Atonement Ian McEwan Acclaimed short-story writer achieves a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction.
The meandering subplots seem to arise less from any narrative conviction than from the desire to do more filming in picturesque locations.
It is distinct from useful, more rational elements like the psychology of characters, rich details of settings, pungent dialogue, clever plots, memorable images — all remain mechanical unless animated by the pure mastery of "and then," the mysterious, proliferating other-life of narrative conviction.
Over the course of nearly two decades, their imprisonment grew into a much-examined narrative about wrongful conviction, class, conformity and the power of celebrity.
Despite writing about himself extensively and repeatedly, John Milton, the archetypal Puritan author, resolutely avoids the obligatory Augustinian narrative of sinfulness, conviction of sin, reception of the Word, regeneration of the spirit, and sanctification.
For a moment in 2011, narrative replaced structure, conviction overcame coercion, volunteers defeated conscripts, massive decentralised leaderless networks of protesters following an idea, overwhelmed centralised hierarchies of soldiers, policemen or bureaucrats following orders.
Golding carried it off through the energy and conviction of his narrative, and a way of telling that mixes immediacy with detachment, so that at one moment you experience what is going on as Lok does, and at another you are snatched back into the wisdoms of authorial knowledge, and the Neanderthal becomes a red creature, running on all fours.
A very tall story but told with unerring conviction and an almost relentless narrative drive – he does seem to have a genuine uninhibited talent which makes the mediocre seem even more mediocre than it usually does.
"He had failed to make a compelling enough case for himself, failed in crafting a narrative of his character and convictions that could move voters," the authors wrote.
The narrative is shaped by this ancient conviction.
The account of the Leonid event deepened Bernstein's conviction that Clark's narrative deserved a wider audience.
