Hanna Pylväinen: More People (July 2025)

It’s most familiar and also, at a basic level, easiest, to write characters in small groupings, as couples, say, or with some background minor characters. What happens when we introduce entire sets and societies? Writing a large cast of characters presents specific challenges but also particular rewards. In this lecture I’ll talk about how to make use of many people and present an argument for why you should try. Texts discussed will include Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, George Eliot’s Middlemarch, Edward P. Jones’ The Known World, Yiyun Li’s The Vagrants, and Karan Mahajan’s The Association of Small Bombs.