Margot Livesey: Mrs. Turpin Reads the Stars: Creating Characters (January 2012)

In this lecture, novelist Livesey investigates the theory and practice of creating a character alive enough “to walk off the page,” and comes up with a surprise. Surveying work by Flannery O’Connor, Truman Capote, and John Cheever, Livesey argues that though many memorable characters are by contemporary definition “flat,” these were never conceived of as such, are “always capable of reaching after roundness,” and therefore can be used to subvert and enliven reader expectations. With additional readings from Richard Ford, John Metcalf, and Ivy Compton-Burnett, Livesey concludes her class with a discussion of the ways in which both imagination and technique contribute to successful characterization.