An interesting novel. It’s like the Pompidou centre; he declares the structure up front as he narrates. “And now as one character fades, a new character enters the scene” he announces before dragging in an Englishman who tells a story, fills up a chapter and then vanishes. I’m learning quite a lot about novel-writing just by paying attention to the meta-commentary within the narrative.
But he does one unforgivable thing. I was reading about Eduard and Charlotte and Ottilie and this character called the Captain (People in this genre tend to be referred to by their job titles, unless they’re women, since the Eternal Feminine is supposed to be drawing men upward rather than doing anything resembling a job) and reading away merrily, until at a very climactic moment in the story, Eduard goes off to summon this other guy, the Major. The what now? Who the hell is this?
It took several pages of back reading and checking up before I realised that Goethe had promoted the bloody Captain without telling me!
A tip: don’t do that. I don’t care if you are a great German Romantic poet, don’t do it. Goddamnit, I’m still cross. Captain…Major…Captain…
“Every Prime Minister needs a Willie.” (Margaret Thatcher)
I wouldn’t have considered such meta-commentary a trait of Romantic literature. It’s all been done before, eh?
I dunno, I haven’t often seen it so blatantly done, not even by people like Auster, Borges et al. Postmodernism? They were doing it hundreds of years before we were born
I didn’t even say Postmodernism! Get out of my head, woman! Yes, and what about Tristram Shandy? I don’t know about any of that coz it’s just stuff I haven’t read that I mention to make myself sound intelligent, and I’ll nod along with your Jane Auster and your Bourgeoisie (look at me – do you see me nodding?). And, yes, it’s all been done. But I’m just gonna write my stories and hope for the best.