Readercon panel: "My Secret (or Not-So-Secret) Story Structure"

[kate_nepveu]

Description:

Michael A. Burstein (M), John Crowley, Thomas M. Disch, Greer Gilman, Pamela Zoline

There's a small group of novels with overt organizing structures, like Thomas M. Disch's 334, John Brunner's The Squares of the City, John Crowley's Ægypt, and (most famously outside the genre) Ulysses. We suspect that this is the tip of the iceberg

Comments

[stealthmuffin]

You probably know this already, but the Italo Calvino reference is to The Castle of Crossed Destinies, which is an amazing exercise in storytelling with an imposed structure.

[rosefox]

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler was also mentioned in some detail.

[kate_nepveu]

I don't have an memory of that, which surprises me because I at least know the structure of that one, so I would have expected to say to myself "ooh! something I know!" when it was mentioned.

Do you recall what it was mentioned with reference to?

[rosefox]

It was fairly early on, part of the whole beginning-middle-end thing; tomsdisch used it as an example of beginnings without middles or ends.

[kate_nepveu]

Thank you.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks--I didn't bother to Google that one because I was getting tired.