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Fear, Nonconformity, and Action

February 12, 2018

action, conditioning, experience, fear, feelings, injustice, life, nonconformity, society

A – formerly metal 😉 – Swedish band sings “fear is the weakness in all of us”. But they’ve got it wrong. It’s not fear that is the weakness; it’s what it pushes us to do (or not). We mostly do something we wouldn’t (or leave undone something we’d like to) because of our fear of nonconformity. Usually we are deathly afraid of doing something unexpected. We are paralyzed in the thought of doing something our parents and teachers, our peers and society, wouldn’t anticipate. Fear, nonconformity, and action are all interconnected.

fear, nonconformity, inaction — Fear is not the problem. But conditioning is.

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3 Gothic Characters with a Secret (that You Don’t Know)

February 9, 2018

Criticism

academia, children, criticism, economy, experience, Gothic, literature, time

Gothic works seem to be as undead as the characters parading through them. Individual… species might come and go – vampires were trendy couple of decades ago, then we had zombies – but the fact remains: Gothic and horror fiction* will remain relevant, reflecting inner human fears. Gothic characters are merely manifestations of our own fears, both personal and social.
*read my article on the differences between Gothic, horror and science fiction

In today’s article I’d like to show you a sample of just how many secrets Gothic characters might hide. Forgive my somewhat assuming title, but whereas many know of Count Dracula and some might know there is something odd (indeed queer) about his sexuality, how many could claim to know the secrets around, say, the character of Quincey Morris?

Without further delay, let’s begin our list. The Gothic characters I have picked are:

Margaret Saville, Frankenstein
Belle, A Christmas Carol
Quincey P. Morris, Dracula

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Resisting Fate (excerpts from To Cross an Ocean: Apognosis)

February 7, 2018

Fiction

book, destiny, experience, fate, fiction

The other day, as I was writing the article on fate versus chance in Frankenstein, I realized something: the trope of resisting fate forms the backbone of many great tragedies and stories in general. Defying destiny, resisting fate, is perhaps the ultimate insolence humans can display.

As such, there is something immensely powerful in it. At first I began to write an article on the topic, until I realized that I… have already. An entire chapter of my novel To Cross an Ocean: Apognosis basically talks about the protagonist’s struggle regarding destiny, kismet, resisting fate or surrendering to it.

Is it better to submit to it and avoid further heartache, or should one attack it fiercely, be the result what may? Or, just perhaps, is the concept of fate nothing but a man-made illusion?

What follows is a word-for-word copy of the novel’s 15th chapter. I have only added the headlines, to make the text more suitable for the purposes of this blog.

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