J D Salingers Catcher in the Rye begins: If you really want to hear about it, the first thing youll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I dont feel like going into it. This first sentence is captivating. But at first its hard to see how. Theres no action. Nothing happens. So how does it hold us? What it does is to establish such a strong voice that we want to hear what that voice has to say. It isnt necessarily an attractive voice. It comes across as petulant; my lousy childhood, David Copperfield kind of crap, I dont feel like.... He is self-involved, certainly; first person pronouns I, my and me are used five times. He is hardly trying to engage us - or so it seems - If you really want to hear about it..., and yet he is engaging. Hes sarcastic, certainly, but hes funny enough, and sharp enough, to get us listening. David Copperfield kind of crap is a scalpel-sharp jibe at clumsily told backstory. Voice is hard to define, but when it is strong, as it is here, it is clearly heard. Superficially, it sounds dismissive, lazy even, but the rhythm is so well done it is almost hypnotic. Read it aloud. Fifty-six words, which tumble and bounce - listen to the list that starts at where and ends at crap, linked by four ands, by other repetitions; and all is used twice. Comic alliteration: David Copperfield kind of crap. It flows.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 08:00:00 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015