Post by account_disabled on Nov 25, 2023 3:31:26 GMT -5
Have you ever heard of these two characters created by François Rabelais? They are father and son and they are also giants. But that of the giants was only an excuse for the French priest, who took advantage of his skills of humor, sarcasm, satire and writing to attack the customs of the time. And he spared nothing in his work, which is a riot of endless erotic double meanings. If we think that Gargantua and Pantagruel is a work from the 16th century - to be precise, the 5 books were published between 1532 and 1564 - we are a little amazed, especially since it was a man of the Church who wrote them.
When I read the novel, I asked myself: but today, in the 21st century, which publisher would accept such a work? I'm not talking about its alleged immorality - it was the bigots at the University of Paris who defined it that way, but we were also in the 1500s - but about its structure and history itself. Write a monumental story Why are Gargantua and Pantagruel monumental ? Not only for its 850 pages, but because each Phone Number Data chapter - and there are dozens and dozens - is a small story in itself, linked to the previous one. Rabelais' imagination seems to have no limits. But they are also short stories, the longest chapter does not exceed 4, 5 pages. Short novels seem to be in fashion today. We also know that many publishers - without naming names, let's just say one surname: Mondadori - break long novels into two or more parts, just to make more money.
This is not a rule, that of writing short novels, I mean. Brandon Sanderson, Ken Follett, Frank Schätzing don't have these problems, to name the first 3 names that came to mind. The problem, however, is that we are in Italy and we are not famous. What does it mean? That many small publishers, from what I have read on their manuscript submission pages, accept stories up to a maximum of characters, due to budget problems. If they are forced to charge 15 euros for a book of not even 300 pages, how much will one of 800 cost? But the problem is also another: would you be able to write stories that exceed 700 pages? What is the longest novel you have written? Transgress We are in the era of gray shades, in which we are no longer shocked by anything - except when someone says their opinion and finds contrary opinions - we are used to increasingly explicit advertising and film scenes that now leave very little to the imagination.
When I read the novel, I asked myself: but today, in the 21st century, which publisher would accept such a work? I'm not talking about its alleged immorality - it was the bigots at the University of Paris who defined it that way, but we were also in the 1500s - but about its structure and history itself. Write a monumental story Why are Gargantua and Pantagruel monumental ? Not only for its 850 pages, but because each Phone Number Data chapter - and there are dozens and dozens - is a small story in itself, linked to the previous one. Rabelais' imagination seems to have no limits. But they are also short stories, the longest chapter does not exceed 4, 5 pages. Short novels seem to be in fashion today. We also know that many publishers - without naming names, let's just say one surname: Mondadori - break long novels into two or more parts, just to make more money.
This is not a rule, that of writing short novels, I mean. Brandon Sanderson, Ken Follett, Frank Schätzing don't have these problems, to name the first 3 names that came to mind. The problem, however, is that we are in Italy and we are not famous. What does it mean? That many small publishers, from what I have read on their manuscript submission pages, accept stories up to a maximum of characters, due to budget problems. If they are forced to charge 15 euros for a book of not even 300 pages, how much will one of 800 cost? But the problem is also another: would you be able to write stories that exceed 700 pages? What is the longest novel you have written? Transgress We are in the era of gray shades, in which we are no longer shocked by anything - except when someone says their opinion and finds contrary opinions - we are used to increasingly explicit advertising and film scenes that now leave very little to the imagination.
