I was reading a discussion on what made a novel unforgettable, and someone named Jennifer L. Wielt wrote this,
"There's obviously a lot of subjectivity when it comes to defining unforgetableness and identifying things that are unforgettable, but for me a story has to have two things -- deep originality and passion. Talking about them (especially originality) in the abstract can be deceptive because really, there's nothing new under the sun, and what is it that differentiates genuine passion from sentimentality or hot emotion?
Originality, I think, is achieved less by cooking up an unusual story scenario or quirky main character (although there's nothing wrong with these) and more by unswerving attention on the part of the author to the common, universal stuff of life (emotions, experiences, journeys, etc.) as only they can see them and write them by virtue of who they are and what has been their life experience. The originality I'm talking about is pretty subtle when it works its magic because the classics are stories that reach a large majority of us because they deal with universals. Their unforgetableness stems from their ability to present us with the stuff we know intimately and make us see and feel it in new ways, as though for the very first time. It's about tapping into archetypes but doing so through close observation to the particulars of a specific situation and being honest about its currents and complexities.
Passion I find difficult to define because it's one of those things I know when I see or feel it. It has little to do with the melting and clasping and clinging and savaging that happens in Romances (although I _have_ read Romances that are about true passion). It's about the evocation of true, meaningful, real, honest feeling. It's about love, and not just romantic love; it can even be about the denial of love. It's about intense commitment and devotion to a path, to self, to a person, to whatever. Most of all, I think it's about that other meaning of passion -- suffering. Suffering is one of those fundamental life mysteries we're always trying to figure out and relieve. Putting suffering into some kind of a meaningful context or figuring out how to make it go away is a human obsession, which is one of the reasons we have religions and why so many of us are addicted to various substances. So, if a book comes along and it tells a story with originality, that evokes honest, deep feelings and that also shows us suffering (and possibly redemption) and places it in a rich, meaningful context I think its chances of being unforgettable are pretty strong.
For some reason, the one story that keeps popping into my mind as I've been writing this post is Hemingway's THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. It's such a simple story and pays intense attention to one human experience, yet it resonates with originality and passion and despite its specificity it taps into one of the most archetypal conflicts. Which is probably why I remember it vividly even though I only read it once, way back in high school."
Very well said. I read a LOT of novels, but only very occasionally I can find one exceptionally good one, never mind the unforgettable ones. If only I can put pen to paper and produce such a novel... (in my dreams most probably)
