Faulkner is full of horrible people. But his books seem to actively resist sympathy in all of its forms. I think you can only write horrible characters well if you're not invested in the kind of reading experience that involves sympathizing and identifying. Or...I dunno. Maybe that's wrong. The guy in _L'Etranger_ is a pretty big jerk and people still seem to identify with him, even if I can't.
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Date: 2012-02-02 04:07 am (UTC)Faulkner is full of horrible people. But his books seem to actively resist sympathy in all of its forms. I think you can only write horrible characters well if you're not invested in the kind of reading experience that involves sympathizing and identifying. Or...I dunno. Maybe that's wrong. The guy in _L'Etranger_ is a pretty big jerk and people still seem to identify with him, even if I can't.