Thursday, October 21, 2010

Literature demystified by Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut is one of those lauded authors whose books I am not tempted to seek.  But if the graphs below were what he used to teach literature, man, what would I give to audit that class. *props chin in admiration*

 

The story arc of a romance novel. Tried and true trope it may be, but romance is still one of the largest and most profitable genre of the publication industry.


Staggered build up of this nature is usually pleasing to the readers of fairytales. Cynics would say that fairytales fall under the romance genre; however, the truth is that readers of the romance genre are generally discerning and clever. We may like the happy ending guarantee, but there has to be a plot that makes us keep flipping the page.



If you are into nihilistic, post modern literature (IDEK what that means), this is the story arc you get. By the end of the book, you would either be insensate from alcohol imbibement to dull the existential pain or bleeding out into your bathtub/on your bed/some random surface from the neat, parallel cuts on your inner forearm.


Ah, Hamlet. Did he get justice for his father? Were all his sacrifice worth it? If you want to know what Vonnegut thought of Hamlet and Shakespeare's writing skills go to the site whence I ganked these graphs (which would be here).

2 comments:

soren said...

i like kafka, at keast he's funny. romance..hmm..i think they are too long and i got no patience..tho i immensely enjoyed kundera's the unbearable lightness of being. that would fall under...?

Snuze said...

Dude, I only know these authors you mention by their reputation. I am a shameless easy reading whore and these heavyweights will make me break out in hives.

So I will take your word that Kafka's funny. *grin*