by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 17, 2011 | craft of writing, details, novels |
In Await Your Reply, published in 2009, Dan Chaon uses repetition in a very cool way. Instead of bogging down the original scene, he pushes the action forward first, then a bit later, moves in for a close-up or two, adding additional details. For example, on page 246,...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 16, 2011 | accumulation, craft of writing, novels, stories, time |
In the surprisingly interesting Reader’s Guide at the back of Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply, Chaon writes: As a writer, I feel like I’m always in conversation with the books that I’ve read. Yiyun Li, the author of The Vagrants, feels the same...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 15, 2011 | craft of writing, details, novels |
From the first page of Dan Chaon’s novel: On the seat beside him, in between him and his father, Ryan’s severed hand is resting on a bed of ice in an eight-quart Styrofoam cooler. Enough said? Dan Chaon’s second novel and fourth book, Await Your...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 21, 2011 | essays, my writing, novels, poetry, reviews, stories |
Summer Contrary is online with new fiction, essays, and poetry, as well as reviews of these books : Poetry: Northerners by Seth Abramson Essays: Otherwise Known as the Human Condition by Geoff Dyer and A Journey with Two Maps by Eaven Boland Fiction: And Yet They Were...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 23, 2011 | novels, reading |
“When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 8, 2011 | novels, reviews |
So, David Shields’ manifesto Reality Hunger. Structure: 618 short sections grouped into 26 chapters. Subject: our hunger for the real as opposed to the invented. Shields makes some strong points and shares some controversial ideas, most of which, in the real...
