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From: lhendr at unm.edu <lhendr>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 10:56:19 -0700 (MST)
I've been thinking about Jane Kurtz's "The Storyteller's Beads" in terms of innovative structures in stories. Although this story, too, proceeds quite straightforwardly and chronologically from beginning to end, the interweaving of the stories of two equally important protagonists who at first are enemies, but with each of whom the reader identifies (thus engaging the reader's feelings in an internal conflict), seems an important structural innovation that defies the usual dictum that there should be _one_ main character. In this case, the uncomfortable, internally unreconcilable split in the reader's feelings seems perfectly suited to the story's theme.
Linnea
Linnea Hendrickson Albuquerque, New Mexico Children's Literature: A Guide to the Criticism (1987) at: http://www.unm.edu/~lhendr Lhendr at unm.edu
Received on Thu 29 Oct 1998 11:56:19 AM CST
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 10:56:19 -0700 (MST)
I've been thinking about Jane Kurtz's "The Storyteller's Beads" in terms of innovative structures in stories. Although this story, too, proceeds quite straightforwardly and chronologically from beginning to end, the interweaving of the stories of two equally important protagonists who at first are enemies, but with each of whom the reader identifies (thus engaging the reader's feelings in an internal conflict), seems an important structural innovation that defies the usual dictum that there should be _one_ main character. In this case, the uncomfortable, internally unreconcilable split in the reader's feelings seems perfectly suited to the story's theme.
Linnea
Linnea Hendrickson Albuquerque, New Mexico Children's Literature: A Guide to the Criticism (1987) at: http://www.unm.edu/~lhendr Lhendr at unm.edu
Received on Thu 29 Oct 1998 11:56:19 AM CST
