So, my favorite story of this bunch was "Bone Hinge." I thought the curmudgeonly character of Sylvie was really compelling and was hooked from the first sentence. Similarly I really thought the repetition and doubling throughout the piece was working on a thematic level. This starts with repeated phrases and words: "More than twins, Mother said. More than can be born, the ladies at church sighed. Mor than enough for me, the facoty men whispered..." (32); Hattie always saying "sorry" three times (32), Sylvie recounting of their birth "through, through... back, back..." (35) but continues in various ways throughout-- the doubling of pain and emotion (since both girls feel each other's pain at one point or another), the two brothers, even the fact that Toby stutters which makes him doomed to repeat himself, even the very similar temperaments of Sylvie and Matthew.
I love it when I wish a story would keep going because I'm invested in the characters. That's how I felt about this story. I thought it was fabulous right up until the end, which fell completely flat for me. I get that we're circling back to the idea of suicide, to Lester submerging himself in the dye vats, to seeing too much. But the change in Sylvie's character or her perspective seemed waaaay too neat and tidy. I wonder if some of this tidy-ness comes from having a retrospective-ish narrator? There's that moment when the narrator addresses the audience, saying "You might ask in this moment: Did I consider what Hattie's life would be like with Matthew?" (38). That seems like a retrospective moment, where the narrator who is telling the story shines through, letting us know that she is telling this story from some future time and place where she's had time to think about how an audience might respond to her story. Somehow this made me expect something different, something farther reaching from the ending than what I got, which left me squarely in that moment when everything changed for the relationship between the Sylvie and Hattie. Maybe? I don't know. Maybe I just wanted this to be a novel, not a short story. I would have stayed on for the ride.
I found A Continuity of Parks very interesting, particularly the playing with the use of the frame-narrative at the end—it reminded me of Poe for some reason, or H.P. Lovecraft. I did wonder, however, about the use of the technique in such a short piece. It felt to me a little bit like a “clever” move or perhaps like the author showing off slightly (ha ha! didn’t expect that, did you?), and I was wondering what other people thought of it. I did find the story very entertaining, but came away with a reaction more like well done, Cortázar, instead of thinking about what he might have been trying to say with the condensing of the frame narrative and the story of the novel the character reads.
Robot Paul's. Question. Concerns. Man and Wife. And is. Related. To. Something. We've talked. About. In. Class a. Little. Bit. But about. Which. Robot Paul would. Like to. Talk a little. More. Time permitting. Robot. Paul's. Question. Concerns the. Retrospective narrator. Comma. And the. Notion. That there. Need. Be. Some. Present-time event. That. Sets off. The. Re-telling of. The. Narrative in. The. First. Place. In. Man and. Wife. There is. A. Clear and. Immediate. Delineation. Between then. And. Now semicolon. In the. Second. Paragraph. We. Learn that this. All took. Place. Eight. Years ago. Comma. And that. The. Narrator. Is now. Seventeen.5. So the. Whole. Time. Robot Paul is. Computing. Comma. OK Computer. What. Happens. At seventeen.5. To. Make this girl. Decide. To. Tell. Us. This story. Question mark.
Now. Comma. Until it. Was. Brought up. In. Class. Comma Robot. Paul. Had. Never. Computed this. Notion. That there. Must. Be. A. Present-time. Event to. Justify a. Narrative. Because Robot. Paul. Computes. That. Comma. Like. Comma. A good. Comma. Compelling. story. Is. Its. Own. Justification. Does this compute. Question. Mark. If. A reader. Is willing to. Read. A. Story. Comma. That. Should be. Reason enough. Does this compute. Question mark. Nevertheless. Comma. Since the. Notion. Was. Brought up. In class. Comma. Robot. Paul kept. Computing. Comma. OK Computer. Comma. Why now. Question. Mark. Why. Is the. Narrator. Telling this. Story. Now. Question. Mark. In other. Words. Comma. What happens. At. Seventeen.5. Question mark.
And. Because. The reader. Never. Really gets. That. Comma does. The reader question. Mark. There. Is no. Event. Comma really. Comma. Aside from. The. Fact. That comma. On page. 70. Comma. It. Is. The narrator's. 18th. Birthday soon. Comma at. Which. Age. She will get. A. Key to. The. Safety. Deposit. Box. And Robot. Paul. Would never. Have. Faulted. This. Story. For not. Answering. The why. Now question comma. Had it. Not. Been brought. Up. In. Class. Therefore. Robot Paul. Computes. Comma. Perhaps we. Can discuss. This. A little. More in. Class. Comma. Whether or. Not. A retrospective. Comma first-person. Open parenthesis. Or. What. About a. Third-person. Narrator. Question. Mark. Close. Parenthesis. Narrator need. Justify. The telling. Of. The. Story. With. A. Present-tense. Event.
Furthermore. And in. Conclusion. Robot Paul. Did not compute. The top. Of. Page 63. Where. Katie Chase. The. Author. Mentions. Many. Legged. Insects. Computing insects. Are. Necessarily. Many-legged. And. That. They have. In fact and. By definition. Specifically 6 legs. The term. Many. Legged. Is therefore. Both redundant. And vague. However. And furthermore. Katie. Chase. Goes on. To. Mention. In the. Same. paragraph. Centipedes. And spiders. Which. Are not. At. All. Insects. But. Are. Chilopoda and. Arachnids. Respectively. Robot Paul. Would. Not have. Selected. This. Story. Man. And. Wife. For inclusion. In. Best. American Short. Stories. 2008. Due to. This. Factual inaccuracy.
I'm really thinking about setting in the story MAN AND WIFE. Where in the hell does this story take place?! It feels very American and very modern. It's a very unsettling combination that forces the reader to sit nose to nose with an uncomfortable issue. But because we know this is fiction, it makes me look harder for meaning. What is the author trying to say about the institution of marriage for love?
I had some of the same issue with Man and Wife as to whether the lack of setting helped or hinder the story. The story seems to be set in a modernish America and yet the idea of arranged marriage seems to be the norm. So the story seems to suggest about love that love is one potential outcome of marriage while the primary purpose of marriage is to be able to support your parents when they get older. Would knowing that this story was set in America just raise too many questions with the reader and take away from the story?
I liked Bone Hinge too, which I guess I read as something of a doppelganger story, with some very interesting particulars that really kept the story moving for me: the factory with the dye vats, the conjoined-twins thing. All kind of naturalistic, but with a very peculiar cast. In view of that, what really jumped out at me was the repeated talk of "mystics," these rather malevolent citizens (I guess) who seem to get everything wrong but are valued, influential members of the fictional world, even if they are vague, remaining largely undrawn in the story. The mystics seem to be the key to the story, though I'm not prepared to say how exactly.
I liked Bone Hinge too, which I guess I read as something of a doppelganger story, with some very interesting particulars that really kept the story moving for me: the factory with the dye vats, the conjoined-twins thing. All kind of naturalistic, but with a very peculiar cast. In view of that, what really jumped out at me was the repeated talk of "mystics," these rather malevolent citizens (I guess) who seem to get everything wrong but are valued, influential members of the fictional world, even if they are vague, remaining largely undrawn in the story. The mystics seem to be the key to the story, though I'm not prepared to say how exactly.
(Having weird trouble here with the site. May end up posting the same hundred or so words fifty times. - Kevin)
I liked Bone Hinge too, which I guess I read as something of a doppelganger story, with some very interesting particulars that really kept the story moving for me: the factory with the dye vats, the conjoined-twins thing. All kind of naturalistic, but with a very peculiar cast. In view of that, what really jumped out at me was the repeated talk of "mystics," these rather malevolent citizens (I guess) who seem to get everything wrong but are valued, influential members of the fictional world, even if they are vague, remaining largely undrawn in the story. The mystics seem to be the key to the story, though I'm not prepared to say how exactly.
I liked Bone Hinge too, which I guess I read as something of a doppelganger story, with some very interesting particulars that really kept the story moving for me: the factory with the dye vats, the conjoined-twins thing. All kind of naturalistic, but with a very peculiar cast. In view of that, what really jumped out at me was the repeated talk of "mystics," these rather malevolent citizens (I guess) who seem to get everything wrong but are valued, influential members of the fictional world, even if they are vague, remaining largely undrawn in the story. The mystics seem to be the key to the story, though I'm not prepared to say how exactly.
The story that seemed to affect me the most was Man and Wife. I agree with Candace and Toby, I was very disturbed by the fact that I could not tell where this story was taking place, or the date, for that matter. I can't help feeling that this was a conscious choice on the author's part... it gave it sort of a fairy tale feel, one of the f-ed up fairy tales for sure, but that was how read for me none the less. Did it distract me not knowing where we were during the story? Yes. But I am not sure it is a statement on a particular place, but on the institution of marriage. The only problem I have with that is that marriage is so different all over the world, I am not sure what comment they is trying to make on it. It does seem to feel North American-esque, and thats how I kept reading it. So perhaps that means that if the writer was trying to make it an "anyplace" then maybe they should have kept the setting more neutral. So, I know I might be the only one here calling for this, but who thinks it might have been easier to swallow not knowing the setting if it had been less particularized (i.e. barbies and such)? I am not sure what this might do to the story. Like I said, one of the things that forced it to resinate was the fact that it seemed so close to home, yet the writer was not coming out and saying it.
Interesting stories this week. My brief comments/questions: "Bone Hinge"-- I see things to admire, but I ultimately found the story predictable, a little pat, despite moments of lovely writing. I think it suffers from the predictability of its subject--Siamese Twins, one jealous of the other, fearful she'll "leave," how this reflects on her own life, etc. It made for somewhat expected drama and extremely predictable metaphorical musings and reflections on the part of the narrator. Though I was definitely into the story, I was also annoyed by its self-consciousness. I also realized, after I read it, that I gave the author a ride home one night from the Lone Palm in the Mission. She seemed nice. But did anyone else feel this way, how the Siamese Twin theme/symbol/metaphor was spilling all over the place?
"Man and Wife"--I enjoyed this. It was daring. I believe someone above mentioned the retrospective narration, the need for the story's telling. I need to think about this more. But I will say that it does an excellent job of diffusing the "immediate" drama of the narrator's escape plan (we know already she doesn't do it) and infusing it with a sense of sadness and inevitability. I thought that was brilliantly done, and gave further depth to the past story. Probably my favorite of the pieces we read.
The New Yorker story-- In a way, it had three narratives running. The present time story, the backstory with the fiancee, and the recurring Dante metaphor. I liked the unabashed simultaneousness with which Goodman presents them, one line after the other. I thought it worked surprisingly well, though the predictability of Nathaniel's father putting the moves on the narrator irritated me to no end. I'm interested to know what everyone thought of the way this story was written, the use of single sentence paragraphs, one after the other.
The Flash Fictions-- I enjoyed these. And I've always admired "The Hurricane Ride"--I actually teach it quite a bit. A perfect example of a story that completely relies on everything that's left off the page.
That's it for me, for now. Last blog post-- crazy. I enjoyed reading all your posts, and I appreciate those of you who took the time time to do it, week after week. I think this is much more preferable than giving out weekly quizzes, which my buddy from the Arkansas MFA Program had to endure. Although, he did say they were effective...
I completely agree about Bone Hinge's metaphors going overboard, Lysley. This and the unrealistic aspects of the story irritated me. I'm wondering how readers felt about the magical realism aspects of Bone Hinge? Did you go along with it? For example, the details about how the character Lester died (dyed, thanks to Risa for pointing this out to me!)...Was it too much? (Maybe we can talk more about this tomorrow)
Of the stories we read this week, I thought the Allegra Goodman story, La Vita Nuova, was the strongest. I loved the simple sentence structure and single sentence paragraph structure in this story. It helped slow the pacing, as how time must be passing for Amanda in her depression. And I thought it also added a certain distance or disconnection between the reader and Amanda. Loved the non-resolution/resolution ending. I also thought Nathaniel was rendered in a believable way and his line, "You have a great imagination." to Amanda on page 2 was a perfect illustration of their bond and role reversal. Nice work, Allegra! Now can you please relieve my allergies....
I want to talk about how katie chase creates this bizarro world, bizarro american world with little explanation of why it is like it is...and are people buying it as is or do they think that just being thrown in takes away from the story?
I enjoyed the New Yorker piece, and agree with Lysley that the simultaneity was effective. The story does become reductionary at the end, when the family turns into the nanny diaries stereotype. I do think the stereotyping of the mother and the father as Lysley mentioned put the focus on the narrator and the son (reflecting the relationship of the narrator to her fiance), which is what the story is about (or at least the narrator's coming to terms with it). Really, the narrator is coming to terms with herself, and her life. The relationship with the fiance just seemed to be a catalyst/reason for the narrator's acknowledgement of her unhappiness.
Also, the simultaneity and long sentences made the story invested in the consciousness of the narrator rather than the "events" in the story. The story really is propelled and "about" the inner workings and feelings/internal knowledge of the narrator. I also really enjoyed the part about the dolls.
As for reading quizes, I think they are ridiculous, counter-productive, and a waste of time. It really bothers me to do the reading for classes with reading quizes. I always forget details, names, etc, that I don't need to have stored in my long term memory. Also, reading for class is a first read, its supposed to progress during class time and after. Reading quizes are not designed to facilitate developmental understanding of a text, which is one of the things an MFA program is for.
The brief sentences in La Vita Nuova that packed an unexpected punch -- a joy to read: "Her father said,'I paid for Yale.'" And the one following "We had too many differences" : "For example, I loved him and he didn't love me." However, I was also disappointed with the predictability of Nathaniel's father's behavior. Unlike some of y'all, I went along for the ride with Bone Hinge. I liked the way the author included all the senses in her writing.Heavy-handed in some places, but I was fascinated with the way the narrator's sense of the hinge changed by the end of the story. Do we need to do an intervention with Robot Paul, by the way?
I read all these stories on a plane and Man and Wife was the only one I read through without stopping, even with turbulence. I had the same issues with setting and time and I kept looking for hints. CDs? Barbies? Kool-aid? Oh my goodness, I could have been Mary Ellen?! I was so struck by the ending and part of me kept hoping and wishing that she would really leave him at the altar. But there were so many hints throughout of this future life and I was wondering what would happen, if it would make my reading of this story different even, if we had not been given any kind of indication that she had married him? I also loved (or feared) how economical marriage had become and the language of contract and investment was used. I just came back from a wedding so thanks for continuing to scare me.
Of all the stories, I felt form followed function wonderfully in La Vita Nuova, and the rendering of the story pretty much mimicked the distance/ displacement the narrator's consciousness echoed. It felt like a disembodied narrator was unfolding the events of the story as they happened (or as life happened) to her, in no particular order of importance. Like Jaime and Skye, I also thought the story's sentence structure really helped layer consciousness and helped propel the story forward organically (add a sprinkling of Dante and voila!) I saw the process the narrator undertakes to paint those dolls as somewhat of a driving metaphor for constructing this entire story: strip, paint/ color, dry. The driving action having already happened (the stripping process), she begins to color in a new doll, thereby (re) creating a different persona for herself and others around her (rendering Nathaniel's father older and fatter than he really is), and actively trying to make sense of the world around her, while simultaneously coming to grips with the inevitable change this act implies. It seems to be a story of acceptance, of letting go, concerned not so much with the fact of love (unrequited or otherwise), but its inevitable outcomes (attachment, loss), and the step by step process one undergoes towards self renewal, towards constructing a new life, and a new identity, of sorts.
ps. I found Bone Hinge incredibly pat and predictable, down to its silly orange-stained fingers, and no Mattie or Hattie (now you see her, now you don't!) could save this runaway train from plowing into that inevitable metaphorical station.
So, my favorite story of this bunch was "Bone Hinge." I thought the curmudgeonly character of Sylvie was really compelling and was hooked from the first sentence. Similarly I really thought the repetition and doubling throughout the piece was working on a thematic level. This starts with repeated phrases and words: "More than twins, Mother said. More than can be born, the ladies at church sighed. Mor than enough for me, the facoty men whispered..." (32); Hattie always saying "sorry" three times (32), Sylvie recounting of their birth "through, through... back, back..." (35) but continues in various ways throughout-- the doubling of pain and emotion (since both girls feel each other's pain at one point or another), the two brothers, even the fact that Toby stutters which makes him doomed to repeat himself, even the very similar temperaments of Sylvie and Matthew.
ReplyDeleteI love it when I wish a story would keep going because I'm invested in the characters. That's how I felt about this story. I thought it was fabulous right up until the end, which fell completely flat for me. I get that we're circling back to the idea of suicide, to Lester submerging himself in the dye vats, to seeing too much. But the change in Sylvie's character or her perspective seemed waaaay too neat and tidy. I wonder if some of this tidy-ness comes from having a retrospective-ish narrator? There's that moment when the narrator addresses the audience, saying "You might ask in this moment: Did I consider what Hattie's life would be like with Matthew?" (38). That seems like a retrospective moment, where the narrator who is telling the story shines through, letting us know that she is telling this story from some future time and place where she's had time to think about how an audience might respond to her story. Somehow this made me expect something different, something farther reaching from the ending than what I got, which left me squarely in that moment when everything changed for the relationship between the Sylvie and Hattie.
Maybe? I don't know. Maybe I just wanted this to be a novel, not a short story. I would have stayed on for the ride.
I found A Continuity of Parks very interesting, particularly the playing with the use of the frame-narrative at the end—it reminded me of Poe for some reason, or H.P. Lovecraft. I did wonder, however, about the use of the technique in such a short piece. It felt to me a little bit like a “clever” move or perhaps like the author showing off slightly (ha ha! didn’t expect that, did you?), and I was wondering what other people thought of it. I did find the story very entertaining, but came away with a reaction more like well done, Cortázar, instead of thinking about what he might have been trying to say with the condensing of the frame narrative and the story of the novel the character reads.
ReplyDeleteBegin.
ReplyDeleteRobot Paul's. Question. Concerns. Man and Wife. And is. Related. To. Something. We've talked. About. In. Class a. Little. Bit. But about. Which. Robot Paul would. Like to. Talk a little. More. Time permitting. Robot. Paul's. Question. Concerns the. Retrospective narrator. Comma. And the. Notion. That there. Need. Be. Some. Present-time event. That. Sets off. The. Re-telling of. The. Narrative in. The. First. Place. In. Man and. Wife. There is. A. Clear and. Immediate. Delineation. Between then. And. Now semicolon. In the. Second. Paragraph. We. Learn that this. All took. Place. Eight. Years ago. Comma. And that. The. Narrator. Is now. Seventeen.5. So the. Whole. Time. Robot Paul is. Computing. Comma. OK Computer. What. Happens. At seventeen.5. To. Make this girl. Decide. To. Tell. Us. This story. Question mark.
Now. Comma. Until it. Was. Brought up. In. Class. Comma Robot. Paul. Had. Never. Computed this. Notion. That there. Must. Be. A. Present-time. Event to. Justify a. Narrative. Because Robot. Paul. Computes. That. Comma. Like. Comma. A good. Comma. Compelling. story. Is. Its. Own. Justification. Does this compute. Question. Mark. If. A reader. Is willing to. Read. A. Story. Comma. That. Should be. Reason enough. Does this compute. Question mark. Nevertheless. Comma. Since the. Notion. Was. Brought up. In class. Comma. Robot. Paul kept. Computing. Comma. OK Computer. Comma. Why now. Question. Mark. Why. Is the. Narrator. Telling this. Story. Now. Question. Mark. In other. Words. Comma. What happens. At. Seventeen.5. Question mark.
And. Because. The reader. Never. Really gets. That. Comma does. The reader question. Mark. There. Is no. Event. Comma really. Comma. Aside from. The. Fact. That comma. On page. 70. Comma. It. Is. The narrator's. 18th. Birthday soon. Comma at. Which. Age. She will get. A. Key to. The. Safety. Deposit. Box. And Robot. Paul. Would never. Have. Faulted. This. Story. For not. Answering. The why. Now question comma. Had it. Not. Been brought. Up. In. Class. Therefore. Robot Paul. Computes. Comma. Perhaps we. Can discuss. This. A little. More in. Class. Comma. Whether or. Not. A retrospective. Comma first-person. Open parenthesis. Or. What. About a. Third-person. Narrator. Question. Mark. Close. Parenthesis. Narrator need. Justify. The telling. Of. The. Story. With. A. Present-tense. Event.
Furthermore. And in. Conclusion. Robot Paul. Did not compute. The top. Of. Page 63. Where. Katie Chase. The. Author. Mentions. Many. Legged. Insects. Computing insects. Are. Necessarily. Many-legged. And. That. They have. In fact and. By definition. Specifically 6 legs. The term. Many. Legged. Is therefore. Both redundant. And vague. However. And furthermore. Katie. Chase. Goes on. To. Mention. In the. Same. paragraph. Centipedes. And spiders. Which. Are not. At. All. Insects. But. Are. Chilopoda and. Arachnids. Respectively. Robot Paul. Would. Not have. Selected. This. Story. Man. And. Wife. For inclusion. In. Best. American Short. Stories. 2008. Due to. This. Factual inaccuracy.
End.
I'm really thinking about setting in the story MAN AND WIFE. Where in the hell does this story take place?! It feels very American and very modern. It's a very unsettling combination that forces the reader to sit nose to nose with an uncomfortable issue. But because we know this is fiction, it makes me look harder for meaning. What is the author trying to say about the institution of marriage for love?
ReplyDeleteCandace,
ReplyDeleteI had some of the same issue with Man and Wife as to whether the lack of setting helped or hinder the story. The story seems to be set in a modernish America and yet the idea of arranged marriage seems to be the norm. So the story seems to suggest about love that love is one potential outcome of marriage while the primary purpose of marriage is to be able to support your parents when they get older. Would knowing that this story was set in America just raise too many questions with the reader and take away from the story?
I liked Bone Hinge too, which I guess I read as something of a doppelganger story, with some very interesting particulars that really kept the story moving for me: the factory with the dye vats, the conjoined-twins thing. All kind of naturalistic, but with a very peculiar cast. In view of that, what really jumped out at me was the repeated talk of "mystics," these rather malevolent citizens (I guess) who seem to get everything wrong but are valued, influential members of the fictional world, even if they are vague, remaining largely undrawn in the story. The mystics seem to be the key to the story, though I'm not prepared to say how exactly.
ReplyDeleteI liked Bone Hinge too, which I guess I read as something of a doppelganger story, with some very interesting particulars that really kept the story moving for me: the factory with the dye vats, the conjoined-twins thing. All kind of naturalistic, but with a very peculiar cast. In view of that, what really jumped out at me was the repeated talk of "mystics," these rather malevolent citizens (I guess) who seem to get everything wrong but are valued, influential members of the fictional world, even if they are vague, remaining largely undrawn in the story. The mystics seem to be the key to the story, though I'm not prepared to say how exactly.
ReplyDelete(Sorry if this is a duplicate post.)
(Having weird trouble here with the site. May end up posting the same hundred or so words fifty times. - Kevin)
ReplyDeleteI liked Bone Hinge too, which I guess I read as something of a doppelganger story, with some very interesting particulars that really kept the story moving for me: the factory with the dye vats, the conjoined-twins thing. All kind of naturalistic, but with a very peculiar cast. In view of that, what really jumped out at me was the repeated talk of "mystics," these rather malevolent citizens (I guess) who seem to get everything wrong but are valued, influential members of the fictional world, even if they are vague, remaining largely undrawn in the story. The mystics seem to be the key to the story, though I'm not prepared to say how exactly.
I liked Bone Hinge too, which I guess I read as something of a doppelganger story, with some very interesting particulars that really kept the story moving for me: the factory with the dye vats, the conjoined-twins thing. All kind of naturalistic, but with a very peculiar cast. In view of that, what really jumped out at me was the repeated talk of "mystics," these rather malevolent citizens (I guess) who seem to get everything wrong but are valued, influential members of the fictional world, even if they are vague, remaining largely undrawn in the story. The mystics seem to be the key to the story, though I'm not prepared to say how exactly.
ReplyDeleteThe story that seemed to affect me the most was Man and Wife. I agree with Candace and Toby, I was very disturbed by the fact that I could not tell where this story was taking place, or the date, for that matter. I can't help feeling that this was a conscious choice on the author's part... it gave it sort of a fairy tale feel, one of the f-ed up fairy tales for sure, but that was how read for me none the less. Did it distract me not knowing where we were during the story? Yes. But I am not sure it is a statement on a particular place, but on the institution of marriage. The only problem I have with that is that marriage is so different all over the world, I am not sure what comment they is trying to make on it. It does seem to feel North American-esque, and thats how I kept reading it. So perhaps that means that if the writer was trying to make it an "anyplace" then maybe they should have kept the setting more neutral. So, I know I might be the only one here calling for this, but who thinks it might have been easier to swallow not knowing the setting if it had been less particularized (i.e. barbies and such)? I am not sure what this might do to the story. Like I said, one of the things that forced it to resinate was the fact that it seemed so close to home, yet the writer was not coming out and saying it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stories this week. My brief comments/questions: "Bone Hinge"-- I see things to admire, but I ultimately found the story predictable, a little pat, despite moments of lovely writing. I think it suffers from the predictability of its subject--Siamese Twins, one jealous of the other, fearful she'll "leave," how this reflects on her own life, etc. It made for somewhat expected drama and extremely predictable metaphorical musings and reflections on the part of the narrator. Though I was definitely into the story, I was also annoyed by its self-consciousness. I also realized, after I read it, that I gave the author a ride home one night from the Lone Palm in the Mission. She seemed nice. But did anyone else feel this way, how the Siamese Twin theme/symbol/metaphor was spilling all over the place?
ReplyDelete"Man and Wife"--I enjoyed this. It was daring. I believe someone above mentioned the retrospective narration, the need for the story's telling. I need to think about this more. But I will say that it does an excellent job of diffusing the "immediate" drama of the narrator's escape plan (we know already she doesn't do it) and infusing it with a sense of sadness and inevitability. I thought that was brilliantly done, and gave further depth to the past story. Probably my favorite of the pieces we read.
The New Yorker story-- In a way, it had three narratives running. The present time story, the backstory with the fiancee, and the recurring Dante metaphor. I liked the unabashed simultaneousness with which Goodman presents them, one line after the other. I thought it worked surprisingly well, though the predictability of Nathaniel's father putting the moves on the narrator irritated me to no end. I'm interested to know what everyone thought of the way this story was written, the use of single sentence paragraphs, one after the other.
The Flash Fictions-- I enjoyed these. And I've always admired "The Hurricane Ride"--I actually teach it quite a bit. A perfect example of a story that completely relies on everything that's left off the page.
That's it for me, for now. Last blog post-- crazy. I enjoyed reading all your posts, and I appreciate those of you who took the time time to do it, week after week. I think this is much more preferable than giving out weekly quizzes, which my buddy from the Arkansas MFA Program had to endure. Although, he did say they were effective...
I completely agree about Bone Hinge's metaphors going overboard, Lysley. This and the unrealistic aspects of the story irritated me. I'm wondering how readers felt about the magical realism aspects of Bone Hinge? Did you go along with it? For example, the details about how the character Lester died (dyed, thanks to Risa for pointing this out to me!)...Was it too much? (Maybe we can talk more about this tomorrow)
ReplyDeleteOf the stories we read this week, I thought the Allegra Goodman story, La Vita Nuova, was the strongest. I loved the simple sentence structure and single sentence paragraph structure in this story. It helped slow the pacing, as how time must be passing for Amanda in her depression. And I thought it also added a certain distance or disconnection between the reader and Amanda. Loved the non-resolution/resolution ending. I also thought Nathaniel was rendered in a believable way and his line, "You have a great imagination." to Amanda on page 2 was a perfect illustration of their bond and role reversal. Nice work, Allegra! Now can you please relieve my allergies....
I want to talk about how katie chase creates this bizarro world, bizarro american world with little explanation of why it is like it is...and are people buying it as is or do they think that just being thrown in takes away from the story?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the New Yorker piece, and agree with Lysley that the simultaneity was effective. The story does become reductionary at the end, when the family turns into the nanny diaries stereotype. I do think the stereotyping of the mother and the father as Lysley mentioned put the focus on the narrator and the son (reflecting the relationship of the narrator to her fiance), which is what the story is about (or at least the narrator's coming to terms with it). Really, the narrator is coming to terms with herself, and her life. The relationship with the fiance just seemed to be a catalyst/reason for the narrator's acknowledgement of her unhappiness.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the simultaneity and long sentences made the story invested in the consciousness of the narrator rather than the "events" in the story. The story really is propelled and "about" the inner workings and feelings/internal knowledge of the narrator. I also really enjoyed the part about the dolls.
As for reading quizes, I think they are ridiculous, counter-productive, and a waste of time. It really bothers me to do the reading for classes with reading quizes. I always forget details, names, etc, that I don't need to have stored in my long term memory. Also, reading for class is a first read, its supposed to progress during class time and after. Reading quizes are not designed to facilitate developmental understanding of a text, which is one of the things an MFA program is for.
**quizzes
ReplyDeleteThe brief sentences in La Vita Nuova that packed an unexpected punch -- a joy to read: "Her father said,'I paid for Yale.'" And the one following "We had too many differences" : "For example, I loved him and he didn't love me." However, I was also disappointed with the predictability of Nathaniel's father's behavior. Unlike some of y'all, I went along for the ride with Bone Hinge. I liked the way the author included all the senses in her writing.Heavy-handed in some places, but I was fascinated with the way the narrator's sense of the hinge changed by the end of the story. Do we need to do an intervention with Robot Paul, by the way?
ReplyDeleteI read all these stories on a plane and Man and Wife was the only one I read through without stopping, even with turbulence. I had the same issues with setting and time and I kept looking for hints. CDs? Barbies? Kool-aid? Oh my goodness, I could have been Mary Ellen?! I was so struck by the ending and part of me kept hoping and wishing that she would really leave him at the altar. But there were so many hints throughout of this future life and I was wondering what would happen, if it would make my reading of this story different even, if we had not been given any kind of indication that she had married him? I also loved (or feared) how economical marriage had become and the language of contract and investment was used. I just came back from a wedding so thanks for continuing to scare me.
ReplyDeleteOf all the stories, I felt form followed function wonderfully in La Vita Nuova, and the rendering of the story pretty much mimicked the distance/ displacement the narrator's consciousness echoed. It felt like a disembodied narrator was unfolding the events of the story as they happened (or as life happened) to her, in no particular order of importance. Like Jaime and Skye, I also thought the story's sentence structure really helped layer consciousness and helped propel the story forward organically (add a sprinkling of Dante and voila!) I saw the process the narrator undertakes to paint those dolls as somewhat of a driving metaphor for constructing this entire story: strip, paint/ color, dry. The driving action having already happened (the stripping process), she begins to color in a new doll, thereby (re) creating a different persona for herself and others around her (rendering Nathaniel's father older and fatter than he really is), and actively trying to make sense of the world around her, while simultaneously coming to grips with the inevitable change this act implies. It seems to be a story of acceptance, of letting go, concerned not so much with the fact of love (unrequited or otherwise), but its inevitable outcomes (attachment, loss), and the step by step process one undergoes towards self renewal, towards constructing a new life, and a new identity, of sorts.
ReplyDeleteps. I found Bone Hinge incredibly pat and predictable, down to its silly orange-stained fingers, and no Mattie or Hattie (now you see her, now you don't!) could save this runaway train from plowing into that inevitable metaphorical station.