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Posted

I'm currently working on a tragic novel and need some help on how best to demonstrate the virtue of the lead.

 

To give a brief synopsis the novel is a tragedy set in modern day Paris about a sculptor, Anton Duarte, a black man from Tunisia who turns to stone. The fantastical device of turning to stone is used to demonstrate his fall from virtue and fame into lies, deceit, and madness. The idea for the motif of lies turning you into stone comes from Pinnochio's nose; but as a whole my two main inspirations are the play Othello and the novel The Picture of Dorian Grey.

 

Tragedy to be effective as a genre must have the right structure. To use Stefan's phrase, "art is an emotional argument for virtue". Tragedy in particular shows what happens when a good person is corrupted and the work acts as a kind of warning sign "don't do this", and is empathetic to people who make mistakes and get drawn into evil deeds by showing the whole context. Othello for example, at the beginning of the play is virtuous and strong (according to Shakespeare's statist values), and it is Iago's manipulation of him into thinking his wife is having an affair that turns him mad.

 

I'm struggling with how to demonstrate Duarte's goodness according to anarchist values in the first half. I like the idea of him being a bootstrapper, building his career as a sculptor of marble from humble origins as a plasterer at the age of 18 on on Parisian building sites. But here's the thing. I've also been playing around with the idea of making him a Muslim (does not drink, is an ascetic bachelor, prays five times a day etc.). From the viewpoint of the structure of tragedy, this would seem to say that Islam is somehow virtuous and represents truth (in counterpoint to his lies turning him into stone), yet I just can't imagine Duarte being an atheist. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas about how to demonstrate his goodness according to anarchist values before the tragic downfall?

 

Any fans of Ayn Rand welcome!

**Don't know whether this topic is in the right category but there doesn't seem to be a folder for art on the boards yet.

Posted

You can have him adopt an orphan, or you can make him rise to fame with a sculpture of Socrates.

 

But in order for it to be realistic, there needs to be some form of troubled background. If he's really found philosophy and virtue it doesn't make sense that he would suddenly be tempted to choose vanity and lies. So maybe you can make him someone who escaped an abusive household and even tries to rescue a sibling or something, only to be corrupted by that sibling.

Posted

Hey dude, thanks for the reply. Interesting points. I like your idea of him coming from a troubled background- as a Tunisian that shouldn't be too hard to contrive realistically.

 

The "turning point" is a brawl (stylized as a sort of 21st century duel a.la. West Side Story) in which Duarte kills a man with a Swiss Army Knife. The process of hiding his crime causes him to start lying to everyone around him, and over time he loses his artistic discipline and he starts noticing the creep of marble over his skin.

 

Is that a good motive for an honest, rational man to turn mad?

  • 6 months later...
Posted

I think it would be a great thing if you could make some kind of state or religious entity the causal of his demise. For example, because he his Tunisian there could be a job for building a sculpture for a mosque, while he is doing this he gets accused of being in league with some kind a fundamental group. When he gets afraid, the imam helps him flee to Saudi Arabia. When he arrives he is so desolated, that he falls in love with a muslim girl. He becomes a muslim and in the end dies being a part of the Kaaba and has to witness every year people running in circles without end.

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