The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot by Charles BaxterMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Deeper than me
As a writer, I am always looking for books on craft in an attempt to hone my own techniques of craft. The Art of Subtext sounded intriguing. Subtext has always been an anomaly to me, something I assumed came during literary reviews and analysis, not for the author directly but, rather, from the reader and his or her own baggage.
Baxter has proven to me the author does have some responsibility in adding subtext of his own through dialogue, gesture, and facial expressions. That said, Baxter's analysis of the works referenced, and the subtext implicit in those works, was well over my head.
I feel I need to return to this book again, with referenced materials in hand, to fully understand Baxter's interpretations of the subtext within these stories.
Admittedly, I am not a "literary" author h it more of a commercial author. Perhaps I should be reading books withdrew meaning, or, perhaps, sometimes a frown is just a frown.
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