20th century blogs with Leor

How does perspective change the way the reader views characters in Mrs. Dalloway     In Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway , Clarissa is the character we see the most throughout the story. There are many depictions of her from multiple perspectives which gives the reader a completed impression of her character. similarly, Septimus is another character we see being written from multiple perspectives. Without differing perspectives, the reader would not be able to fully understand these characters. Having multiple perspectives adds to the way a character is viewed and broadens our vision/understanding of those characters. The reader is able to see more layers and depth to the character rather than just hearing about the character through the perspective of a narrator or through the perspective of that character. This is especially important when looking at Clarissa as she is an extremely layered character that you can't just write through one perspective. Conversely when looking at ...

The Clean Background Effect In The Mezzanine        The Mezzanine is a simultaneously complex and simple book, however the entire book can't work without a concept that Nicolas Baker introduced in the book called the white background effect. On page 38 Baker introduces the concept saying "When I was little I used to be very interested in the fact that anything, no matter how rough, rusted, dirty, or otherwise discredited it was, looked good if you set it down on a stretch of white cloth, or any kind of clean background. The definition that Baker gives of the clean background explains to the reader how the book flows as smoothly as it does, to the point where it seems artistic; the theory that Baker gives the reader reveals that it's not so much the content that matters, it's what surrounds the content that makes it appealing to the reader. Howie does this with all of his seemingly pointless memories however it always leaves an interesting un-thought of epiphany of t...