A sixteen year old kid asked famous writers about symbolism...

Status
Not open for further replies.

Layla Nahar

Seashell Seller
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
7,655
Reaction score
913
Location
Seashore
http://mentalfloss.com/article/3093...ism-their-work-and-whether-it-was-intentional

"It was 1963, and 16-year-old Bruce McAllister was sick of symbol-hunting in English class. Rather than quarrel with his teacher, he went straight to the source: McAllister mailed a crude, four-question survey to 150 novelists, asking if they intentionally planted symbolism in their work. Seventy-five authors responded. Here’s what 12 of them had to say. (Copies of the survey responses can be found at the Paris Review.)"

Ray Bradury, Isaac Asimov, Ayn Rand, John Updike, Joseph Heller.. The list goes on.

I guess a few people here might get a kick out of this :)
 

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 18, 2007
Messages
38,197
Reaction score
4,544
Location
The End of the World
I guess a few people here might get a kick out of this :)

I love the breadth of answers, and how they're more or less exactly what I expected.

My favorite is probably this one:

"There is much more symbolism in ordinary life than some critics seem to realize."
 

Jozzy

Please, sir, I want some more.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 5, 2010
Messages
215
Reaction score
23
Location
Colorado
I liked Bradbury's answers. Also the proofreading marks.
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
Asimov and Bradbury made sense to me. Most of the others sounded like they hadn't really thought about it, and just made up answers on the spot.

This much I know. Critics and English professors will find symbolism in your work even if you did not intentionally place it there, and even if it isn't there at all.

This I also know. Even when a writer intentionally places symbolism in a work, most critics will miss it, and point at something else, and very, very, very few readers give a damn either way. I've never met a reader who gave a damn about symbolism, unless that reader was a writer, or in a creative writing class. General readers just don't care. They're after story and character, not symbolism.

I think Bradbury had it right with all his answers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.