1) I didn’t get a chance to respond to the last post; I read most of the comments and appreciated the insights. Thank you.
2) “How does Gina Berriault make us believe in the accident on which ‘The Stone Boy’ depends?” Had I read this story when I was younger (than now!), I might have missed the “how” of that which unfolds and maybe not b…
1) I didn’t get a chance to respond to the last post; I read most of the comments and appreciated the insights. Thank you.
2) “How does Gina Berriault make us believe in the accident on which ‘The Stone Boy’ depends?” Had I read this story when I was younger (than now!), I might have missed the “how” of that which unfolds and maybe not bought into it (or refused to). Because when we are young we refuse to accept/ understand that while we are the “master of our fate”, there is so much we can’t control. Ever. Life is uncertain and it happens. It all happens. And we create illusions of control and call it living.
But more to the how: we as readers know life happens. And continues. And people think what they think about what’s happened. And they think what they think about what and how we were part of that which happens.
In terms of the how RE craft: in her own words in an interview she states, “And when you take the reader as your equal, your work isn’t affected or false. You establish that collaboration, that shared intuitiveness.”
I think that’s how she does it. She is counting on the reader to intuitively know accidents happen. And we are as surprised as we would be in real life. We can’t quite accept what’s happened and yet it happened!
Thank you for posting the link to this interview. When she says, “Between the lines of every story, readers write their own lines, shaping up the story as a collaborative effort", that was very much the experience I had with her story.
Also, loved that she shared this - "...I destroy much of what I write or I can’t work out what I want to say and I put the piece aside. The longing to write and the writing never cease.... And there’s the disbelief, so often at my elbow as I write, that I can write at all." This, this, from the writer of The Stone Boy!
Annie, thank you so much for this link to the interview with Gina Berriault...it is amazing...she knew what it was to be poor...and her description of the relationship between reader and author is wonderful and true.
but after reading that interview (I am sure there are other essays and interviews), I can’t help wondering: would she be allowed to be published today? and if her lack of being mainstream (as the interviewer asserts, she should be even better appreciated) is…sort of…intentional?
…the publishing industry went from championing to silencing voices outside establishments…
I don't think her lack of being mainstream was intentional. She taught herself how to write creatively and that was a very tough go. In that regard, she was an "outsider artist" but she did eventually get lots of recognition. In the maritime world, someone who starts on deck in the lowliest job and works their way up to be captain/master mariner is said to have "come up through the haws'pipe." A hawser being the heavy line that ships are tied up with. In effect, they've clawed their way up through an narrow and sometimes nasty path to a post of respect. I think Gina definitely came up through the haws'pipe in the literary world. Robert Stone was like that. His collection of stories "Bear and his Daughter" is excellent. I believe he spent many years as a smuggler in the Caribbean.
As far as the publishing goes, I don't think they necessarily silence voices outside the establishment...I just think they're not willing to take the risks anymore that they used to take.
Another thanks for the link to the interview, Annie. When I first read The Stone Boy I had a deep need to hear Berriault's voice, I guess to know her as a person as well as a writer. The interview fills in more of who she is for me. Such a remarkable woman.
1) I didn’t get a chance to respond to the last post; I read most of the comments and appreciated the insights. Thank you.
2) “How does Gina Berriault make us believe in the accident on which ‘The Stone Boy’ depends?” Had I read this story when I was younger (than now!), I might have missed the “how” of that which unfolds and maybe not bought into it (or refused to). Because when we are young we refuse to accept/ understand that while we are the “master of our fate”, there is so much we can’t control. Ever. Life is uncertain and it happens. It all happens. And we create illusions of control and call it living.
But more to the how: we as readers know life happens. And continues. And people think what they think about what’s happened. And they think what they think about what and how we were part of that which happens.
In terms of the how RE craft: in her own words in an interview she states, “And when you take the reader as your equal, your work isn’t affected or false. You establish that collaboration, that shared intuitiveness.”
I think that’s how she does it. She is counting on the reader to intuitively know accidents happen. And we are as surprised as we would be in real life. We can’t quite accept what’s happened and yet it happened!
Here is the interview.
https://indexarticles.com/arts/literary-review/dont-i-know-you-an-interview-with-gina-berriault/
There is a lot to admire in that interview: writing as a woman, working class writers, gaps between writing, and so much more. What a woman!
I knew nothing of her and her works before this story. Now I am reading as much as possible. Obsessively.
Thank you.
Thank you for the Berriault link, Annie! Her honesty has answered many questions I was mulling over re: the writing path.
Thank you for posting the link to this interview. When she says, “Between the lines of every story, readers write their own lines, shaping up the story as a collaborative effort", that was very much the experience I had with her story.
Also, loved that she shared this - "...I destroy much of what I write or I can’t work out what I want to say and I put the piece aside. The longing to write and the writing never cease.... And there’s the disbelief, so often at my elbow as I write, that I can write at all." This, this, from the writer of The Stone Boy!
Annie, thank you so much for this link to the interview with Gina Berriault...it is amazing...she knew what it was to be poor...and her description of the relationship between reader and author is wonderful and true.
I have, as others have, ordered her collection…
but after reading that interview (I am sure there are other essays and interviews), I can’t help wondering: would she be allowed to be published today? and if her lack of being mainstream (as the interviewer asserts, she should be even better appreciated) is…sort of…intentional?
…the publishing industry went from championing to silencing voices outside establishments…
I don't think her lack of being mainstream was intentional. She taught herself how to write creatively and that was a very tough go. In that regard, she was an "outsider artist" but she did eventually get lots of recognition. In the maritime world, someone who starts on deck in the lowliest job and works their way up to be captain/master mariner is said to have "come up through the haws'pipe." A hawser being the heavy line that ships are tied up with. In effect, they've clawed their way up through an narrow and sometimes nasty path to a post of respect. I think Gina definitely came up through the haws'pipe in the literary world. Robert Stone was like that. His collection of stories "Bear and his Daughter" is excellent. I believe he spent many years as a smuggler in the Caribbean.
As far as the publishing goes, I don't think they necessarily silence voices outside the establishment...I just think they're not willing to take the risks anymore that they used to take.
Another thanks for the link to the interview, Annie. When I first read The Stone Boy I had a deep need to hear Berriault's voice, I guess to know her as a person as well as a writer. The interview fills in more of who she is for me. Such a remarkable woman.
Thank you so much, Annie, for your thoughts—and for the link!