"They look at you and rearrange their thoughts" (3).
"You begin at the archives with photographs".
"Part of what you see you recognize" (4).
"Trancript: Marian Turner - 1 'You will understand, from what took place, why I cannot tell you what he looked like." (9)
You! That is so very special in The Wars. Never have I've seen (to my memory which is, to be honest, not so great anyways) a novel which places YOU into it. Above are four lines, put into the first three chapters of The Wars which are told in second person narrative point of view, and this definitely has an impact (though to be honest, everything in the novel has a impact).
First, it brings you into the book quite literally and metaphorically. The reader becomes a character in the book which places him/her in the story, forcing us to connect more with the novel. However, at the same time, this distances the reader from the characters. Imagine if the novel started immediately with Robert Ross's life and the death of Rowena. This gives a more intimate feel to the family, because we are started right off the bat with them.
But no, we are started with us, YOU, being the explorer through time. We will look throughout these photographs and newspaper clippings for the faint hint of Robert Ross's life and experiences which cannot be told from another person (mostly because they are either dead, unable to recount their experiences, or choose not to). Indeed, the only person able is Marian Turner, which also uses second person narrative heavily. We are both detached from the life of Robert Ross, but at the same time closer to our own experience in deciphering what happened. This is (possibly) Findley's idea in putting us into the novel.
Then at the start of the fourth chapter, we are back to the usual and comfortable third person narrative in our research into Robert's life allows a third person telling of his life. To be honest, while second person is a unique new world, I am not interested in reading 200 pages of saying how I shot a horse with a revolver my dad gave me or placed a rag with my piss to my mouth and nose.
-Allen Duong
"Constantly changing, immortal yet fragile."
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
"Never that which is shall die"
Hello, world!
This is where you will find my own little spot of the internet... which is dedicated to English Literature, of all things.
And befitting to this, the first post will be about the novel "The Wars" by Timothy Findley (or Tiffy as some people call him). Added to this is that he is Canadian and he wrote this at 1977, well after the First World War which the novel is set on.
So, without any further waiting, lets begin! Literally begin, as in the forth literal page of the book.
"Never that which is shall die" Euripides
This is actually the first of the two epigrams, and by itself stands pretty well on it own. Euripides is one of the three great tragedians (Aeschylus and Sophocles), and Euripides sure did love to write about women, strong women that is like Medea or Helen of Troy. To add on this the heroes he portrays, as per usual for Greek tragedies, is brought down from their greatness.
So, why are we talking about Euripides all and Greek Tragedies which should be talked about when we're studying Oedipus Rex when we are instead looking into a novel written more than two millennium ago? Well, Findley decided to structure Euripidiean Tragedy to The Wars.
There are strong women in this novel, for example, Ms. Ross. Very cold and distant, she orders protagonist Robert Ross to kill the rabbits of the late hydrocephalic sister Rowena Ross. "... no one belongs to anyone. We're all cut off at birth with a knife and left at the mercy of strangers" (23), and distance Ms. Ross places to everyone is the exact opposite of the expected social roles females should have. Recall that this is set in World War I, the 1910s. While there are powerful beginnings of women's suffrage, it does not mean that women will act like Ms. Ross. This places "The Wars" highly deep in Euripediean Tragedy, of a powerful female character amidst a time of weak female characters.
Going back to the second point, of heroes being portrayed as nothing more than normal people. Heroes in accordance to Ancient Greeks is people who are powerful due to divine ancestry, celebrated by bold exploits and (generally) favoured by gods. While Greek Tragedies meant to bring heroes down to be pathetic due to their great flaw, Findley instead brings a hero down by destroying the idea of the hero. The war hero Taffler is shown to be in a homosexual relationship with the Swede which causes Robert to throw his boots, "[shattering] the mirror ... and [breaking] the water jug" (44). To add on, as Marian Turner said it, "the persons involved [in the war] were as ordinary as me and my sister." (11)
But still, all this doesn't really explain highly on what the quote actually means. All I've done right now is explain how Euripides is tied heavily into the book (which, don't misunderstand, is still highly important). This quote reflects the theme of the novel, that which is immortality through one's experiences. The narrative structure of the initial beginnings of the novel show a second person point of view, of a reporter of sorts. He/she/you is/are attempting to find information of Robert Ross. His history and life is reflected in the pictures of newspapers with him on the bleachers and with experiences of other people such as Marian Turner, and apparently through this we are able to read into what Robert Ross has experience, shifting the narrative point of view over to third person.
Forgive me for the highly disorganized writing, expect more soon.
- A.D
"Beautiful and terrible... like a cancer cell"
This is where you will find my own little spot of the internet... which is dedicated to English Literature, of all things.
And befitting to this, the first post will be about the novel "The Wars" by Timothy Findley (or Tiffy as some people call him). Added to this is that he is Canadian and he wrote this at 1977, well after the First World War which the novel is set on.
So, without any further waiting, lets begin! Literally begin, as in the forth literal page of the book.
"Never that which is shall die" Euripides
This is actually the first of the two epigrams, and by itself stands pretty well on it own. Euripides is one of the three great tragedians (Aeschylus and Sophocles), and Euripides sure did love to write about women, strong women that is like Medea or Helen of Troy. To add on this the heroes he portrays, as per usual for Greek tragedies, is brought down from their greatness.
So, why are we talking about Euripides all and Greek Tragedies which should be talked about when we're studying Oedipus Rex when we are instead looking into a novel written more than two millennium ago? Well, Findley decided to structure Euripidiean Tragedy to The Wars.
There are strong women in this novel, for example, Ms. Ross. Very cold and distant, she orders protagonist Robert Ross to kill the rabbits of the late hydrocephalic sister Rowena Ross. "... no one belongs to anyone. We're all cut off at birth with a knife and left at the mercy of strangers" (23), and distance Ms. Ross places to everyone is the exact opposite of the expected social roles females should have. Recall that this is set in World War I, the 1910s. While there are powerful beginnings of women's suffrage, it does not mean that women will act like Ms. Ross. This places "The Wars" highly deep in Euripediean Tragedy, of a powerful female character amidst a time of weak female characters.
Going back to the second point, of heroes being portrayed as nothing more than normal people. Heroes in accordance to Ancient Greeks is people who are powerful due to divine ancestry, celebrated by bold exploits and (generally) favoured by gods. While Greek Tragedies meant to bring heroes down to be pathetic due to their great flaw, Findley instead brings a hero down by destroying the idea of the hero. The war hero Taffler is shown to be in a homosexual relationship with the Swede which causes Robert to throw his boots, "[shattering] the mirror ... and [breaking] the water jug" (44). To add on, as Marian Turner said it, "the persons involved [in the war] were as ordinary as me and my sister." (11)
But still, all this doesn't really explain highly on what the quote actually means. All I've done right now is explain how Euripides is tied heavily into the book (which, don't misunderstand, is still highly important). This quote reflects the theme of the novel, that which is immortality through one's experiences. The narrative structure of the initial beginnings of the novel show a second person point of view, of a reporter of sorts. He/she/you is/are attempting to find information of Robert Ross. His history and life is reflected in the pictures of newspapers with him on the bleachers and with experiences of other people such as Marian Turner, and apparently through this we are able to read into what Robert Ross has experience, shifting the narrative point of view over to third person.
Forgive me for the highly disorganized writing, expect more soon.
- A.D
"Beautiful and terrible... like a cancer cell"
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