It doesn't look like Cheerskep is interested in further defining the generically different virtues for which he enjoys different books -- and, actually, I'm a bit surprised that he didn't just allow that the virtue of each book, so far as he's concerned, is sui generis.
But going back to the question that began this thread, "What is it about the kernel of a story that hooks you?" -- the kernel that hooks me as a reader (and presumably as a writer if I ever made the attempt) is ambiguity -- not just any kind of ambiguity as William seemed to allow -- but moral ambiguity - which is why I cannot tolerate melodrama. For me, the book is successful as the situations seem real and the ambiguity seems important. (wasn't this the argument that Kirby was finding in the Poetics last year ?. So yes, mimesis is important to me, and maybe I'm an Aristotelian after all!) "Rich and mellifluous writing" is an enhancement - but at least for me in this period of my life -- when all I'm reading is translations or books written in the writer's second language - it certainly is neither necessary nor sufficient. _____________________________________________________________ Click for online loan, fast & no lender fee, approval today http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2211/fc/Ioyw6ijmOSa3g8r2wySOT5o68zq6P8 RBvmCGXtZ1D7g00k9LcDOoiI/?count=1234567890
