The Intonation of Storytelling

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When asked to map out some discoveries made while reading the Manuscript found at Saragossa, I couldn’t help but find similarities between its structure and The Nights.  I was hoping Little, Big would fit in with this structure, and it does slightly, but not nearly as well as the Nights.  These nested stories do not have to end for another to begin, in fact overlap tends to occur quite often.  This idea brought vocal intonation to mind, or how one speaks, because the way some cultures speak aloud reminded me of the structure of these nested stories.  Jennifer was discussing (way back when) being frustrated that the story of the sisters in The Arabian Nights would not END, and she had no closure.  This brought the above visual to mind, which in turn reminded me of something I learned in my French phonetics class, as well as when I wrote my blog on “reading aloud.”

The French speak in a similar way to children.  What I mean by this is that their sentences continue to go up and up and up until the very last period, when the intonation goes down.  To illustrate this, I have recorded myself reading this paragraph:

See?  I just keep going and going and going until I get to the end.  This reminded me of the way the stories in the Manuscript go, because the overarching story keeps going up and up and dangling until you get to the very end, and the stories in between do not help to assuage the desire for closure.  The structure of the written story reflects the structure of spoken word.

Questions and Thoughts on Little, Big

I've only read through the first book (I'm trying to hurry! And will have it ALL read by my time to present the Sixth Book :))  But my questions are therefore a bit limited...

1. Why would Auberon think that having a unibrow somehow made you more likely to communicate with the other world?  Was there any other societal significance at the time?
2. Auberon's photos have "holes" in the story, and he has trouble putting them in sequential order.  Would Daily Alice or Sophie be able to do a better job because they "see" what he can't?  Is the sequential order really necessary for comprehension?
3. Why do the fairies want Lilac at all? And will Sophie realize she's a changeling and get her back?
4. Daily Alice makes Smoky more solid, less anonymous.  Is he that way only around her? Or would he keep his solidity back in The City?
5. If Smoky believes it is all make believe, but he tries anyway to understand, is he fully comprehending?  Can someone who can't "see" truly respect and appreciate what Daily Alice has experienced?  Or is experiencing it in the first person the only way to truly believe?

6. This one is not so much a question as a comment.  My friend tonight asked me what I was reading, and I found it hear impossible to give a synopsis of Little, Big.  I told him it was about a family who lived in a house, and about the different generational stories tied to teh family.  I said it was about people who could see fairies.  He was interested and asked me what kind of fairies.  Not knowing quite how to answer, I read for him from Theodore Bramble's speech on pages 42 and 43.  But I told him the academic explanation of the fairies wasn't really the point of the story, it was more about the magic of the whole thing.  He commented on "No I understand, the explanation is just word fluff for the book."  I balked.  I balked because I had yet to read a single chapter, a single sentence, a single word that was not absolutely necessary for the story in this book.  There was no "word fluff" and he very clearly did not "understand."  But who was I to explain it to him? He needs to read it for himself.

The Ballad of the Golf Ball

My life is pretty boring.  I am a small thing, and I don’t get out much.  Most of the time I am sitting in a dark bag bucket full of my brethren, until I get taken out and FINALLY, I get to FLYYYYY.  As I sit upon my little peg, I am full of glee that now it is my turn to soar through the air.  I take a deep breath and WOOOSH.  Here I go! I get so high in the air, but I hear shouts behind me “Go right, go right, settle, settle, GO RIGHT, DAMMIT.”  I don’t know what he’s so upset about; I thought I went pretty far!  As I settle into my nice dark cubby of very tall grass, I spot a creature even smaller than I.

He is a tiny thing with 6 legs but is carrying an object almost twice his size upon his back.  As he pauses to catch his breath, I inquire as to what he is.  “Why I am an ant!  And this here is a potato chip!.  I follow up with a question of how he obtained such a large potato chip and the tale he tells is one of heroics and bravery:

 I was in line with all my brothers and we were headed to a spot we knew well.  There is a giant moving object that carries all kinds of delicious snacks.  It stops in the same spot every day and hands out bags of these objects (points to potato chip on his back).  They are delicious!  Most of the time, the light colored ape beings drop many pieces and my brothers and I stock up.  This piece is especially large and I won it from my older brother! Oh no, here he comes now.  Don’t listen to a word he says!

 I witnessed another ant approach, and he seemed quite grumpy.  He began to shout, “That’s my food piece! That’s mine!”  The first ant scoffs and said “uh no, I got it, it’s mine!”  I request to know why this second ant believes the food is his, and then the second ant sets out to tell his story of woe:

There I was, in line with my brothers to get my food pieces, and all of a sudden a gigantic food piece falls from the heavens and hits me squarely on the head! I am dazed but I remember putting all 6 of my legs on this piece here, claiming it! I fell into a restless unconsciousness where I dreamed of being stepped on or run over by a moving object, it was terrifying.  But I held onto the thought of this giant potato chip whilst in my dark reverie.  It was my only solace.  Alas, when I awoke, it was gone! All I saw was my brother’s backside as he made off into the wilderness with MY piece of food!  I gave chase at once and finally caught up as he sits here to catch his breath.

 I feel very badly for this second ant, and implore the first to split the food piece with his brother, for it is quite large.  But he becomes emphatic that the second ant does not deserve even a nibble of the chip.  He then weaves a story of backstabbing brothers and treachery:

Yesterday, while working on a new tunnel in the southern quadrant of our vast home, my older brother here came running and said that the Almighty Queen required my presence immediately.  I rushed to my ladies side, and received confidential and top secret instructions from her for a mission solely for me.  I cannot speak of it.  But as I returned to my tunnel, there was no tunnel! My treacherous older brother had caused a cave in!  His motives were immediately clear: he wanted my top-secret mission! But even such a set back would not loosen my lips as to my task.  I re-dug the tunnel, as well as accomplished my top-secret mission, and got home in time for dinner.  So as you can see, giant white ball, I deserve this food piece over my brother here.

I stared down at these two miniscule and insignificant creatures and found their quarrel intriguing; alas I wished I could have stayed and heard about the top secret mission, but quite suddenly they both got up and ran away with their potato chip.  As they make their speedy way back to their home, I wonder idly when I will be able to soar again.  Then all of a sudden I hear “I FOUND IT! It’s over here!”  Hope flows across my dimpled surface as my striker approaches.  But I am not soaring yet, I am being picked up and put down on less thick grass.  My hope comes again and suddenly I am again IN THE AIR! Hopefully I will soon reach my home, my cozy cup.