Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on March 25, 2002 at 10:38:17 from 195.93.50.169:
In Reply to: Re: Titty - 3 dim. characters re Swallows & Amazons at War posted by Prue Eckett on March 22, 2002 at 21:08:13:
All this talk of "rounded characters" and "three dimensions" is all a bit pre-Leavisite, let alone post-structuralist!
I find it more rewarding to see which character is being used to view the action. Titty is very often the character through whose eyes the action is seen by the reader, therefore she seems to have more "inner life", but the point of view shifts - Dorothea is the character through whom we see most of WH, and Susan is the character through whose eyes we see some of the action of WDMTGTS.
There are bound to be "walk on parts" in any novel; just as there is scenery. There has never been a writer who gave her or his characters equal treatment!