![]() ![]() A lot of novelists start with the blank page and improvise, but I like the scaffolding to be in place, and I like it to fit the story and themes. What effect do you think this episodic structure has on its readers?ĭN: I’m fascinated by structure. In Us, Douglas and Connie have a wildly divergent view of the world, yet it’s this very difference that pulls them together, even if later it pushes them apart.īTW: The book is split into 180 brief chapters. ![]() Look at Much Ado or Pride and Prejudice, Bringing Up Baby or When Harry Met Sally. People rarely fall in love with their mirror image, and there’s no spark without friction. In other words, the best laughter, I think, is tinged with sadness and regret.Īnd in terms of the love story, contrast and conflict are vital. In film, Billy Wilder’s The Apartment is a brilliant comedy about loneliness, suicide, and despair. Salinger is a great comic writer, yet I’ve never read Franny and Zooey and not been moved. Tonally, the books and films I love constantly flip between comedy and pathos Dickens at his best can make you laugh and cry, often within the same chapter. Why do you think it is important to include these conflicting - or, in some cases, congruent - ideas in one book?ĭavid Nicholls: I suppose it’s that old need for conflict, for drama and friction. Bookselling This Week: Much of this novel is a balancing act: between comedy and semi-tragedy between art and science and between romantic and familial love. ![]()
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