In if on a winters night a traveler Calvino was giving the reader so many different tangled experiences and in each chapter was very explicit explaining in detail what the reader was supposed to be experiencing while reading each different chapter or page or sentence. Calvino attempted to play with the reader’s emotions and see if he could guess or maybe control the reader’s thoughts. While he did this he also allowed the reader to make his/her own choices and come to their own conclusions regarding how they approached the novel.
In the last chapter Calvino talks about all the different ways of reading. He writes about this in other chapters as well, ludmillas style of innocent/childlike reading, lotorias analyzed reading, the editors controlled reading etc… I the last chapter Calvino writes mainly about reading that takes you away from the book as an object bring your mind away from the words written on the page to discover what is behind the words or in between them to bring your own experience to the book and then take that further somehow. Reading a few lines and then breaking off on a tangent to think about not only what those lines mean in the story you are reading but also in the larger context of the readers life and beliefs. I feel that when I have read at different times and with different books I have used everyone of the reading styles that calvino writes about in “if on a winters night a traveler” when reading Calvino’s book I approached it in the way that lotoria would have analyzing each sentence and attempting to desern some sort of meaning from the words that Calvino had written. On other occasions I have approached reading in ludmillas innocent child just waiting and watching the story unfold as I read it not taking time to think to much into the work. I have read like the editor when proofreading my own papers checking the grammar and spelling and making sure it all makes sense. I have also read in the focused distracted way that is talked about in chapter eleven. Taking all my experiences and injecting them into the story rather than just taking what the author has written by itself.
On separate occasions I have read in these separate ways. Most of the time I read though I use a mixture of these which is the way that I believe Calvino was trying to get his readers to read his novel.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
If on a Winters Night a Treaveler
Italo Calvinos novel “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” is written very mysteriously almost like a labyrinth within a book. I found my thoughts of frustration over the constant shifts in the story mirrored in the numbered chapters. In these chapters the reader who I am to believe is me is constantly trying to get past the first chapters of several books. Each time he gets into a story there is a problem. The story is misprinted, or un-translated, or incomplete. I think the point of this is to mirror your frustration at not being able to go beyond the first chapter of these stories as well.
To make sense of what I was reading I attempted to draw similarities between each chapter. I will focus on identifying and maybe explaining these similarities.
In each chapter we are expecting to read a certain story. The first story we expect is “If on a Winters Night a Traveler” instead we get a misprint that is instead the story “Outside the Town of Malbrock” we then try to read further into this story but in the next chapter the reader ends up purchasing some unknown Cimmerian novel. This continues for the rest of the chapters. I think that this ads a mysterious to the book; the reader has no idea what he/she is reading and is constantly being lied to by the author.
Another similarity is the female characters in each chapter. Madame Marne, Ludmilla, Zwilda in 2 chapters. Each of these women is shrouded in mystery and each of them is the object of desire for the main character.
Ludmilla is the readers desire we chase after her trying to set up situations where we can meet her. To some extent we aren’t interested in finishing the story but rather in learning more about her.
Zwida Ozkart is interesting to me because from what I can tell of the story that she is in she is in love with Ponko Kauderer. They are from two different rival families much like Romeo and Juliet.
There are many similarities between each chapter and I said I would try to explain these but I have only become more confused after writing some of them down. I feel that the beginning of the book was very inviting lulling me into a state of relaxation. This was all a lie I wasn’t even reading the book I thought I was “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” I was really reading “Outside the Town of Malbrock” this trickery went further with the interchanging of perspectives that interchange with each chapter and also in the chapters themselves. Even with all of this I am still very interested in not only the story but also the way it is told.
In the chapters Calvino writes what a reader might be thinking about the story almost making up our minds for us as we read “ You, reader, believed that there, on the platform, my gaze was glued to the hands of the round clock of an old station…But who can say that the clock’s numbers aren’t peeping from behind rectangular windows” (13) in this segment he is basically telling the reader not to assume anything about his story. I thought that this was very interesting because this is what we naturally do when given a story that has so many wholes we try to make connections and assumptions and attempt to fill in the wholes that are left blank, but maybe we are not supposed to make connections but just be carried along and put our trust in Calvino? Another line that made me think of something similar was on page 19 when he is describing Madame Marne “a weight of memories that keep me from seeing her as a person seen for the first time, other people’s memories suspended like the smoke under the lamps.” We are obviously not supposed to expect this novel to be like any other that we have read which so far is true.
To make sense of what I was reading I attempted to draw similarities between each chapter. I will focus on identifying and maybe explaining these similarities.
In each chapter we are expecting to read a certain story. The first story we expect is “If on a Winters Night a Traveler” instead we get a misprint that is instead the story “Outside the Town of Malbrock” we then try to read further into this story but in the next chapter the reader ends up purchasing some unknown Cimmerian novel. This continues for the rest of the chapters. I think that this ads a mysterious to the book; the reader has no idea what he/she is reading and is constantly being lied to by the author.
Another similarity is the female characters in each chapter. Madame Marne, Ludmilla, Zwilda in 2 chapters. Each of these women is shrouded in mystery and each of them is the object of desire for the main character.
Ludmilla is the readers desire we chase after her trying to set up situations where we can meet her. To some extent we aren’t interested in finishing the story but rather in learning more about her.
Zwida Ozkart is interesting to me because from what I can tell of the story that she is in she is in love with Ponko Kauderer. They are from two different rival families much like Romeo and Juliet.
There are many similarities between each chapter and I said I would try to explain these but I have only become more confused after writing some of them down. I feel that the beginning of the book was very inviting lulling me into a state of relaxation. This was all a lie I wasn’t even reading the book I thought I was “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” I was really reading “Outside the Town of Malbrock” this trickery went further with the interchanging of perspectives that interchange with each chapter and also in the chapters themselves. Even with all of this I am still very interested in not only the story but also the way it is told.
In the chapters Calvino writes what a reader might be thinking about the story almost making up our minds for us as we read “ You, reader, believed that there, on the platform, my gaze was glued to the hands of the round clock of an old station…But who can say that the clock’s numbers aren’t peeping from behind rectangular windows” (13) in this segment he is basically telling the reader not to assume anything about his story. I thought that this was very interesting because this is what we naturally do when given a story that has so many wholes we try to make connections and assumptions and attempt to fill in the wholes that are left blank, but maybe we are not supposed to make connections but just be carried along and put our trust in Calvino? Another line that made me think of something similar was on page 19 when he is describing Madame Marne “a weight of memories that keep me from seeing her as a person seen for the first time, other people’s memories suspended like the smoke under the lamps.” We are obviously not supposed to expect this novel to be like any other that we have read which so far is true.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Greatest Inovation?
Hypertext is seen by many of its champions as the greatest thing that has happened to literature…ever. In Coover’s essay “The End of Books” Hypertext is shown as a daring innovation that changes the world of books forever and even has the ability to make classic writing obsolete. One addition to the ever-changing definition of hypertext that Coover presents is that unlike classic texts, such as novels, hypertext is based on structure more than prose. This distinction frees hypertext and makes this medium much more versatile than was previously possible with classic writing. This change is what really sets hypertext out from other styles of writing. Using a complex labyrinth of links a hypertext can take on new and different forms with each separate reading or experience.
Novels can do something similar to this with each different reading of a novel the reader might have different reactions to the text the reader could notice something different that they may have missed or have a different emotion when reading. This is similar to the different reactions a reader could have to a hypertext but not the same at all. With hypertext a reader could actually skip whole sections of the story they may not even know that they missed it but must continue with the story without what might be crucial information. This creates completely different reactions for each reader. This is what makes hypertext so interesting.
This innovation of hypertext is explained in Sven Birkerts “Hypertext: Of Mouse and Man” When Sven and his friend explore the hypertext Victory Garden, by Stuart Mouulthrop they begin the story at a interactive table of contents which maps out the interactive space that is Victory Garden. This interactive table of contents is used in many hypertext stories, such as Shelly Jacksons “Patch Work Girl.” The interaction that the reader has with a hypertext makes them feel more of a connection to the work, even if the hypertext does not make sense to the readers they can only continue to try and find a way trough the labyrinth that a hypertext can create. The choices that the reader makes create the experience that they will have.
As stated earlier the champions of hypertext believe that it is the greatest thing to happen to literature and that it will soon make classic writing styles obsolete. I believe that hypertext is an interesting and innovative style of writing but it cannot replace classic writing. The two styles of writing work equally well in different ways to convey meaning and an experience to its readers. The pros and structure of each of these styles have the ability to cause distinct and profound emotions, ideas and experiences for their readers. There will someday be another innovation to writing that will change this experience for future readers but it will always need the advances that have come before it and will never replace old styles, such as the novel or someday hypertext.
Novels can do something similar to this with each different reading of a novel the reader might have different reactions to the text the reader could notice something different that they may have missed or have a different emotion when reading. This is similar to the different reactions a reader could have to a hypertext but not the same at all. With hypertext a reader could actually skip whole sections of the story they may not even know that they missed it but must continue with the story without what might be crucial information. This creates completely different reactions for each reader. This is what makes hypertext so interesting.
This innovation of hypertext is explained in Sven Birkerts “Hypertext: Of Mouse and Man” When Sven and his friend explore the hypertext Victory Garden, by Stuart Mouulthrop they begin the story at a interactive table of contents which maps out the interactive space that is Victory Garden. This interactive table of contents is used in many hypertext stories, such as Shelly Jacksons “Patch Work Girl.” The interaction that the reader has with a hypertext makes them feel more of a connection to the work, even if the hypertext does not make sense to the readers they can only continue to try and find a way trough the labyrinth that a hypertext can create. The choices that the reader makes create the experience that they will have.
As stated earlier the champions of hypertext believe that it is the greatest thing to happen to literature and that it will soon make classic writing styles obsolete. I believe that hypertext is an interesting and innovative style of writing but it cannot replace classic writing. The two styles of writing work equally well in different ways to convey meaning and an experience to its readers. The pros and structure of each of these styles have the ability to cause distinct and profound emotions, ideas and experiences for their readers. There will someday be another innovation to writing that will change this experience for future readers but it will always need the advances that have come before it and will never replace old styles, such as the novel or someday hypertext.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Choose ur own Adventure!!
I read the Choose Your Own Adventure book Prisoner of the Ant People, by R. A. Montgomery. The basic plot is that you are an earthling who is part of a team of researches composed of different groups. Your group consists of a Martin from Mars and a robotic alien who is from the planet F32. The groups mission is to combat the Evil Power Master who is trying to destroy the universe. The story starts out with you going to a room where there is a machine called the miniaturizer. This machine can transform you into the size of an ant, which it does because it is accidentally set to automatic.
The rest of the story is based on your decisions throughout the book. The decisions are basically logic vs. intuition. The robot represents the logic while the plans you or the martin think up usually involve an action reaction process. I followed both paths until their ends. Most of them lead to your group getting captured by ant people and ending up working as slaves or stuck in a cell waiting your inevitable fate. None of your decisions lead to the defeat of the Evil Power Master.
The most interesting ending was when I attempted to help a group of ants whos job it is to watch the energy levels of the universe. By watching the energy levels they are able to track the Evil Power Master because he disrupts the natural flow of the enrgy. The ants then attempt to warn planets that will be targeted but their attempts are useless because no one listens to ants. This storyline ends with you attempting to warn planet F32 to no avail the Evil Power Master destroys the planet and the story ends. This is how most of the story is you and your group are basically powerless to stop the Evil Power Masters various evil plots.
I thought the idea of a Choose Your Own Adventure story was very interesting. There are so many different ways that your story could play out, so many different endings and paths to those endings. I think it would be much more interesting if it was better written but I guess it was made for young readers. It was kind of frustrating though because each ending was usually worse than the last. I did not read the whole book or try every different path so maybe one of the few that I did not try made it to the end and the defeat of the Evil Power Master since I am sure that was the point of the whole story.
It was interesting to have the enemy for most of the story being ants. There were 3 different groups of ants in the story, the watchers who I talked about previously, the Queens Tribe, they were mostly neutral and just out for themselves. Whenever you came across them you usually ended up as a slave. The third faction was allied with the Evil Power Master. In one of the ending they destroyed the universe and all you got to do was watch.
The rest of the story is based on your decisions throughout the book. The decisions are basically logic vs. intuition. The robot represents the logic while the plans you or the martin think up usually involve an action reaction process. I followed both paths until their ends. Most of them lead to your group getting captured by ant people and ending up working as slaves or stuck in a cell waiting your inevitable fate. None of your decisions lead to the defeat of the Evil Power Master.
The most interesting ending was when I attempted to help a group of ants whos job it is to watch the energy levels of the universe. By watching the energy levels they are able to track the Evil Power Master because he disrupts the natural flow of the enrgy. The ants then attempt to warn planets that will be targeted but their attempts are useless because no one listens to ants. This storyline ends with you attempting to warn planet F32 to no avail the Evil Power Master destroys the planet and the story ends. This is how most of the story is you and your group are basically powerless to stop the Evil Power Masters various evil plots.
I thought the idea of a Choose Your Own Adventure story was very interesting. There are so many different ways that your story could play out, so many different endings and paths to those endings. I think it would be much more interesting if it was better written but I guess it was made for young readers. It was kind of frustrating though because each ending was usually worse than the last. I did not read the whole book or try every different path so maybe one of the few that I did not try made it to the end and the defeat of the Evil Power Master since I am sure that was the point of the whole story.
It was interesting to have the enemy for most of the story being ants. There were 3 different groups of ants in the story, the watchers who I talked about previously, the Queens Tribe, they were mostly neutral and just out for themselves. Whenever you came across them you usually ended up as a slave. The third faction was allied with the Evil Power Master. In one of the ending they destroyed the universe and all you got to do was watch.
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