"We might ask how a contemporary writer might rewrite the framing graphs in “An Incident,” losing the didactic quality/stiffness but preserving the slight escalation there at the end - that sense of renewed moral resolve..."
Yes! And Rosanne has pointed the way with her Frank O'Connor example below. And Borges managed this (extremely diff…
"We might ask how a contemporary writer might rewrite the framing graphs in “An Incident,” losing the didactic quality/stiffness but preserving the slight escalation there at the end - that sense of renewed moral resolve..."
Yes! And Rosanne has pointed the way with her Frank O'Connor example below. And Borges managed this (extremely difficult, for me at least) effect many times, didn't he? Not necessarily in terms of moral resolve, but instead feeling comfortable explicitly stating the narrator or protag's revelation and transformation, as part of framing devices or within the stories themselves.
Denis Johnson's 'Jesus' Son' too, though almost in an opposite way to Borges, who prepares the reader for these statements through the establishment of authority (technical, philosophical, spiritual). When his claims about relevation arrive, therefore, I find myself simply submitting to that authority. But Johnson's Fuckhead is so broken, has so little personal authority beyond the beauty of his voice, that there's no chance of his declared revelations seeming boastful, and so I find myself entralled and, yes, inspired by them.
'An Incident' lies somewhere between those two, I think, and therefore is less likely to offer a model to modern writers. Still a stoater (Scottish word) of a story, though.
"We might ask how a contemporary writer might rewrite the framing graphs in “An Incident,” losing the didactic quality/stiffness but preserving the slight escalation there at the end - that sense of renewed moral resolve..."
Yes! And Rosanne has pointed the way with her Frank O'Connor example below. And Borges managed this (extremely difficult, for me at least) effect many times, didn't he? Not necessarily in terms of moral resolve, but instead feeling comfortable explicitly stating the narrator or protag's revelation and transformation, as part of framing devices or within the stories themselves.
Denis Johnson's 'Jesus' Son' too, though almost in an opposite way to Borges, who prepares the reader for these statements through the establishment of authority (technical, philosophical, spiritual). When his claims about relevation arrive, therefore, I find myself simply submitting to that authority. But Johnson's Fuckhead is so broken, has so little personal authority beyond the beauty of his voice, that there's no chance of his declared revelations seeming boastful, and so I find myself entralled and, yes, inspired by them.
'An Incident' lies somewhere between those two, I think, and therefore is less likely to offer a model to modern writers. Still a stoater (Scottish word) of a story, though.