other's rewrites, too. There is a certain amount of consensus that we ought to tell our stories in chronological fashion, and I think we are conditioned to understand things when they are lined up in front of us in that order. But it's very easy to tell ourselves and each other fairy tales and lies if we are wedded to the notion that what happened <b>then</b> is a necessary precursor to what is happening in an inevitable <b>now</b>. A persistent memory that doesn't fit the chronology we've constructed should probably be studied.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-35430480249291105752010-11-01T05:53:05.325-07:002010-11-01T05:53:05.325-07:00As you walk or drive today through the hours, thin...As you walk or drive today through the hours, think now and then about how you are experiencing the day. I did this yesterday—not for the first time, but with the line image in mind. I’ll wait until later to say how my experience and the image fit or didn’t, as I’m hoping at least one other person will come forth....P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-33826641569584157382010-10-31T19:34:46.555-07:002010-10-31T19:34:46.555-07:00The TV show LOST for a long time heavily "alt...The TV show LOST for a long time heavily "alternated between two possible courses of events", and the story did jump back and forth and get confusing. But in hindsight, I weathered that OK. It was well done. What wasn't so good, more and more in hindsight, was that the source of all the weirdness was a giant stone bathtub drain in a cave in the island.<br /><br />Oh. I mentioned the weirdness in the "Dark Tower" books, with the flashbacks AND time travel. Well, it gets weirder later on, when one of the main characters finds out that he is a character in a Stephen King novel.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-76032171147968914642010-10-31T17:47:12.534-07:002010-10-31T17:47:12.534-07:00You’ve raised an interesting question, dmarks. Doe...You’ve raised an interesting question, dmarks. Does the use of flashbacks alone make a film nonlinear? When they are brief, conventional flashbacks don’t seem to disturb the sense of forward chronological time movement, but longer ones affect us differently as viewers, I think, and I’m tempted to say the same is true with novels. But one viewer or reader might judge a jump in time “short” where another perceives it as “long.” And what confuses some will not confuse all. “Flash-sideways” is an interesting way to put it. Someone last night at a party was telling me about a book which alternated between two possible courses of events, so that in one version someone did something and in the other he didn’t, and the story jumped back and forth between did and didn’t. I think this would be very confusing!<br /><br />Yes, no one has yet said anything of their own personal experience or memories. Did I detect a promise that you would, dmarks? Hope so. Someone needs to get the ball rolling. At least, I would be happy to see that happen.P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-80865932317381108402010-10-31T16:53:17.861-07:002010-10-31T16:53:17.861-07:00Dawn, I guess I'm with you on when my mind is ...Dawn, I guess I'm with you on when my mind is sharp enough for more challenging reading and when it just wants something easy. I did enjoy my Lake Huron tour very much, thank you! There is a link to your blog in my list now, and I encourage others to check it out.P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-60972876693502754662010-10-30T19:16:12.329-07:002010-10-30T19:16:12.329-07:00I think I mentioned that Stephen King's "...I think I mentioned that Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series has a lot of non-linearness, even when you read and listen to it in the proper order. And I've read a lot of other novels, like "Dark Tower", which add a lot of time travel to the non-linearness of the storytelling. The TV show "Lost" did this extensively: they had a lot of non-linear story telling (done very well, I think) using flashbacks. Later in the series they added flash-forwards and flash-sideways (think of "It's a Wonderful Life" for a flash-sideways... what would things be like at the present time of things had gone differently?), and yes, a lot of time travel too. It was hard to tell what was going on after a point.<br /><br />-------<br />As for your question, I had read the novel when it first came out years ago, so I had some memory of it. That caused it to make more sense than it might have otherwise.<br /><br />Personally, I sometimes remember things from a long time ago, but maybe remember a lot less than I think I might. Then something triggers memories much later and I remember a lot more. <br /><br />As for the exercise, I'll come to that very soon.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-76991284006437146752010-10-30T15:06:01.305-07:002010-10-30T15:06:01.305-07:00Nonlinear writing keeps me on my toes, often gives...Nonlinear writing keeps me on my toes, often gives me clues and somehow stretches my brain. Those are the good things. But if I'm tired, or want a fast read, or am simply impatient I can't read nonlinear and will switch to something less difficult...<br /><br />Though lately, with working again I don't seem to have the energy to finish anything I've started to read. Yawn...<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed the vicarious trip up the eastern side of Michigan! :)Dawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00824027366993286152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-59652059643424442642010-10-30T04:36:51.683-07:002010-10-30T04:36:51.683-07:00Had you not read a novel written in nonlinear form...Had you not read a novel written in nonlinear form before? I think you must have, as you are such a big reader. Scrambling the chapters of the audio--what effect did that have on how you made sense of the story?P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-61302083555534347802010-10-29T17:51:10.027-07:002010-10-29T17:51:10.027-07:00"The same is true, I believe, for nonlinear n..."The same is true, I believe, for nonlinear novels. What is the first you read?"<br /><br />I think I recently mentioned making a linear novel non-linear in audio form by listening to it with the 20 or so chapter sections scrambled into random order.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.com