Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Short Stories: Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood
I am usually not too thrilled with short stories. They don't get into as much depth as I like. They're over too soon. The content and the characters are too slight.
An exception to this rule is Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood, which I'm currently reading. The stories are truly masterful. She manages to describe her characters so completely that they are like old friends. You know them. I haven't figured out if this is because she draws on archetypal characters that we all instinctively relate to (or at least I relate to), or if it is accomplished through an extremely precise choice of details. The descriptions are definitely not long, nor are they wordy.
Of course, it helps that the stories are a bit longer than some. They range between 20-30 pages (and the print is small, the margins fairly narrow). That allows for a longer time span, several encompass decades.
For now I'm just enjoying the stories, I'll go back later to try and analyze how she does what she does so well.
Anyway, it's certainly worth picking up. ¶ 11:15 PM
An exception to this rule is Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood, which I'm currently reading. The stories are truly masterful. She manages to describe her characters so completely that they are like old friends. You know them. I haven't figured out if this is because she draws on archetypal characters that we all instinctively relate to (or at least I relate to), or if it is accomplished through an extremely precise choice of details. The descriptions are definitely not long, nor are they wordy.
Of course, it helps that the stories are a bit longer than some. They range between 20-30 pages (and the print is small, the margins fairly narrow). That allows for a longer time span, several encompass decades.
For now I'm just enjoying the stories, I'll go back later to try and analyze how she does what she does so well.
Anyway, it's certainly worth picking up. ¶ 11:15 PM
