Re: [Teacher-TalkNovel] Where do novels come from

Hi,
I am really enjoying this workshop. It is such a pleasure to be a student once again and get soaked up in all the knowledge and information which we all are sharing.
I have completed the first three topics of the workshop and would like to comment about them.
1.Who owns the novel?
I started reading when I was six years old and till now it is the best thing which I enjoy the most. It never crossed my mind that actually who owns the novel. Now when I introspect I realize that all the warmth, pleasure, dreams and sensitivity I received from reading was my own. Though the authors were responsible to create this magic for me but it was I who accepted it. You can't enjoy the rain standing under a shade, can you? I totally agree with Katherine Paterson that novel is a joint project and the readers complete the author's book. When you read a book you actually relive it. This experience may differ from person to person as everyone is entitled to their own interpretation. Even when you read a same book two times you do change some of your earlier perception. A teacher can understand this well as she may be teaching a same novel to different periods or during different years. She cannot adhere to the same explanation and details all the time. It is like discovering something new every time. Like Charles Taylor said that people remake the stories. I am very much impressed by the analogy given by Arthur Golden that writing novel is like raising a child, once they grow they leave. What can be a better way to say how a novel is related to its author. When the novel is read by different readers it is like the interaction of that child (Novel) with the real world. So we have a collective ownership with the author as a reader of the novel. Now when I see my kids reading a book with different expressions fleeting over their faces I know who is the owner of that book.
Zarina Hameed.

From: Caldwell, John W.
Sent: Fri 4/28/2006 12:40 AM
To: Teacher-TalkNovel@learner.org
Subject: [Teacher-TalkNovel] Where do novels come from

Hello everyone! I am taking the second course. I just watched the fourth video last night, "where do novels come from". I want to make a comment on it. My comment is that I had totally forgotten that writing novels is an Art form. You see, I read all the time, - newspapers, journals, magazines, online news reports, and so on. Almost all technical info, and very formal. When I watched the fourth video where Diane Rheem interviewed the lady (I forget her name) who wrote the Harry potter novels, I remembered how I felt when I used to paint and sculpt a few years back. My pulse would race and I would get physically excited. I would talk constantly to anyone who would listen to my ideas. I also remembered how I felt when I took a creative writing class in college. It was the same feeling. It literally overwhelmed me. The authors interviewed expressed the same feelings. I think I feel that anyone who doesnt feel this way really shouldn't be in the business. This is where the ph!
 rase "Labor of Love" comes from. Anything less than this constitutes mediocrity ( I hope I spelled that right). More to the point, Where do novels come from, I am reminded of the "muse", the greek goddess who inspired people to be creative. This seems silly and stupid I know, but years ago, I read an article on Robert E Howard, the author who wrote the Conan the Barbarian novels. He described how he felt he had an out of the body experience when he was writing. He said it was as if some other power was writing through him, as if he were a conduit for some outside force. One thing is for sure, once youve experienced that feeling, it's hard to turn your back on it. It's easy to understand why people will take waiter, or er - teaching jobs to supplement their income while working to persue their Art. I love you all. John PS I personally dont have any sad immigrant stories to tell, but my wife does.

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Received on Wed May 3 15:35:59 2006