Post by account_disabled on Dec 27, 2023 0:37:45 GMT -5
From Manzoni we skip a century, cross an ocean and arrive at Raymond Chandler. In the introduction to an edition of the collection of many of his stories ( Trouble Is My Business , 1950) the author writes about the so-called hard-boiled stories (the violent, action detective story typical of the 1920s and 30, with authors such as Mickey Spillane, Philip Marlowe, Mike Hammer, Dashiell Hammett and Chandler himself), stories in which constant action was required: When in doubt, have a man walk through a door with a gun in his hand.
It is certainly not difficult to imagine such a scene: in any situation a man with a gun who suddenly appears certainly gives the stimulus that is missing to continue the story, since that Special Data action leads to a reaction from the characters. Obviously it is an example that is suitable for that specific literary genre, even if it can be used in other genres. The Blue Fairy in Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio Collodi used the deus ex machina at least twice in the novel Pinocchio : The Blue Fairy saves Pinocchio's life after he is hanged by the Cat and the Fox. Later the Fairy intervenes again and transforms Pinocchio into a real boy.
But isn't the Tuna who saves Pinocchio and Geppetto when they escape from the shark's mouth a deus ex machina? And isn't the dog Alidoro who saves Pinocchio from being fried in a pan by the green fisherman a deus ex machina? Of course, in a fairy tale like Pinocchio it is not difficult to come up with gimmicks like this and make them believable: when you read a fairy tale, you have to believe everything the author has written. When to insert the deus ex machina into the story? When it's really necessary, I respond. Since it is a stratagem, a gimmick that, even if it doesn't surprise the reader (it shouldn't surprise him, in fact), he doesn't expect, it must be thought about carefully.
It is certainly not difficult to imagine such a scene: in any situation a man with a gun who suddenly appears certainly gives the stimulus that is missing to continue the story, since that Special Data action leads to a reaction from the characters. Obviously it is an example that is suitable for that specific literary genre, even if it can be used in other genres. The Blue Fairy in Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio Collodi used the deus ex machina at least twice in the novel Pinocchio : The Blue Fairy saves Pinocchio's life after he is hanged by the Cat and the Fox. Later the Fairy intervenes again and transforms Pinocchio into a real boy.
But isn't the Tuna who saves Pinocchio and Geppetto when they escape from the shark's mouth a deus ex machina? And isn't the dog Alidoro who saves Pinocchio from being fried in a pan by the green fisherman a deus ex machina? Of course, in a fairy tale like Pinocchio it is not difficult to come up with gimmicks like this and make them believable: when you read a fairy tale, you have to believe everything the author has written. When to insert the deus ex machina into the story? When it's really necessary, I respond. Since it is a stratagem, a gimmick that, even if it doesn't surprise the reader (it shouldn't surprise him, in fact), he doesn't expect, it must be thought about carefully.