Journal article
Writing the Polyphonic Novel
Writing in Practice, Vol.1
2015
Abstract
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.
Details
- Title
- Writing the Polyphonic Novel
- Authors
- Paul A Williams (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business
- Publication details
- Writing in Practice, Vol.1; 8
- Publisher
- National Association of Writers in Education
- Date published
- 2015
- ISSN
- 2058-5535
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Reproduced with permission of the author.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Business and Creative Industries; Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Creative Industries - Legacy; Sustainability Research Cluster
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449929602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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