Can an author actually shed his/her identity completely, abandon the physical reality he/she lives in, and all the circumstances, prejudices, information and opinions that make him/her the person he/she is, and take on the persona of somebody entirely different, absorb the nature of that person, become that person as thoroughly as if their lives are the same, the when and where of their existences are the same, as if they are one and indivisible?
If he/she actually can do so, will the literature produced by that author be at all comprehensible to those who read it, if it is about a different time and/or place? When anyone writes about a time and a place not theirs, don't they write in too many things which people of that time would have taken for granted?
Isn't contemporary fiction, no matter from what era and place, always subtly and unsubtly different from fiction about that time and place, but not written by those who actually lived through it?
3 comments:
Those are very interesting questions. I personally believe the answer to the first is YES.
The degree and extent to which it can be done will differ from person to person, and depend on their imagination and their ability to put themselves in another's shoes. But if all the conditions are met, it's entirely possible. I've done it myself several times during the course of my (fairly extensive) roleplaying career, and there's nothing more exciting and challenging than throwing yourself into a role as fundamentally different from yourself as possible, and seeing if you can do justice to it.
As for the last question, again, the answer in my opinion is yes. There will be a difference. However - once again - such a difference would exist in the form of a very, very fine line. If pulled off properly, it could be a difference of a hairs-breadth, if not, it could be wider. Again, it would vary from context to context, writer to writer, and situation to situation.
yeah, i know what you mean, but my point is, it's not the same as someone who's not only going through the experience in his/her physical reality, but is also surrounded by others who are. y'know what i mean, right? thogh, for role-playing, i suppose it's, not easier, certainly, but more comfortable in a way, because there are others sharing that reality.
There has to be an Author (signifying a definite pt. of origin) in the first place, for most good writings r like semiotic channeling of sorts, or something like what the Surrealists wud cal Pure Psychic Automaton! Infact I even doubt the very existence of the Self (be in it whatever form) unless ofcourse as a response to the perception of an Other. And with that we have that: we don't speak a language, rather it is language that speaks thru us...
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