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Post by bandit on Sept 9, 2015 20:33:35 GMT -5
I've recently been interested in novels where nothing happens, or just ones that don't technically have a plot. There are certainly examples out there--Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain has no ongoing story and James Joyce's Ulysses describes a fairly normal day--but even in the most threadbare stories, somebody always dies and/or has sex. In The Magic Mountain, there's both. Ulysses is pretty infamous for its sex stuff. It doesn't have to be an otherwise humdrum book, either; it's almost as if authors feel an obligation to include one of these two easily identifiable 'big events.'
Do you think a novel is better if somebody dies or gets their bone on? Can you think of any good examples where this doesn't happen? (Discounting books for very small children, I can't. And even then...)
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Post by penne on Sept 9, 2015 21:41:05 GMT -5
"The Passion According to G.H." is a novel by Clarice Lispector that I added to our 100 must-read books list, and it has no sex, and the only death is of a cockroach. I'm sure there are others.
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Post by Linda Rhaldeen on Sept 10, 2015 0:36:04 GMT -5
I looked over my goodreads list and went pretty far down the list before I could find one. Part of that is that I read more nonfiction than fiction, but while it's not too difficult to find a book without sex the number of stories where a character dies as part of the plot is huge. Some of them I thought were safe but then realized a death that happened prior to the events of the story is brought up. I think I finally came up with Terry Pratchett; not all of his books fit the profile but quite a few do. Maybe check the comedy genre in general.
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Post by Dante on Sept 10, 2015 5:48:40 GMT -5
Novels in which "nothing happens" and nobody dies tend to be "realist" ones (an amusing moniker), and they tend to share the author's fixations. I'm not surprised that you're having difficulty.
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Post by B. on Sept 10, 2015 10:21:57 GMT -5
Pride and Prejudice.
I don't (think) anyone has sex, but the subject might be touched upon (it's been a while).
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Post by bandit on Sept 10, 2015 13:45:06 GMT -5
By good examples, I meant good books. Also, just to be clear, I'm not on a personal quest to read books without these qualifiers. I just found it puzzling how prevalent they are in the realm of literature.
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Post by soufflé on Sept 10, 2015 14:59:31 GMT -5
well sex and death are two basic human activities that almost everyone experiences so it makes sense that lots of people write about them
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Post by Michelle Denouement on Sept 10, 2015 15:21:58 GMT -5
When I was in high school, my AP English class jokingly called the class "Death in Literature", because I think every book and most of the short stories we read in that contained death. "The Lottery", "The Awakening", "Death of a Salesman", "King Lear"...
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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Sept 10, 2015 15:26:35 GMT -5
You're going to have much more luck with short stories though, for some reason. Maybe novels just cover too much diegetic time to avoid these two ever-present things. I don't find it that strange tbh. Like Linda said, the comedy genre would be a good place to look for novels like that.
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Post by bandit on Sept 10, 2015 17:10:51 GMT -5
well sex and death are two basic human activities that almost everyone experiences so it makes sense that lots of people write about them I think it's safe to say none of us experience death until it's too late to read or write anything. In all seriousness though, I understand that a lot of people would want to write about sex and death. But most often, the topics are not written "about" in the sense that they are explored or analyzed. As a climax or a payoff or a central plot point, they are just put in as an emotional tactic, to make the reader go "oh salsa! there's no turning back now, that person just died/had sex." Surely there are other things that could get a reaction.
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Post by soufflé on Sept 10, 2015 17:21:24 GMT -5
Yes but we are very much aware of death and its inevitability which has an effect on how we live; also lots of people know others who have died so that's a big thing And I actually don't think there is much else that could strike a chord with most people. and that's because there are only but so many basic conflicts people have. sure in some stories they're veiled in details but in the end almost every story boils down to a conflict about sex, love, power or death and those things are important. why else would we still read Romeo and Juliet? no one has much reason to care about two kids canoodling but because it touches on all four of these relevant concepts almost everyone can find something in there that's compelling (whether in an positive or negative way)
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zakeno
Catastrophic Captain
"yikes"
Posts: 87
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Post by zakeno on Sept 10, 2015 17:33:31 GMT -5
I feel you on this! I particularly find sex in novels/movies/tv unappealing (to me its like seeing a couple make out in public- why do people enjoy this??). Instead of 'sex and death' I usually try to categorize ""primal"" emotions that people put into their stories into 'fight/flight and love', which are more interesting and emotionally approachable as topics to me (though I don't mind death in media).
Anywho, have you seen The Illusionist (the animated one?) You may like that!
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Post by Esmé's meme is meh on Sept 10, 2015 20:36:49 GMT -5
I'd recommend Virginia Woolf for books where "nothing happens", but they have mainly death. Her stuff is truly amazing, so anyway you should read "To the Lighthouse" and "The waves"
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Post by Seymour Glass on Oct 23, 2015 23:40:56 GMT -5
There's no sex or death in Superfudge.
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Post by Emerald Snicket on Nov 4, 2015 15:36:59 GMT -5
The Molly Moon series is written for children, but it's not boring. If you read on to the later books, it is quite interesting, and the first book is still a good standalone read. Also, I haven't read this for a while, but Wonder by R.J. Palacio is YA, I think (but if I remember correctly, the protagonist is 10, so I'm not sure), and it has no death or sex from my recollection.
Personally, I think that death and sex are quite unoriginal. I understand that death can be a fundamental part to your plot, but there is far worse than death if you want to have emotion in your story, and there are other ways to get rid of a character should that be your reason for killing them as well. Sex is easily avoidable, and death is too if you take some time to think of alternatives.
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