From: DDPattison at aol.com <DDPattison>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 16:02:00 EDT

When we talk about how dark some of Cormier's work is (and FADE is my least favorite of his works for this reason), I am reminded of a Flannery O'Conner quote:

from MYSTERY AND MANNERS:

"St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in instructing catcumens wrote: 'The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls, but is is necessary to pass by the dragon.' No matter what form the dragon may take, it is of this mysterious passage past him, or into his jaws that stories of any depth will always be concerned to tell, and this being the case, it requires considerable courage at any time, in any country not to turn away from the storyteller."

<<One of my all-time favorite "writer" quotes is by L.M. Montgomery -- when once asked why she didn't write gritty "realistic" books, she replied, "a pine forest is just as real as a pig sty." I must admit, I wholeheartedly agree...I get a little weary of the idea that the only story that is truly real is one that is truly GRIM.
>>

And another quote from O'Conner applies here:

from MYSTERY AND MANNERS:

"In the introduction to a collection of his stories called ROTTING HILL, Wyndham Lewis has written, 'If I write about a hill that is rotting, it is because I despise rot.' The general accusation passed against writers now is that they write about rot because they love it. Some do, and their works may betay the, but it is impossible not to believe that some write about rot because they see it and recognize it for what it is."

Darcy
-Darcy Pattison THE WAYFINDER, Greenwillow/Harpercollins Preview Website for The Wayfinder by Darcy Pattison
Received on Thu 23 Aug 2001 03:02:00 PM CDT