Forward to the work

Here it is; twenty-seven chapters of my old story We Rats of 20C. I completed this story in the spring of '09. It was was a short experiment, which I began in the late summer of '08. It went through a few drafts and here lies its final version. It is a version that I might call abandoned, since it is as far as I believe I could take the format and idea in its purest way.

There are conditions in this writing that make it unusual and the book almost immediately starts with these differences of condition, that a novel-enthusiast (the kind that knows nothing above the novel) will quickly make. One of these, namely, is 'characterization'. It is an aspect of the "the method" that I find unattractive in every art form, whether writing, music, film making or photography. I decidedly dispensed with it, in favour of a more spacious landscape, leaving the reader to engage with all the information of the scene. It was important to make sure the reader was not brought too close to the character, I wanted to introduce the reader to the stage.

Without going in to too much detail, I was my intention to make out of this writing something of a piece of literature, and not confine my writing to the conditions required for writing a novel, least of all was it my intention to write something a reader would be familiar with, that is and has been the novel. In this I might have failed as much as I succeeded.

The book is principally about one person overcoming their circumstances. Twenty-one of the chapters are written by the protagonist directly in to his journal, which is what you the reader will be reading. There is a continuous reference to history and art throughout the writing, every character within has a shadow from mythology (either grecian, roman, or norse) and their scenes are always loose retellings of each of their mythological tales.

My principle device, besides the metaphors throughout, is Voice. The voice of a work of literature tells you everything, and a reader should avoid works that are not audible to read. You can learn everything there is to know about the character, its author, and what to expect from the work in the instance you hear its Voice. I tried to manipulate the voice throughout the work so that the reader could gain knowledge of the character without giving away too much about himself. The protagonist begins with an agitated voice, conflicted, and at times bitter, and vengeful, which is echoed on to the description of his surroundings and the writing itself, as the story progresses all this subsides and the voice becomes calmer during the middle period of the work and likewise echoed in to the above mentioned aspects of the story, and as the fourth part of the work progresses the voice becomes much more joyful and pleasant, and is reflected on to his surroundings and the writing itself.

The story folds in to four parts, and though I ought not to admit it, I might prefer directing a reader straight to the fourth part, as that is where the preceding parts are urging the reader towards, and therefore aims to be the most gratifying. As a work it aims its reader to continue to press onward, and to read the entire work is one sitting is most preferable. It's not a work to take your time with, it is best enjoyed quickly, like a short-story.

A last point to make, is that the trouble I had in writing this was that I could not find myself in the work anywhere, especially not in its characters. Only towards the culminations of the story do I begin to see myself. To ask whether I believe in any of this is unanswerable, I might say entirely, but not as these characters announce it.

The entire meaning of the story might be well expressed through these lines:

"Once I lived in sadness and sorrow;

now I rejoice, and these anxieties

that I have suffered for so many years

make my present happy state more dear."

taken from Alessandro Striggo's libretto for L'Orfeo

James Anderson