All of us enrolled in this class know that I have the attention span of a small animal, possibly a gnat. However, I am going to use this to my advantage and blog about the very beginning of the novel.
When I began reading this novel, I thought whoa, this guy is good. How could someone publishing a book in 1979 possibly know that I have to pee? It was then that I realized that I was going to be manipulated. I wanted to point out that not only we are manipulated into the novel because of the infamous "you" and you, but because of the way the author speaks to us. The first thing he does is make us comfortable, check up on ya...then BAM! You are married to some chick. He does this by attempting to find one thing to relate us to the novel...maybe its yoga, a room next door with a tv on, or the need to pee. He is the creepy man in the white van that says he has candy. It is because of Calvino's candy that we, the readers, allow ourselves to become the "you" presented in the novel. The art of manipulation can be achieved by the comfort presented to the audience.
I like the metaphor between Calvino and the creepy guy in the van with the candy. Just like the kids that the guy is trying to lure in, we have the choice of whether or not we want to give in. In this case, we could have stopped reading if we felt uncomfortable with the beginning of the book. But we just had to keep on reading because 1. it's a class assignment, 2. the intro is unique, and 3. we want to know how the story is going to end: "What story down there awaits it's end? --- he asks, anxious to hear the story" (258).
ReplyDeleteThis is quite an interesting post. I actually kind of agree with the comfortable-like approach Calvino gave, "Let the world around you fade...Find the most comfortable position...stretch you legs and put your feet on a cushion"(Calvino 2). I personally did not mind this approach because I was predicting that author is doing this to let me know that this a really good novel your about to read. Boy was I wrong, soon after he just started rambling about stuff I didn't care about, "the Books You've Been Planning To Read For Ages, Books You Want To Own So They'll Be Handy Just In Case"(Calvino 5). At this point I knew I was not going to like this book. Regardless, I had a feeling that this is Calvino's sneaky trick throughout the book and the test would be if we could keep up with his twist and his turns.
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