(no subject)
May. 20th, 2004 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
decemberthirtyI'm about halfway through The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, and I'm really enjoying it. McCullers's writing is just lovely, and it's refreshing to read after Anne Tyler's artless prose. McCullers's style somehow infuses the whole book with a beautiful and slightly surreal dream-like quality, and her eye for detail is absolutely amazing. Her descriptions are very thorough, but are rendered with such a light touch that they don't even come close to overpowering the story. In fact, the descriptions are crucial to the story and help the reader feel that he knows the town and the people in it as intimately as if he lived there.
I also like the fact that the story is moving very slowly. I can feel that things are shifting and building under the surface of the story, getting ready to come into the light, but McCullers is certainly not rushing things. My sister told me that she couldn't finish the book because it was so boring, but I'm really enjoying the way things are developing so gradually.
I'm very interested by McCullers's treatment of race in the book. Her black characters are fully developed and interesting, and I find Doctor Copeland particularly compelling, but I don't think that I, as a young white woman (which is what McCullers was when the book was published), would feel comfortable writing about what my black characters think about issues of race. Now of course I realize that the job of a writer is to imagine the inner lives of people other than herself, and I certainly feel that literature would be much poorer if no one ever wrote anything but their own autobiographies, but somehow I can't help but feel that McCullers is crossing a line when she writes what Dr. Copeland feels about the fact that his ancestors were slaves. This doesn't really make sense on an intellectual level; after all, I don't feel that Pat Barker is crossing a line when she writes about what gay men feel about their sexuality. Yet somehow, when it comes to race, some part of me just says, "This is different." So it's interesting for me to read what McCullers writes about her black characters, and it's interesting to observe my own reactions.
And now, since I'm dumb and have never done this before, I want to practice making an lj-cut. Hmm, yes, nonsense within. I suppose I should say something nonsensical. How about "Na na, na na hey hey, hey he-ey goodbye!" Yes, there's nothing like driving an opposing pitcher off the mound at Comiskey, or watching the Sox pound the ball out of the park. Nothing like baseball at all!
Okay. I hope that worked.
I also like the fact that the story is moving very slowly. I can feel that things are shifting and building under the surface of the story, getting ready to come into the light, but McCullers is certainly not rushing things. My sister told me that she couldn't finish the book because it was so boring, but I'm really enjoying the way things are developing so gradually.
I'm very interested by McCullers's treatment of race in the book. Her black characters are fully developed and interesting, and I find Doctor Copeland particularly compelling, but I don't think that I, as a young white woman (which is what McCullers was when the book was published), would feel comfortable writing about what my black characters think about issues of race. Now of course I realize that the job of a writer is to imagine the inner lives of people other than herself, and I certainly feel that literature would be much poorer if no one ever wrote anything but their own autobiographies, but somehow I can't help but feel that McCullers is crossing a line when she writes what Dr. Copeland feels about the fact that his ancestors were slaves. This doesn't really make sense on an intellectual level; after all, I don't feel that Pat Barker is crossing a line when she writes about what gay men feel about their sexuality. Yet somehow, when it comes to race, some part of me just says, "This is different." So it's interesting for me to read what McCullers writes about her black characters, and it's interesting to observe my own reactions.
And now, since I'm dumb and have never done this before, I want to practice making an lj-cut. Hmm, yes, nonsense within. I suppose I should say something nonsensical. How about "Na na, na na hey hey, hey he-ey goodbye!" Yes, there's nothing like driving an opposing pitcher off the mound at Comiskey, or watching the Sox pound the ball out of the park. Nothing like baseball at all!
Okay. I hope that worked.
This is also a test
Date: 2004-05-21 10:39 am (UTC)