Turning Tale

When we are young, we look to write the narrative of our lives, when we are old we seek to write fantasy.

Amy

Two gems from a recent New York Review of Books...

"When a writer is born into a family, the family is dead." ~ Czeslaw Milosz

"You must write as if your parents are dead." ~ Philip Roth (to Ian McEwan, who seems to have listened)

Ain't it the truth! Victoria

Slingshot

It's the second act of my book, by which time Aggie has proved her capacity for rage. Enter Eugenia, the woman who will eventually steal from Aggie everything. Everything.

For the betrayal to pierce Aggie (and the reader) as deeply as possible, I've decided I must employ a slingshot--I'm making them friends. The triangle between the two mothers and the one daughter will be most strong if the two mothers can at times work together to thwart--even gang up on--Stella.

Oh how slow is the work of making Aggie trust. But the devil comes bearing many delicious pies...and sympathy.

"Girls are trouble, Aggie. I know. I've raised one who lives in England, and although you will never meet her or even see a photo of her past the age of 16, you must believe me when I tell you. Girls are trouble. And as mothers we must keep them safe."

Beyond a friend, who can Eugenia be to Aggie? Someone to take the brunt of Stella for a while? Someone to keep Stella safe, and in doing so, keep Aggie safe from herself--from what she might next do in rage? For that's what Aggie needed, and still needs. Someone to keep her safe.

I already know how much betrayal the slingshot will propel. The question now is how far Aggie's trust can stretch--for that is what will give the slingshot it's power to devastate her.

~ Victoria

Our Mutual Friend

Yet again, Dickens has impressed me. I haven't read half of what Dickens wrote, but every time I read some of the back catalog, I see how much he has changed writing for the better. No wonder that Dostoyevsky patterned his writing after Dickens.

We view writing of the Victorian time as being stilted and melodramatic, but what is literature in general? Would anyone really say a quarter of what is said in any written work? The point is to make a statement about an attitude that is consistent with an era. Our thoughts are so much more complex than our spoken words that we need literature to give us the educated version of our times.

I haven't quite figured out what Dickens meant by Our Mutual Friend. Did he mean Death? The Grim Reaper isn't a friend, but he is certainly an acquaintance of us all. I like that the title isn't spelled out. We can each make our own interpretation of the book and learn from it.

Amy

Blake School

Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire.

Bring me my spear, o clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of fire.

I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

'Til we have built Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land.

-William Blake

Wherein some guy who lived a couple centuries ago made 21st century humans look rather puny...

Why am I not surprised.

Amy