issue 2. denouement
June 2024: What happens after the “Death of the Author” & the madness of unbelonging
the involuntary literary legacy
DENOUEMENT. The solution of a mystery, the winding up of a plot, the outcome of a course of conduct. 1752, from French dénouement "an untying" (of plot), from dénouer "untie" (Old French desnouer) from des- "un-, out" + nouer "to tie, knot," from Latin nodus "a knot," from root ned- "to bind, tie."1
The Death of the Author is a literary theory that argues that the meaning of a text is not determined by the author's intention, but rather by the reader's interpretation. What I’ve been thinking about lately—and what I want to explore in this newsletter—is the question of what happens after the Author’s literal Death. What posthumous wishes has the Author set forth for their work, what does it mean to violate those wishes, and how do people justify that violation?
Take Franz Kafka, who was virtually unknown in his lifetime, but is today better known as the author of “The Metamorphosis” (that one disturbing short story you read for English). He is one of the most famous examples of an author being “forced” to carry a literary legacy after death. When Kafka was dying of tuberculosis, he wrote to his lifelong friend and fellow author Max Brod, “Everything that I leave behind in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters of my own and from others, sketches, etc… should be burned, completely and unread.”2
Brod didn’t do that, obviously. He instead published some of Kafka’s most iconic works, including The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika. Brod defended himself by claiming he had told Kafka he wouldn’t obey his will. He maintained, "Franz should have appointed another executor if he had been absolutely determined that his instructions should stand."3 To this day, The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika are instrumental works in Kafka’s canon. Is their survival worth the disregard of Kafka’s wishes? Or is Kafka’s work shadowed by Brod’s refusal to obey his dying wish?
Kafka’s life also intersects in unexpected ways with another author’s: Vladimir Nabokov, best known as the author of Pale Fire and the infamous Lolita. Once, Nabokov gave a speech on Franz Kafka and remarked that “[fortunately], Brod did not comply with his friend's wishes”4 to burn his writings. Ironically, this statement has been used by the Nabokov estate as an implicit justification for not destroying Nabokov’s last novel, The Original of Laura.
Nabokov was a ruthless perfectionist: if a novel didn’t meet his standards, he disposed of it. He was no different on his deathbed in 1976, when he told his wife Véra to burn the index cards that The Original of Laura was written on. Véra could not bring herself to destroy the cards, which Nabokov’s son Dmitri inherited years later. In 2009, Dmitri published The Original of Laura to mixed responses from readers and critics. While some rejoiced at a new work from the renowned author, many others condemned Dmitri’s decision to publish it against Nabokov’s will or thought it weakened Nabakov’s legacy.
One last piece of irony in this tale is that the last index card of The Original of Laura contains a list of synonyms for “efface”: expunge, erase, delete, rub out, wipe out, obliterate…etc.5 The Original of Laura was not supposed to survive. It should have been wiped from Nabokov’s legacy. Instead, Nabokov’s family became the failed executors of his will and the failed executioners of his last novel.
The last author example I’ll talk about in this essay is also the most recent: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, author of critically acclaimed novels such as One Hundred Years of Solitude and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. He suffered from dementia in the last years of his life while he was writing his final novel, titled Until August. Before his death in 2014, he instructed his sons to rip it up and never publish it. In March 2024, his sons published the novel on what would have been his 97th birthday. They admitted that it was a “betrayal” of their father. However, they also insisted that there were “plenty of examples in the history of literature of people who are requested to destroy manuscripts, and then they turn out to be important items in literature.”6 No doubt they were thinking of the likes of Kafka or Dickinson.
So did Until August turn out to be an all-important item in literature? The general consensus seems to be “no.” Until August received mixed reviews, with criticism ranging from the voice to the style to the structure. Many critics pointed out that Marquez wanted the manuscript to stay unpublished because he knew it wasn’t a strong enough piece of work. Marquez had previously stated that the novel “did not work” and “made no sense”, although his son reasonably suggested that this could have just been a product of Marquez’s dementia. In the introduction to the book, Marquez’s sons write that hopefully their father will forgive them if the reader enjoys the book. They readily agree that publishing Until August was a betrayal of their father, but “that’s what children are for”.7
Unfortunately, the loss of control over your work is often the cost of a literary legacy. After the Death of the Author, nearly all bets are off; spouses, children, and friends suddenly have the right to decide what is best for the Author. They find themselves assuming the Author’s voice, even if it means defying the Author’s wish for their work to be destroyed or hidden. It’s one thing to not destroy the Author’s work simply out of reverence or love. Yet it’s another to publish it for the sake of a posthumous cash grab. To be clear, I’m not saying that the people who published the works of Kafka, Nabokov, and Marquez are greedy. However, greed can be an underlying motive in some cases, as much as love. If you are related to a famous author, then it’s inevitable that you’ll receive some media attention and royalties—even more so if you expose a long-hidden piece of writing. Why not?
People will never fully agree on the dilemma of respecting the Author’s wishes or contributing to the Author’s legacy. There are many factors in the decision to posthumously publish an Author’s work that are equally contentious and confusing. Those who are instructed to destroy the Author’s last work might hesitate because it is the last artifact they have of their loved one. Even more than that, the last novel represents months or even years of work. To destroy all that time’s work in an instant is a heavy burden that many would rather not bear. The friends and family that I have listed in this essay are proof of that.
These Authors, unlike their books, have no established ending. There is no neat tying-up of loose threads, but rather a moral knot that tangles with time. We’ll never know if writers like Kafka, Nabokov, and Marquez would understand (or forgive) the publication of the work they wanted destroyed, and so the Death of the Author remains just as disorienting for the Author as it is for the Audience.
craft conversations
I began preparing to write Draft 4 of PAWN at the beginning of June! I spent about a week rereading my manuscript and summarizing each chapter. I spent a few more days compiling beta reader feedback. During that time, I was rereading both the original Alice books by Lewis Carroll for inspiration. I also read Coraline by Neil Gaiman and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, which both capture PAWN’s fever dream, fairytale-esque atmosphere.
One thing that I’m actively working to improve in Draft 4 is the pacing. It moves too quickly from the beginning to the middle. In Draft 3, I didn’t give my characters enough time to process what was happening to them. This time, I’m focusing on strengthening character motives and overarching themes of the book, as well as bringing out more details of the character backstories. A writing pitfall of mine is that I have “side character blindness,” meaning that I sometimes overemphasize the main character and pigeonhole the side characters into being plot vessels. I’m aware that the side characters exist to serve the main character, but I occasionally forget that they have arcs and motivations of their own.
I’ve been working through chapters chronologically for the most part. Whenever I get stuck, I work on a different chapter to give myself a change of scenery. So far, I’ve made the majority of my changes to the dialogue so that it sounds more distinct between characters. The dialogue already sounds so much better when I read it. I’ve been fleshing out the world building and lore as well: I added an entire new chapter and will undoubtedly end up adding more. I’m also reworking the magical lore so that it’s better foreshadowed and makes more sense in the end.
Once again, a massive thank you to my beta readers for telling me what I need to improve most. You guys are the best!
books, media & recs
READING: In June, I read 5 books. 4 of these books—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Coraline, and The Starless Sea—were for writing purposes. When I dive into a draft, I like to read books that inspire or speak to my writing. It’s a common method: R.F. Kuang calls this “vocal training”, where a writer pinpoints their story’s voice by reading other books in the same genre.
I discovered quite a few things upon rereading the Alice books. Something that especially stands out to me is how wherever Carroll’s Alice goes, her size always exaggerates her presence among other people (either too small or too tall), reflecting her sense of unbelonging.
In PAWN, I highlight Alice’s frustration with unbelonging through a more cultural lens. My protagonist, Alice Lee, is Chinese-American. She and her older sister Evie grew up only speaking English and have never met their extended family in Hong Kong and China. Yet they still have to face the stereotypes associated with their heritage. There are other ways in which they feel like outsiders, too. Alice’s perfectionism is encouraged by her parents as a way to ensure her success, but it increases her frustration at the difficulties she encounters as a woman in STEM. Meanwhile, Evie resents that their parents, by rejecting her artistic dreams, try to shape her into someone like Alice. In this way, their parents effectively separate them, because each sister believes that the other can’t understand their struggle. However, their struggles are actually more similar than they believe: neither can achieve their dreams and fit in with their peers/family. Inevitably, they can’t have both.
I also read Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which is a comp book for PAWN because it too contains a “mirror world”. (In PAWN, real people and places from Evie’s life appear in her imagined fantasy world, except as archetypal figures masked in allegory and symbolism.) Gaiman has a knack for creating a vivid atmosphere in the barest outline of words. The spare, shadowed illustrations make it all the more eerie (one of my favorites is below). I think the power of Coraline is largely due to the fact that Gaiman leaves much of it to the reader’s imagination. After all, there’s nothing scarier than what our own minds can come up with.
As I mentioned earlier, I reread The Starless Sea by Erin Morgernstern. Like PAWN, it has a sprawling multiverse-feel. It is also very much reminiscent of famous portal fantasy books like The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland (also comp books for PAWN). It’s excellent if you want to fall down a rabbit hole of metaphors, phantasmic fairy tales, and branching stories. I’d recommend it if you're in the mood for a book that is “all vibes, little plot”!
In June, I found a new favorite high fantasy book with The Deadliest Wish by Pavla Leitgebova. My full review is up on Goodreads here. It was incredibly written and I would recommend it to anyone who loves enemies-to-lovers, mythology-steeped fantasy, and supporting indie authors!
MUSIC: I recently listened to and enjoyed Gracie Abrams’ new album, The Secret of Us! My favorite songs are “I Love You, I’m Sorry”, “us.”, “Blowing Smoke”, and “Tough Love”.
Gracie’s song “I miss you, I’m sorry” is on my PAWN playlist—I love the fact that it now has a sister song with “I Love You, I’m Sorry”! I could write another essay on how the lyrics of both songs represent the relationships of the book, but that would be a huge spoiler. I’ll just leave you with lyrics that speak to some characters/situations in particular…
“That's just the way life goes / I like to slam doors closed.” —“I love you, I’m sorry”
“You were the best but you were the worst / As sick as it sounds, I loved you first.” —“I love you, I’m sorry”
“Nothing happened in the way I wanted / Every corner of this house is haunted.” —“I miss you, I’m sorry”
“You said forever, in the end I fought it / Please be honest, are we better for it?” —“I miss you, I’m sorry”
Here’s the playlist for PAWN if you’d like to listen to it.
goals & life updates
Technically it happened in May—the last day of May, in fact—but I graduated from high school! It was definitely a bittersweet moment. Right now, the future is as intimidating as it is exciting. I don’t think anything can compare to the knowledge that you’ve officially completed a new chapter of your life and are about to start another.
I said in my last newsletter that I was going to receive a new laptop for both school and writing purposes. I did receive said laptop—which unfortunately came broken in the mail. I’m back to the drawing board, but I’ll most likely still get a new computer before school begins. Whichever laptop I end up buying, I hope to install Scrivener on it. If you use Scrivener, feel free to comment below with any advice or wisdom. Until then, however, I’ll still be using Google Docs! My main goal for July is to make significant progress on Draft 4 of PAWN—to 250 pages or more.
I’ve been enjoying my summer so far: it’s the last real summer vacation I get before I head to college. I’ve submitted all my necessary college documents (verifying health insurance, applying for housing and dining, etc.) and I’m signing up for Orientation. T-minus about 60 days until college begins!
farewell
Thank you so much for reading to the end of this newsletter. I can’t describe how grateful I am for your readership. If you enjoyed this issue of Musings, you can do the following to support me and my writing:
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Comment a word to be etymologized in a future newsletter :)
GOODBYE. A salutation in parting, from godbwye (1570s), a contraction of God be with ye (late 14th century), influenced by good-day, good evening, etc; a noun since the 1570s.8
Good morning, good afternoon, or good night, whenever this finds you—
Calliope
Etymology of “denouement”, etymonline.com
Up in smoke: should an author’s dying wishes be obeyed? - The Guardian
Kafka's Last Love: The Mystery of Dora Diamant by Kathi Diamant, p. 132.
The final twist in Nabokov’s untold story - The Guardian
The final twist in Nabokov’s untold story - The Guardian
Etymology of “goodbye”, etymonline.com