MASTERCLASS
SOMETHING MISSING
Helen Walters looks at the impact a character’s loss of faculties could have on your fiction, with an example
story by O Henry
This month’s story, ‘A Ramble In Aphasia’ has all the O Henry trademarks of humour, clever use of language and a neat, but potentially ambiguous, ending. It follows the adventures of one Elwyn C Belford, a lawyer, who undergoes an adventure whilst in the throes of an attack of memory loss. As always, you will get the most out of this masterclass if you read the story for yourself: www. eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/RambApha.shtml
The use of language in the story is rich and skilful. I particularly enjoyed the phrases that arise from Belford’s association with a group of druggists going to a pharmaceutical convention. The man that he falls into conversation with, Mr Bolder, is described as having a ‘decided odour of cinnamon and aloes’, and their conversation encompasses the unusual and specific phraseology of the profession: ‘tartrate of antimony and potash’, ‘orange-phosphate-andmassage-cream professors’, ‘pulverised glycerrhiza radix’ and ‘magnesia carbonate’. The phrases aren’t necessarily funny in themselves, but become humorous in the course of a conversation where one participant has little idea what they mean. Note how, asked to make a choice, Belford chooses ‘magnesia’ because ‘it was easier to say’.
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