Subject: Re: (ReacTor) Five Ways to Build a Story Around an Unlikeable Protagonist
Pertinent excerpt from James' review included in this revision.
James Nicoll wrote:
Five Ways to Build a Story Around an Unlikeable Protagonist
Thoughts on hateable, problematic, and morally bankrupt characters.
https://reactormag.com/five-ways-to-build-a-story-around-an-unlikeable-protagonist/
(excerpt)
but is it possible that Heinlein was drawing readers
in with characters who were just a smidge dimmer than
the reader, so the reader could have the pleasure of
outthinking the lead? It?s probably tricky to hit
?just thick enough? without wandering into
?irritatingly dense."
In the crowded marketplace of ideas, artful authors attract an
audience's patronage by inculcating a sense of reader superiority into
their readership.
RAH's reliable narrators arguably act as a baseline. You get what
you pay for. Readers foresee what is coming while character
comprehension lags a little - it loiters to size up a straightforward situation.
Unreliable narrators up the stakes. They require readers to expend
extra effort to question the narrative along the way. By the end of a successfully sleuthed story, superiority is enhanced enough to enable
escalated euphoria.
But unreliable narration can backfire on readers who lack the
requisite intelligence or mental discipline to tackle the tale.
--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. veritas _|_ telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. liberabit |
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' vos |
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