Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Merle8888 t1_j51oybr wrote

Reply to comment by IndigoTrailsToo in What is the point of spoiling the plot of a book in its preface?? by DontNotNotReadThis

I am intrigued by these examples, in the abstract they don’t seem to me like it would work at all. If you can’t figure out the focus of the plot or the protagonist’s motivation from the book itself, it seems like a preface trying to explain it would just draw attention to how bad the book is.

2

Alaira314 t1_j53o3q1 wrote

Consider the case where the motivations or plot would have been obvious to a reader at the time of publication, but are lost on modern readers. Or the situation where the novel is in translation, relying on cultural knowledge/references that simply don't exist to the average reader in the translated language. A well-done preface or introduction can assist with that, though more extreme cases will need footnotes/endnotes.

1

Merle8888 t1_j53oxtp wrote

That's fair. I do welcome a preface in a novel that requires cultural translation, though ideally it shares the background without spoiling the entire plot!

1