A．the author of FatheringB．a character in FatheringC．on……
TEXT D
The two modern writers
whose influence on young novelists has been most pervasive are probably James
Joyce and Ernest Hemingway. There is no telling how many young writers have gone
astray trying to emulate Joyce’s complexity of language and Hemingway’s
misleading simplicity.
I was reminded of that as I read Nicholas
Delblanco’s Fathering, an often exasperating novel, because it is so needlessly
obscure and reveals so much talent and so little disciplining of that
talent.
The internal maundering of Delblanco’s characters would
probably interest a psychoanalyst, trained to decipher their significance as
sign posts, But novelists should not write for the edification of
psychoanalysts. Ostensibly reproducing the unorganized thoughts, memories and
impressions flowing through a character’s mind is not often the best way to make
that character comprehensible.
Such thoughts, memories and
impressions become chaotic. The job of the artist is to bring some order and
meaning out of that chaos, not to compound it, and to clarify, not befog, the
nature of the character.
Delblanco is
A．the author of Fathering
B．a character in Fathering
C．one of the obscure novelists
D．a psychoanalyst
