aaron hamburger

Sunday, February 14, 2010

When a Story's Not a Story

What elements do you need to make a story? Most fiction consists of plot, character, and setting, in some combination. The proportions of each always change, but generally all three are present. But what about fiction that doesn't fit the mold, fiction that "colors outside the lines" so to speak?

In general, I'm not a fan of this type of fiction, but to my mind, for these kinds of books to work, they need to compensate for the lack of what's not there with a stronger emphasis on what they do have to offer. No plot or character? Then you'd better have one hell of a setting. No character or setting? Then that had better be some plot you've got to tell.

But what about if you have none of the Big Three? Then I guess all we're left with is language. In which case, your language had better be fucking incredible.

Though I typically prefer fiction that does what fiction's traditionally expected to do, some of my favorite books are ones that don't follow any rules, that make up their own logic as they go along. So here is a list of some of my favorite rulebreakers, in no particular order except alphabetical.

How German Is It?, Walter Abish
Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
The Mezzanine, Nicholson Baker
40 Stories, Donald Barthelme
Snow White, Donald Barthelme
An Invisible Sign of My Own, Aimee Bender
Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die!, Mark Binelli
The Decameron, Boccaccio
Stories, Jorge Luis Borges
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs
The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter
Mrs. Bridge, Evan S. Connell
Try, Dennis Cooper
Samuel Johnson is Indignant, Lydia Davis
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
The Lover, Marguerite Duras
Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
Loving, Henry Green
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Question of Bruno, Alexander Hemon
A Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Milan Kundera
Homeland, Sam Lipsyte
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Self-Help, Lorrie Moore
Notable American Women, Ben Marcus
The Captain's Fire, J. S. Marcus
Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Purple America, Rick Moody
Open Secrets, Alice Munro
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
Martin and John, Dale Peck
The Streets of Crocodiles, Bruno Schulz
The Emigrants, W. G. Sebald
The First Hurt, Rachel Sherman
Collected Stories, Jean Stafford
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead
The Waves, Virginia Woolf
Memoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite Yourcenar

posted by aaron hamburger at 11:42 AM | 0 comments


	Sunday, February 14, 2010 When a Story's Not a Story What elements do you need to make a story? Most fiction consists of plot, character, and setting, in some combination. The proportions of each always change, but generally all three are present. But what about fiction that doesn't fit the mold, fiction that "colors outside the lines" so to speak? In general, I'm not a fan of this type of fiction, but to my mind, for these kinds of books to work, they need to compensate for the lack of what's not there with a stronger emphasis on what they do have to offer. No plot or character? Then you'd better have one hell of a setting. No character or setting? Then that had better be some plot you've got to tell. But what about if you have none of the Big Three? Then I guess all we're left with is language. In which case, your language had better be fucking incredible. Though I typically prefer fiction that does what fiction's traditionally expected to do, some of my favorite books are ones that don't follow any rules, that make up their own logic as they go along. So here is a list of some of my favorite rulebreakers, in no particular order except alphabetical. How German Is It?, Walter Abish Mansfield Park, Jane Austen The Mezzanine, Nicholson Baker 40 Stories, Donald Barthelme Snow White, Donald Barthelme An Invisible Sign of My Own, Aimee Bender Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die!, Mark Binelli The Decameron, Boccaccio Stories, Jorge Luis Borges A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter Mrs. Bridge, Evan S. Connell Try, Dennis Cooper Samuel Johnson is Indignant, Lydia Davis Bleak House, Charles Dickens The Lover, Marguerite Duras Veronica, Mary Gaitskill Loving, Henry Green Catch-22, Joseph Heller The Question of Bruno, Alexander Hemon A Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Milan Kundera Homeland, Sam Lipsyte Moby Dick, Herman Melville Self-Help, Lorrie Moore Notable American Women, Ben Marcus The Captain's Fire, J. S. Marcus Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell Purple America, Rick Moody Open Secrets, Alice Munro Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov Martin and John, Dale Peck The Streets of Crocodiles, Bruno Schulz The Emigrants, W. G. Sebald The First Hurt, Rachel Sherman Collected Stories, Jean Stafford The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead The Waves, Virginia Woolf Memoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite Yourcenar posted by aaron hamburger at 11:42 AM \| 0 comments		Literary Blogs Beatrice Book Angst 101 Bookdwarf Booklust Book Ninja Book Slut Conversational Reading Emerging Writers Network Gawker James Tata Jessie Sholl Literary Salon Moby Lives Queer Type Rake's Progress The Reading Experience Tingle Alley Other Sites Eco Home Gear Recent Posts This blog has moved Don't Judge a Book by its Hype When a Story's Not a Story Why Write? Why Read? Book Recommendations from 2009 for 2010 This is Just to Say... I Like You, You Like Me, We're a Happy Family Yom Kippur Reflections Leaving Umbria An Italian Adventure Archives October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 September 2007 November 2007 December 2007 February 2008 May 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 August 2009 September 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 April 2010