Photo: Peter Horvath
Continue reading “Pillars of Salt”In Vonnegut, that which survives being proofed by satire, as Billy Pilgrim is so mercilessly in Slaughterhouse Five, becomes both human and wise.
Pillars of Salt
Tag: plots
The Novel as Atonement
Photo: Atonement, dir. Joe Wright
Continue reading “The Novel as Atonement”It wasn’t only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding; above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you. And only in a story could you enter into these different minds and show how they had an equal value.
Ian McEwan, Atonement
The Many Ages of Wisdom
Continue reading “The Many Ages of Wisdom”Picture in your mind a wise man or wise woman. Chances are you imagined someone of advanced age—Dumbledore not Harry Potter, The Matrix’s Oracle not Trinity.