Fiona Snyckers
Autor/a de Lacuna
Obres de Fiona Snyckers
Lacuna: A Novel 2 exemplars
Etiquetat
Coneixement comú
- Gènere
- female
- Nacionalitat
- South Africa
- Llocs de residència
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Educació
- Rhodes University
University of the Witwatersrand
Membres
Ressenyes
Llistes
Premis
Estadístiques
- Obres
- 9
- Membres
- 34
- Popularitat
- #413,653
- Valoració
- 3.8
- Ressenyes
- 3
- ISBN
- 15
At its core, this engaging stream-of-consciousness narrative explores the relationship between fact and fiction in storytelling. It artfully explores the question of just who owns a story? Is it the artist, the subject, or the reader? Lucy begins her meditation with the strong belief that she owns her story and Coetzee has no right to use it for his own purposes. Clearly, one can make a successful argument that rape is a particularly ill-suited metaphor for South African racial reconciliation, yet the central question of the novel is never resolved. Instead, one comes away with the feeling that art needs to be judged on its own merits by those who consume it. The artist and the subject are merely conduits to carry ideas forward. Interestingly, this question appeared once again in all its messy glory in the recent press. Amanda Knox, the American student accused of killing her roommate while studying in Italy, objected to the adaptation of her story in the recent film, “Stillwater.” Clearly, such creations can interfere with healing from trauma. Notwithstanding, they still can contain artistic value. One could rightly argue that “Stillwater” may not have as much artistic merit as “Disgrace”, but it is not totally devoid of art.
Snykers’ writing is accomplished primarily because it explores culture broadly with humor and insightfulness almost exclusively through Lucy’s internal monologue. She does so by identifying and criticizing Lucy’s ideas using multiple characters, including her long-time friend Moira, her therapist Lydia Bascombe, her love interest Eugene Huzain, her distant father, and her academic colleagues. It is ironic, however, that Snyckers’ fictional Coetzee plays no active role in the novel, except in Lucy’s mind. This is primarily a novel of ideas, but the plot, such as it is, still has a satisfying resolution.… (més)