Stylistic Technique idea

[mayneverhave]

I was wondering what anyone else thought about this.

In the novel I'm currently writing, one of my narrator/characters is very pessimistic and negative about the external world, constantly retreating into his own memories and imagination for comfort.

I was thinking about having him describe external objects or actions negatively. That is, instead of having him describe, for example, a table, directly, I'd have him describe the space or objects around the table in order to give the reader an idea of the table. So instead of describing something in the positive space, he describes it in the negative.

The only problems I forsee in attempting this are:

It is very difficult to accomplish successfully.
And I doubt anyone that reads the novel will understand what I'm doing, and I don't want to be like Eliot and have to annotate my own work.

Any opinions?

[Etienne]

The greatness of an idea is not necessarily the idea in itself but the way it is treated. So if I decide to write a poem without consonant, well great, but unless it's done in a nice way, the idea is bad. See what I mean?

[NickAdams]

I don't know how many pages of this the average reader would endure, but never compromise your art. Maybe you should experiment with a short story. Meta-fictional humor might help, ie Samuel Beckett. If other chartacters are introduced into you central characters environment, their dialogue or description produce a revelation. This would be difficult in first-person. Third-person or omni might produce better results.

[mayneverhave]

The greatness of an idea is not necessarily the idea in itself but the way it is treated. So if I decide to write a poem without consonant, well great, but unless it's done in a nice way, the idea is bad. See what I mean?

I understand what you are saying, and agree. I was just wondering what some opinions were concerning the idea itself, outside of how I might treat it.


I don't know how many pages of this the average reader would endure, but never compromise your art. Maybe you should experiment with a short story. Meta-fictional humor might help, ie Samuel Beckett. If other chartacters are introduced into you central characters environment, their dialogue or description produce a revelation. This would be difficult in first-person. Third-person or omni might produce better results.

Yeah, I realize it would probably make for tedius reading; I'm not sure I want my reader to be entirely lost, just semi-lost hah.

The novel I'm placing this narrator in is one with no central protagonist; each chapter is narrated by a different character (a la As I Lay Dying). Each narrator/character speaks in an entirely different voice, and this "negative" style-description will be unique to this one character, which would hopefully draw more attention to it as unique.

I'm just worried the correlation between negative-style descriptions and negative-personality will be lost on most readers.

[B-Mental]

I say practice, and then post your favorite example...the people on this site regularly probably could help. Good Luck...damn a new Joyce or Faulkner would be cool to witness the development...lol.

[NickAdams]

That can work. Aslong as your characterization is not dependent on the technique, then even if some readers don't get it, they can still enjoy the book. The best way to call attention to it, would be to use a contrast.

[NickAdams]

Hmmm ... the feeling the reader might come away with is distance, avoidence and loneliness.

[aeroport]

Yeah, I realize it would probably make for tedius reading; I'm not sure I want my reader to be entirely lost, just semi-lost hah.

The novel I'm placing this narrator in is one with no central protagonist; each chapter is narrated by a different character (a la As I Lay Dying). Each narrator/character speaks in an entirely different voice, and this "negative" style-description will be unique to this one character, which would hopefully draw more attention to it as unique.

I'm just worried the correlation between negative-style descriptions and negative-personality will be lost on most readers.

There is a distinction that should be made here between subtlety and "manner". If you want your reader to stay with you and actually read the whole thing, it would be best not to throw him off too much. However, what you're talking about is something that I think about a lot while writing. Subtlety is...well, incredibly fun and stimulating, for one thing, and also adds layers to the work there will always be discriminating readers to pick up on. If it doesn't seem like people are noticing these things, but enjoy the story nonetheless, you might as well count yourself lucky (and be aware that you were asking for it). But perceptive readers are not necessarily in short supply, if you can get it to them. The reason I seperate the two terms above is that, to me, Joyce's clever manipulation of forms in the individual chapters of Ulysses is kind of a silly game. I can see why it's important, and it is interesting, and certainly something to be admired, but it's kind of a special case.

EDIT: *WARNING: SOME VAGUE 'BENITO CERENO' SPOILERS AHEAD* (If you haven't read it yet, mayneverhave, I would strongly recommend it as an example.)
On the other hand - somewhat more along the lines, I think, of what you're talking about - take a work like Melville's Benito Cereno, a story in which the narrator equivocates everything the central character perceives on the stranger ship through descriptions of how things "seem". Melville uses similes like this during all of the story's major dramatic moments, and, for Melville's ideal reader (naive and exploitative upper-class nineteenth-century Americans who underestimate the mental capacity of African slaves), perhaps none of this is apparent until the horrible truth is disclosed. However, if you read closely, you'll find the phrase "equivocally enough" tucked quietly into a sentence near the beginning as a subordinate clause. Of course, no one who is not regularly making a rigorous analysis of the texts they read can be expected to pick up on this at first, but the story is engaging anyway (i.e. the reader is never lost).
I hope that at least gives you something to think about as you work out this technique. I can't give super great advice, though, without at least some sort of example of what you're talking about.