Unhatched

Creating a Functional Interest (Part 3) by Caleb Michael Sarvis

My name is Caleb Michael Sarvis. I’m a writer, a thinker, and currently a self-reflective incubator. Welcome to a blog series in which I’ll be analyzing both the practical and interesting ways imaginary characters can play in fiction, including The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien, 2014’s Best Picture Winner Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), and other short fiction.

The Third Policeman

In Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman, an unnamed narrator obsessed with the teachings of a fictional scholar named de Selby experiences the imaginary character in multiple forms. The most obvious and apparent would be Joe, the vocal representation of his soul. Joe is a voice that lacks confusion and the need of self-assurance. In the novel, the narrator participates in a series of both events and conversations that appear to be complete nonsense, and Joe is always there to be the voice of what appears to be reason. While he doesn’t directly oppose the narrator (the two policemen act as a natural antagonist), he does appear at interesting (and sometimes inconvenient) moments. Joe first appears as the narrator is about to steal from Mathers, a man he killed with his friend Divney, Continue reading “Creating a Functional Interest (Part 3) by Caleb Michael Sarvis” →

Unhatched

Creating a Functional Interest (Part 2) by Caleb Michael Sarvis

In Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, Tyler Durden is a vehicle through which Sebastian discovers his real-self. Where Sebastian, the narrator, doesn’t necessarily understand what he wants, Tyler Durden is consistently taking action towards acquiring what he wants. Early on before the reader knows that Tyler and Sebastian are the same person, Sebastian muses the concept that the fight club version of himself isn’t the same as his real-life self,

Continue reading “Creating a Functional Interest (Part 2) by Caleb Michael Sarvis” →

Unhatched

Creating a Functional Interest (Part 1) by Caleb Michael Sarvis

The Introduction

“To be awake is to be alive. I have never met a man who was quite awake.”

Henry David Thoreau, Walden

The imaginary character is a fickle one in story. It blurs the borders of genre and complicates our desire to categorize art. To some, especially those charmed by strict realism, the imaginary character comes off as a gimmick, a whimsical decision to make a story interesting that would otherwise be less fascinating without it. Maybe, to an extent, this is true, but if that were the case, then why would the imaginary character permeate so tenaciously through literary history? Perhaps, the imaginary character isn’t simply a gimmick, but a functional craft decision. Perhaps, it is one of the greater weapons a writer can wield.

Continue reading “Creating a Functional Interest (Part 1) by Caleb Michael Sarvis” →

Unhatched

The Trouble With Canon by Caleb Michael Sarvis

My name is Caleb Michael Sarvis. I’m a writer, a thinker, and currently a self-reflective incubator. Welcome to my blog.

Within the last six months or so, I’ve returned to a couple of my story-telling roots: Harry Potter and the Star Wars franchise.

Part of this return had to do with the release of The Rise of Skywalker and wanting to be as canonically knowledgeable as possible before watching the final film. Turns out, this didn’t really matter because The Rise of Skywalker is a bat-shit mess that only the internet could’ve written – which it pretty much did by overreacting to the The Last Jedi, which was a perfectly fine Star Wars film.

Continue reading “The Trouble With Canon by Caleb Michael Sarvis” →