Shadow of the Wind

Stephen Covey speaks that we often focus too much on the immediate rather than the important. The state of this blog seems to be proof of that. Yet, it appears that I am maintaining a pretty decent semi-annual update.

I've just read a really good book, The Shadow of the Wind, which focuses on the magic of books. The story all centers around a book that a 10 year old boy, Daniel, finds in a mysterious repository called, "the cemetery of books." This book, also called The Shadow of the Wind appears to be the last copy of a book by a mysterious author names, Julian Carax. It appears all the other copies had been destroyed. As the boy researches into the past of the book, and thereby the author, he ends up uncovering a tale of love, loss, betrayal, etc. More importantly, his life is starting to very much parallel that of the lost author.

I don't know if it is just because I haven't read a good book in a while (one that really drew me in), but I found myself really enjoying the time I spent within that world. My wife and I debated a bit over whether this would be considered "magical realism." There have been parallels drawn between Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but the book doesn't seem to have anything really fantastical about it. Yet, the parallels between Julian and Daniel are a bit much to describe without a magical influence. At the beginning of the text, Daniel feels very much that this book has somehow chosen him. If we keep that in mind then I think the book would fall into Magical Realism because it address the magic of literature, which lives in the reader and transports a bit of the author's soul.

Malcolm Hayward, an instructor of mine at IUP, once stated that critics "touched the magic." It's interesting the contour my life has taken. When I was young, I wanted to be an author (to create the magic). When I entered graduate school, I wanted to be a scholar and critic (to touch, and perhaps co-author--or at least explain--the magic). When I started working, I became a teacher (to share the magic with other...at least a bit). Now, I seem to be moving into administration (which is either to view the magic from afar...or to squeeze the life out of it).