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Post by meagangcurrie on Jun 11, 2024 0:16:19 GMT
Barbary Shore is an interesting story, to say the least. The characters are quite unique and the storyline is somewhat dull. Each character is fighting their own battles while all living under the same roof. None of them are friends, but are amiable with one another. While I find all the characters interesting, I am most intrigued by Hollingsworth. For one, he exudes a suave personality from the way he converses with others and the way he dresses. He is also very inquisitive and often appears suspicious to some of the other characters. Though Hollingsworth intrigues me the most, the other characters have their own quirks that make them interesting. I suppose my main questions are: What was the author trying to accomplish here? Why are the characters so vastly different from one another? Are the characters supposed to buttress the plot or argument of the novel?
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jun 11, 2024 16:55:46 GMT
Thanks for this, Meagan! And some good questions for us to mull over. It's always a bit dicey to try to ascertain the "objective" of any novel, as we should be careful not to fall into the authorial fallacy, whereby we interpret a text based on what the author meant or intended to do, rather than what actually happened.
And yet, I think we could engage in some mild speculation that Mailer is trying to write a different kind of novel here, one with hard-boiled, detective story, film noir vibes. There's very little plot to be had here--- new characters come in and out, and we learn a bit about them, but nothing much "happens" throughout the course of the novel--at least not of yet.
I do wonder how different the characters actually are. Seems like they may different on the surface but share similarities underneath? Finding out what's underneath is what's driving this story overall...
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