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Purposes Mistook

'And, in this upshot, purposes mistook fall'n on th' inventors' heads' is a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet and suggests confusion and disorientation. The texts featured in this month's New Writing focus - novel extracts by Jane Rogers and Vicky Grut - are notable for the feelings of tension and foreboding prevalent in both. The pieces of writing also combine uneasy journeys, a sense of physical malaise and the strain of sleep and nightmares which heighten the agitation of both main characters as they attempt to solve their own particular conundrums.

 

In the extract from The Experiment, Jane Rogers reveals a character who appears to be acting irrationally and chaotically. In her author interview Rogers says, 'I was intrigued by the idea of someone suddenly behaving in a completely uncharacteristic way, and with the repercussions his disappearance would have upon his family.' Combined with Con's personal edginess is the stress he feels trying to deal with the practicalities of life in a foreign country-figuring out the transport system and how to acquire money - something that many readers will relate to.

 

Vicky Grut's passage from The Understudy contains a feeling of fear, but it is combined with a sense of adventure and possibility. Less dark than The Experiment it still suggests a fear of the unknown and the beginning of something unravelling. The shifting balance of power, the confusion felt by both characters and the unstoppable journey all combine to create a dramatic and effective climax to the extract.

 

Vicky Grut

Vicky Grut's stories have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including Valentine's Day: Stories of Revenge, Reshape Whilst Damp, Resist and New Writing 13. In 1999 she was a winner of an Asham and Ian St James award for short fiction. The extract in this volume is from her novel, The Understudy.

Photograph: Bill Williams

 

Jane Rogers

Jane Rogers has written seven novels, including Mr Wroe's Virgins, Island and The Voyage Home. She also writes for radio and TV, and has edited OUP's Good Fiction Guide. She lives near Manchester and is Professor of Writing at Sheffield Hallam University.

 

 

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth217 

www.janerogers.org

Photograph: Jerry Bauer

 

Illustration © Maurizio Marmorato
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Link to writing

The Experiment * The Experiment

The Understudy * The Understudy


Glossary for 'The Understudy' * Glossary for 'The Understudy'

Link to teachers notes

Teachers' pages for Purposes Mistook * Teachers' pages for Purposes Mistook

Link to readers notes

Readers' notes for Purposes Mistook * Readers' notes for Purposes Mistook

Link to author interviews

Interview with Jane Rogers * Interview with Jane Rogers

 

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