Why Have His Ears Become Like That?
As a reader–one who writes, too–I find books about writing to be one of two things: literary caffeine, or literary NyQuil. If it’s a good “about writing” book, I’m fascinated; I’m once again reminded that yes, indeed, there is some variation of nerd (unashamed) tangled deep in my persona, who finds pleasure in free time by reading books that could believably be listed on a syllabus for a college writing or lit course. If good, (and usually, then, quite critical of the authors it analyzes) I think I might never pick up my pen again, suddenly hyper-aware of every word and sentence I write. A blessing and a curse. On the flip side, if it’s a bad “about writing” book, I’ll find myself more sleepy than usual, opting for an early bedtime.
The new one on the shelves, from the perusing I’ve done thus far in its pages, proves of the first category. How Fiction Works, by James Wood, is pithy but engaging–an educational dissection of key works of fiction and how they achieve their effects (even in the most sporadic of pieces, order does exist, usually). Here’s a snippet:
In 1960, during the presidential campaign, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy fought the first-ever televised debate. It is often said that the sweating Nixon “lost” because he had a five o’clock shadow, and looked sinister.
People thought they knew what Richard Nixon looked like, until he was placed alongside the fairer Kennedy, and the television lights blazed. Then he looked different. Likewise, the married Anna Karenina meets Vronsky on the night train from Moscow to Petersburg. By morning, something important has changed, but is as yet not properly acknowledged by her. To evoke this, Tolstoy has Anna notice her husband, Karenin, in a new light. Karenin has come to meet Anna at the station, and the first thing she thinks is: “Oh, mercy! Why have his ears become like that?” Her husband looks cold and imposing, but above all it is the ears that suddenly seem strange–”his ears whose cartilage propped up the brim of his round hat of black felt.”
-How Fiction Works, by James Wood (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24)
