Behind the Veil

Good writers use the unexpected whether they realize it or not, on a micro-level in language, on a broader level in character, humor and irrealism (absurdity, magical realism) and on a macro level in plot. Readers love to be surprised on all these levels.

There have been a couple of kid lit books lately that use both the unexpected and especially the irreal in important and very successful ways.

Irrealism is the term John Gardner uses in THE ART OF FICTION: NOTES ON CRAFT FOR YOUNG WRITERS (p. 136) to describe  work by such writers as Kafka, and Borges,  where they imitate a reality like that “of our dreams” – or where a character’s external reality in some ways mirrors his “inner landscape” so that it is difficult to tell the two apart.

The irreal, when it works, pulls us “behind the veil.” A well crafted plot twist can do the same thing, only more profoundly-- shake loose our assumptions and open up the world in an almost mystical way to deeper meaning. 

One of the many reasons I liked WHEN YOU REACH ME, by Rebecca Stead is because Miranda explains her mom’s definition of the “veil.” 

 “Mom says each of us have a veil between ourselves and the rest of the world… when the veil lifts, we can see the world as it really is, just for those few seconds… all the beauty and cruelty, and sadness, and love. But mostly we are happy not to.” (p.71)

Writers and artists of all kinds may be more willing than most, pulled even, to take brief glimpses  beyond the veil. After all, the answers to the Great Mysteries must be there. Very sensitive and psychic people can’t help seeing behind it. But it’s there for a reason. Beyond the veil, I think the human mind can easily blow a circuit.  Sidling up next to it, dancing around it, taking brief glimpses, pondering it from the other side, this is the artist’s job.

 Tomorrow, I’ll discuss two already-well-discussed books that surprise us in original and well-crafted ways.