Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
John Berendt, the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, is a splendid writer who has edited for a variety of magazines. Additionally, he has written for Esquire and has also served as editor of the New York magazine. From his experiences as a writer, Berendt traverse around the United States and documented/wrote about many of his adventures. One such travel was when he went to Savannah, Georgia, which is where his book takes place. In part 1, consisting of the first 11 chapters of the book, Berendt takes the reader through a series of encounters, which primarily serve as an introduction before climaxing at the murder (at the very end of part 1). Since the purpose of part 1 in the book was to set the scene before Berendt goes into detail about the murder, it can be inferred that part 2 of the book will consist of people trying to solve this felony. Overall, the main reason the author wrote his book was to inform the public of this murder, considering the fact that this is a nonfiction book, and to illustrate his experiences while he was in Savannah. This book is not written for any specific group of people, but an audience that would most enjoy reading such a book would be one that loves true-crime murder stories. Throughout part 1 of the book, Berendt uses a variety of rhetorical devices. One main device used is imagery. Through vivid descriptions of the setting and people, Berendt is able to pellucidly depict everything he saw/experienced while he was in Savannah. In addition to imagery, Berendt uses diction that is mostly found in fiction books. In order to write this book, Berendt interviewed everyone he met. From each interview, he pulled quotes and treated them as dialogues in his book, making this book progress as if it were a novel. Writing in such a fashion allowed Berendt to successfully hook the reader and convey all the necessary information to fully comprehend what/why events play out the way they do.
No comments:
Post a Comment