From: Marc Aronson <75664.3110>
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 17:31:09 -0400

Hello out there, it seems we've hit a lull in our discussion of multiple points of view. I don't know if the CCBC folks were reluctant to impose an order on a discussion of books without a standard order. But be that as it might I, with some prodding from Brenda, will take a shot at it.
        In Whirligig, form is so much a part of the meaning of the book that it shifts from being the bones, the structure of a book, to being part of the content. That was true even line for line, because the way the lines scanned meant so much to Paul Fleischman that that became a first consideration in editing the book. It had to work in terms of its line by line form, its page by page form, and its chapter by chapter form. Within that, of course, plot, character, meaning, resonance, were also important. The final challenge was to make sure that all of this attention to form served a story.
        So I'd ask folks whether they think it worked, whether structure or form can be part of the content of a book, or whether it becomes intrusive. You don't want a novel to be an exercise. But sometimes, as in Bach, an exercise can be eloquent. I'd also be interested in people's thoughts on other novels in which form was that important. Can we generalize about what is necessary to experiments in form such that they also succeed as novels?

Marc Aronson Henry Holt
Received on Mon 12 Oct 1998 04:31:09 PM CDT