Purely in the domain of writers and endings, Patrick O'Brien has one of his characters say they think unfinished novels don't need a conclusion any more than an unfinished work of music does: you can imagine how the story goes on for yourself.
Vikram Seth does the same thing with the ending of "a suitable boy" as does Anne Proulx in "the shipping news"
Writing of one's own mortality in these situations obviously invites the final word, but it actually doesn't have to be cast as such.
For this author the situation is terrible, but the writing doesn't have to echo that finality, there's a choice to be made.
A_D_E_P_T•13m ago
Houellebecq's Annihilation is also a good example of this. It starts out a political technothriller, certain threads are worked through towards a resolution, but then the protagonist is diagnosed with terminal cancer and the book's tone changes entirely. The resolution of those technothriller elements is alluded to, but you actively have to fill in the blanks for yourself. I thought that it was very cleverly handled.
ggm•1h ago
Vikram Seth does the same thing with the ending of "a suitable boy" as does Anne Proulx in "the shipping news"
Writing of one's own mortality in these situations obviously invites the final word, but it actually doesn't have to be cast as such.
For this author the situation is terrible, but the writing doesn't have to echo that finality, there's a choice to be made.
A_D_E_P_T•13m ago