Writing the Polyphonic Novel

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Title: Writing the Polyphonic Novel
Author/Creator: Williams, P A
Description: The journey to finding the right voice for a novel can be an arduous one. My novel Cokcraco (2013) took fifteen years and many layers to complete. The only way to resolve the issue of voice in this book was to create a multi-layered narrative in which contradictory voices emerged to create a polyphonic whole. The polyphonic or dialogic novel is nothing new. Mikhail Bakhtin borrowed the phrase from a musical concept referring to the diversity of voices in Dostoyevsky’s novels. Recently, there has been a resurgence of novels of this type that play with simultaneity, contradiction, and the empty space between voices, echoing our post-modern, multi-tasking reading practice. Cokcraco is an inadvertent polyphonic novel whose layers of discourse evolved during the fifteen-year writing process and the author’s struggle to find its “voice”. This paper will examine the complex process of writing the polyphonic novel and highlighting its potential value in today’s multiplicitous climate.
Relation: Writing in Practice / Vol. 1
Relation: http://www.nawe.co.uk/DB/current-wip-edition/articles/writing-the-polyphonic-novel.html
Year: 2015
Publisher: National Association of Writers in Education
Subject: FoR 1904 (Performing Arts and Creative Writing) | multi-tasking | polyphony | creative writing | Bakhtin | multigraphic | contrapuntal | graphomania | Cokcraco | African literature

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