The Yattering and Jack
by Clive Barker
In visual art, there is a concept called "negative space." It is the space around the subject in a painting or around a graphic element (like text) in a design. For example, in a picture of a vase, the negative space would be the background surrounding the vase's shape. The background also has a form: the negative shape of the vase. Artists must consider negative space when creating a picture or a design. The area around the subject is as much a part of the piece as the subject itself. In a balanced composition, the negative (background) and positive (subject) spaces are harmonious. If the main element in a picture is too large or too small, it will not have balance.
The Yattering and Jack told its story through the use of negative space. We learned who Jack was because of what he didn't do. He didn't succumb to the Yattering's torture. He didn't become unhinged or display any emotions at all. For most of the story, Jack was a part of the background. The conflict in the tale was its lack thereof--the demonic outreach of the Yattering left unanswered.
When the narrative added Jack's point of view, we learned that he was not the dull, unimaginative milquetoast the Yattering thought he was. Barker allowed us only the view through the Yattering's eyes, and the demon was wrong. There was more to Jack. It was as though he had been behind a closed door. Suddenly the door banged open, and there he stood with his chainsaw of a plan.
The twist was satisfying and even altered the way I visualized Jack in my mind's eye. When seen through the Yattering's point of view, I imagined Jack to be pudgy, balding, and unattractive. But when he executed the final stage of his plan, my visualization changed, and he became more of a man of action--lean and well-dressed, with a full head of hair. I have never experienced this shift in how I pictured a character and found it fresh and surprising. I held Jack in higher esteem once I realized he had agency all along, and it changed the way I perceived him.
It was interesting not to be privy to critical elements of the story until near its end. The Yattering's ignorance of Jack's plan formed a negative space around Jack's true nature. He was there, the picture's subject, but we only saw the Yattering's activity around him. Adding to the negative space was everything we still didn't know about Jack at the story's end. How did he come to learn Beelzebub's rules? We understood who Jack was by what he didn't care about--whether Heaven would ban him for taking control of a demon.
Was this picture balanced? Did we know enough about Jack for the story to be satisfying? I wanted to learn more about him. But Yattering Jack is a short story, not a novel, and it's about a clever man besting a demon. I think Barker realized a full character in Jack by allowing us to infer all we needed to know.