Critical Reflection Two

Stephanie Austin-Reed

Critical reflection two

The idea of publishing a novel in installments is…interesting to me. It also feels like a great big opportunity to make a little more money. There are ads everywhere, and the story seems to cut off at rather convenient points. The whole thing feels like a wonderful opportunity to ensure readers.

First, as usual, those ads were hilarious. I sat in the rare books room with four other people giggling as I read these ads out of context. It really is a lot of fun looking through the numerous pages of ads. I’ll be the first to admit that I may have spent more time looking through the ads than the actual story. The more I thought about these ads, the more I realized that this little installment of a greater work is heavily comparable to television shows today. Commercials. I was looking at commercials. There were even testimonials attached to some of the product ads! Of course, they sounded much more intelligent than the testimonials in today’s television commercials, but they were pretty golden. I was also looking at the latest episode of a popular television show. With that realization, I found a way to connect with the time period. I probably wouldn’t have made that connection had I not read the actual physical installments.

As for the question, what influence does form have over content? Well, I think the form here has a lot to do with the content. I feel like Dickens would constantly have to be thinking about how he was going to dissect his story for publishing. How he leaves his audience is incredibly important because that could easily make or break his readership. Obviously if a writer or a television show producer leaves the audience off on a cliffhanger, it’s rather likely that when the next bit comes out a vast majority of the audience will return out of sheer curiosity.

All in all, reading in installment form is interesting. Holding a physical, original copy of the published work is pretty exciting. I definitely find myself wondering how frustrated Victorian’s got over cliffhanger endings and if it’s anything comparable to how I feel at the end of an episode of Doctor Who.