Monday, September 12, 2016

Reading Notes: Divine Archer by F.J. Gould Part A

It’s definitely interesting reading the Ramayana in a different form this time around after first reading it with the public domain version. The scene where Kausalya sees Rama as the baby manifest as a god is particularly well done and beautifully written image. I plan to try to emulate the style you see in that scene with my story this week. The language is very florid and very heavy on imagery and description. It makes for a very visual tale which works very well for tales that may be from another culture such as this to a reader like me.


Though the content is basically the same, this kind of novelized story-telling format of the piece is much more appealing to read than the often more matter-of-fact style used in the public domain edition. It’s much more appealing to the reader this way. I could take a lesson from the style here and make sure to write my stories in a more pleasant to read manner like this one. Though the style isn’t entirely modern, it’s still very easy to read to an outsider like me. There’s lots of small bits of information given throughout the work which helps make things clearer. Like when the Brahmans are described as priests. It’s just a little bit of info that helps give the reader needed info. It’s good form in writing to give the reader that kind of info if they might not know it. There’s definitely a fine line though where you can give too much info to the reader and so you only the most important info should be given. This version of the Ramayana tends to only give the info when a new topic first comes up which is a good way of doing it. When new characters arise, they’re always given sufficient background info to make sure the reader knows what’s going on quickly.

Bibliography: Divine Archer by F.J. Gould, link

File:Parashurama.jpg
(Parashurama, wikimedia commons)

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