Fair enough, but I'm not really sure if they don't mean anything. The whole novel is an allegory, which means that every single word that he puts (or doesn't put) is there for a reason. Everything is supposed to mean something. This is why it's hard for me to believe that he decided to omit regular rules, like quotation marks from his novel.
There is a novel called Hopscotch (Rayuela) by Julio Cortázar, and it too has a very particular style in writing. For starters, the book isn't even arranged in chronological (or even logical) order. The book begins in chapter 73, and then takes you back to chapter 1. Not strange enough? It also includes an overwhelming amount of spelling mistakes, made on purpose. There is a complete chapter made up of only invented words. In addition to this, most of the text throughout the novel has a minimum of periods, colons, semi-colons, etc. There are huge paragraphs, flowing freely by the use of comas alone.
Of Course, all of it has a special function. Cortazar's mission was to create the perfect "anti-novel". It follows the surreal movement of the period, and throughout the novel there are constant references to surrealism, including discussions about artists from this group like Mondrian and Klee. He also relates his attempt to break all boundaries with jazz, the structure less genre of music.
The composition of this novel is based on breaking the standard, destroying literature itself to liberate it from its chains. Cortazar frequently describes words as "black bitches", since they completely ruin the meaning of what they describe. To eradicate this problem, Cortazar invents his own words, which make a better delivery of the message he wants to express.
The endless paragraphs that flow uninterrupted for pages are another ally in Cortazar’s master plan. However, he does this in a way in which readers barely notice, and before they know it, they have read a whole chapter without encountering a single period. The way the words move freely resemble the chain of thoughts that go through a person's head, never stopping, smoothly connected and with no need for punctuation.
This bizarre structuring is completely relevant to the story. Every single wrong "h" he includes, every random jump of chapter and every "sbornia" he writes have a direct significance in the story. This utter blasphemy towards literature has transformed Hopscotch into one of the greatest works of art ever written.
Who knows if McCarthy didn't intentionally arrange his novel the way he did. It obviously isn't as blatant as Cortazar’s, but I still believe there is a level of relevance in the way he omitted such traditional marks of punctuation in the same way he omitted the sun. The lack of correct punctuation could be interpreted as the lack of correct values among humans, which have forsaken all common rules that used to shape society. It could also be a reflection on what is missing in the world they live in, like nature, or even seasons. Despite McCarthy's claims that the lack of correct punctuation doesn't mean anything, I can see how anyone can interpret it as pertinent. I probably wouldn't have thought so if I hadn't been reading Hopscotch at the same time. Perhaps only I understand what I am trying to say. It’s true that words aren’t perfectly designed to express our thoughts effectively, and it may be possible that the real comprehension of thoughts is reserved for each individual. Your mind may be the only place on Earth left that is exclusively yours. It’s very fortunate that it is so.
No comments:
Post a Comment