I read last night at the Red Canoe Bookstore in Lauraville. I read the beginning of Chapter 3 from
Dredging the Choptank that tracks the protagonist's first visit to the Dorchester Arts Council and her experience with the upstairs hall ghost. I wonder if I should read that section because it's so laced with context of Maryland history, xenophobia and the difference between the Eastern Shore and the Mainland. I had trimmed history from early texts per my publisher's suggestion but I have a hard time separating folklore (the stories of a people) from its historic context (the story of a people).
A woman at the reading talked about Gettysburg ghosts and how their stories gave her a better view into our collective past.
This story is from the book: I asked my friend Terri the difference between a historian and a folklorist and she said, "A tie."
Just a question for you since you probably do a lot more public readings than I do. (I do none.) How do you feel like your reading of the text changes people's impression of it? I remember last semester reading outloud in Matanle's class gave me a different impression of the stories. I particularly remember Kevin's story about the old age home and how he read each character's dialogue in a different voice, making the story much funnier than i think it would have been if I read it by myself on the page.
ReplyDeleteJust as a general thought I wanted to know which approach you took when reading to a group: dramatic emphasis or try to match how an average reader would view the text as if it were new?
Mike, what great questions and something I've been wrestling with over the past month during these readings. I admit that I've marked my text like an actor, marking where to breathe and where to slow. I don't want to act too much but the ghost stuff is storytelling so it lends itself to that kinda drama.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching other readers. Yours is a good point: to try to achieve how the average reader would first experience the text but without vocal changes and pacing changes, 12 to 20 minutes is a long time to try to hold an audience attention.
So, I guess, yes, a balance. Not too act-y but some, just enough to change things up.
And I also recommend that you go listen to authors read -- 510 at Minas Gallery is every 3rd Saturday of the month and Mike Kimball pulls together a great variety of authors and it's free.