Having All the Answers

I find it interesting--everyone seems to be annoyed that they're not getting the "answers" they want out of Kelly Link's stories. From what I hear, parts of each story seem unnecessary to the plot, or the stories don't seem to go anywhere, or too many questions are left unanswered. There are extra tidbits here and there that may or may not be relevant, yes. Sometimes the stories kind of meander. And sometimes you're left wondering--what happened next? But really, is that so bad?

Now and then I would get frustrated with stories because I wanted more from them. Some of them seemed like bleak portraits that didn't take the reader much of anywhere--like the story I'm introducing, "The Wizards of Perfil." Maybe it's that I believe in literature, or maybe I'm a writer of more obscure things and I like to leave questions unanswered--but overall it just really makes me want to stick up for the collection when someone says, "I don't know what happened so I don't like it."

For example--who is The Specialist, and what exactly happens in that story? We're not sure. But from what we've discussed it class, it seems to me that writers of horror or fantastic stories sometimes take bits from other people's stories and work them into their own; if that's the case here, I like The Specialist. I like that Kelly Link has created some vague fantastic thing and we don't know what it is but we know kind of what it's like, maybe--it leaves so many possibilities open. Kelly Link invites the reader to imagine beyond her work. She's not going to do all the work for us.

In life, I am someone who wants the answers. I want to know what's happening next. I've been on edge for months waiting to hear from grad schools; and Monday I finally received a call that I've been accepted at Notre Dame. After I got over the initial shock and elation, I realized there were still a lot of questions--ok, so I'm in; now what? Where am I going to live? Where am I going to work? Is it really the right fit for me? How am I going to move to South Bend? etc. etc. Fiction, even when fantastic, must imitate reality--must have in it some element of truth--in order to be truly good. And so I can appreciate when you don't end up with all the answers. When you're not entirely sure what's grounded in reality and what's a result of a character's psychology. When you're left asking, "Who's The Specialist?" or, "What happened after the aliens showed up?" You're not going to have all the answers in life. Why should you have them in fiction, either?

/endrant

:)