Closure versus Ending

[scifi129]

Abbot

Comments

[martin_doc]

We're going to be talking a fair amount about ending vs. closure when we get to hypertext fiction.

No desire to read epilogues

[jamiebussey86]

This is a horrible confession, but unless explicitly told or extremely curious about a subject, I don't read prologue's, introductions, forwards or epilogues. For me the beginning of a book is when the "narration starts" and when the "story" ends. (After reading Abbott and Ryan, I am almost even afraid to use these words - because of the looseness in defining them.) I also think that endings of books are always such a hot topic in English courses (perhaps because its the last thing you read, and what does that say about how we are taught to read things? which relates to my recent problem of looking for an end in the class readings - I don't want to even think about what would happen is the readings never ended and they went on forever, like the type of life the people live in "The Machine Stops," where each day always seem the same). But back to my original point, an ending can make or break a book for some people. Is the ending consistent with the rest of the themes in the novel? Is the ending satisfying? Does that satisfaction

Lets start over

[se101]

Personally, I hate endings to narratives. The beginning is the best part and somehow the best narratives are the ones that don't have an ending rather they simply seem to be an eternal beginning. Narrative according to Abbot is a part of what it is to be human. I think life never ends and therefore neither should narrative. The best ending is no ending.

Re: Lets start over

[caronbot]

It certainly gives you the freedom to take the narrative in whatever direction you want. Without an official ending the possibilities as to how it would continue is open to the imagination. I suppose for me it really depends on the story. If I find myself caring about the characters in it, I'd really like to know how they turned out. Much like how I like knowing about people in real life if I'm friends with them--I'd want to know if something bad happened to them (or good, for that matter).

The ending of a narrative is like closure in a relationship for me.

-Matt