" The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way." (Aspects of the Novel 78)
He goes on to say that if the character doesn't surprise, it is flat. However, if the character doesn't convince in its attempt to surprise, it is flat pretending to be round.
So much of quality writing is about surprise: surprising settings, surprising worlds (worlds we both know nothing about but can relate to in some way), surprising actions from characters we thought we knew.
I notice that in my copy of Forster's book about the novel, I scribbled "Charlotte Bartlett" (A Room with a View) in the margins as an example of a round character that convinces. She goes beyond what the "script" of who she should be dictates. I found it amazing that Forster succeeded in making her truly round, not just flat pretending to be round (he's right on the edge). He pulls it out right at the end. His hints of the repressed romantic in her throughout the story leading one to accept his conclusions about Miss Bartlett in the mouth of George... Forster just gets it right.
I finished reading The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd a few days ago (her follow-up to The Secret Life of Bees). The amazon reviews by the regular people are split down the middle about whether or not the book succeeds. I am one who thinks it does. Still, where it does struggle is in making the characters as round as they need to be. Hugh, the protagonist's wife, never gets to develop beyond fulfilling the role he is predestined to play in Jessie's life (Jessie, being his wife).
Even in academic writing, I find that what drives my thesis is the tension I can create between polarities - the surprise inside the claim. In acting, it is much the same - highlighting the antithesis.
How much more must the journey of a real soul, a real human being, reflect a roundness? An ability to surprise or, as Monk Kidd says of Jessie: the ability to astonish one's self?
I'm thinking that we all need a healthy dose of astonishment as food for the soul.
5 comments:
I thought of your point here when I read this blog review of the movie [i]Crash[/i]. It came from Barbara http://www.churchofthemasses.blogspot.com/
>>>I liked Crash. I was pleasantly surprised by the game it plays on the audience with its skillful use of structure and characters. With the notable exception of its easy over-use of the F-word in dialogue, not much else about Crash is easy from a technical screenwriting standpoint. It is a smart movie....But I'm not sure what the net effect of it is on me as a person. But I'm okay with that this morning, because I have the haunting sense that the movie knows exactly what it's doing, and it will be up to me to puzzle over it and its message...we call it healing rumination at Act One.
So, Crash at first seems to be a straight scape-goating film in which everybody in Los Angeles is basically a racist. Fully the first half of the movie moves the audience from shock to sadness to horror as we watch different characters act on their varying degrees of prejudice. But, then, the movie starts to mess with the audience's expectations. Suddenly, the characters we thought were bad guys, start to show qualities like mercy, compassion and even heroism. And then, the ones we thought were good guys, reveal themselves as frightened and even bumblingly murderous.<<<
I thought of your point here when I read this blog review of the movie Crash. It came from Barbara http://www.churchofthemasses.blogspot.com/
>>>I liked Crash. I was pleasantly surprised by the game it plays on the audience with its skillful use of structure and characters. With the notable exception of its easy over-use of the F-word in dialogue, not much else about Crash is easy from a technical screenwriting standpoint. It is a smart movie....But I'm not sure what the net effect of it is on me as a person. But I'm okay with that this morning, because I have the haunting sense that the movie knows exactly what it's doing, and it will be up to me to puzzle over it and its message...we call it healing rumination at Act One.
So, Crash at first seems to be a straight scape-goating film in which everybody in Los Angeles is basically a racist. Fully the first half of the movie moves the audience from shock to sadness to horror as we watch different characters act on their varying degrees of prejudice. But, then, the movie starts to mess with the audience's expectations. Suddenly, the characters we thought were bad guys, start to show qualities like mercy, compassion and even heroism. And then, the ones we thought were good guys, reveal themselves as frightened and even bumblingly murderous.<<<
I recently read The Mermaid Chair. It wasn't as good as Kidd's Secret Life of Bees novel, of course; that was a classic, and she could never write another book and still be considered a great writer.
The Mermaid Chair seemed a bit *forced* to me, especially the surprise "family secret" near the end. It seemed like it came right out of a Pat Conroy novel, or a Lifetime TV "dysfunctional family of the week" movie. And there is no way in hell a priest -- ANY priest -- would allow the eucharistic chalice to be used in such a manner.
Now that I think of it, the Carolina seashore locale is very Pat Conroy-ish, also. And she mentions Pat Conroy by name in the novel. Perhaps now that she has gotten her Conroy homage out of her system, she can write her next novel in her own voice.
I don't read pat Conroy so maybe that's why I didn't see the connection. Hmmm.
I liked the book, but that might be partly due to the fact that I loved the way she wove her spiritual journey into the characters. I liked her memoirs before her fiction and that's the lens I use when I read her.
I did love Bees, though, I don't think Mermaid was as bad as some of the fans seem to make it out.
I don't know. Still pondering.
She is a really gifted writer so I believe in her, I guess. :)
I agree with you that Sue is a gifted writer. Her Dance of the Dissident Daughter was incredibly moving and beautiful, and I believe The Secret Life of Bees is a classic in the same league as The Red Tent. Mermaid just isn't in that same league, in my opinion. I believe in her, too, and I eagerly await her next book!
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