So Today was the Day! and what a day it was. Not only did we decide on our final VWS for next year but we also had the Karen Russel Reading. I will discuss the events in chronological order:
The presentations wrapped up and as they did I made copious notes on the merit of each finalist. When it came time to vote I was confident in my decisions among my choices were Rachel Zucker, Claudia Rankine, The woman who wrote secretary, the female essayist, and someone else who is escaping me at the moment. I look forward to coming to the events next year.
The Karen Russel was adorable, she's like a little munchkin! I've always been jealous of tiny people they seem so compact, easier to fit in airplane seats, and they can be "pudgy" or "rolly-poly", but when you are 5-11 you just get"big". I thought of all the writers we have had she gave the most interesting responses to the Q&A part of the reading. She was very straightforward and articulate and did not seem at all taken off-guard by the questions. Her response to the genre she considers her work to be in was interesting. She claimed "Literary Fiction" because of her attention to sentences, and I can certainly see that element in her work. But she mentioned that her books are placed in a variety of "genres" at book stores including YA, and fantasy. So I suppose the jury is out and it all returns to the wonderful realm of semantics and how one defines "genre".
I also liked that she gave a very human and personal explanation behind her work and stressed the idea of "write what your good at" and forget the consequences of, writing almost exclusively in a child voice etc. I strongly agree with this idea and believe that all writers have an intuition of what their strengths are and when a story is good. Russel has found her voice but her challenge, in my opinion, will be to do the next step. To expand her voice to layer it with different narrators, settings, situations, this only comes with experience but by being true to writing what she wants to write she is on the right path.
She, of all the writers, really inspired me to personally keep writing, because I saw in her why she writes. And it is to tell a story she needs to tell. Was it Joyce who said that all the stories in the world are already out there existing in space, and the writers job is just to run into run. Russel's reading gave me a new insight to her work and it was a great close to this class.
I also liked the
Monday, December 8, 2008
12-1-08 Week Fourteen Final Discussion of VWS Canidates
Today in class we met and the proposal for VWS finalists was under way. Before class I had printed out all the candidates and read a fair portion of the samples I was given. There were two people that I knew I would be voting for, Rachel Zucker, and the female essayist. I really loved all the poems I have red of Zucker's and I like that she is a "confessional" poet, and doesn't just throw allot of random and bizarre images together and slap it with title. It is difficult for me to understand contemporary poetry, possibly because I'm stupid, or possibly because I'm a woman and am not so impressed by the very male desire to master and manipulate language but rather the approach of using language, with purpose and precision to articulate an experience of being. Personal or Universal this is the poetry that appeals to me. But I'm not saying other forms of poetry do not have value or that they do not take skill and time to create, just that I, personally, don not get anything from them.
I liked the female essayist and also Claudia Rankine, who I think is delectably bizarre and incredibly intelligent, while still being readable.
I am at the moment at a loss for who to vote for, all the presenters did such a wonderful job and they are all so passionate about their person. It makes me feel a little "detached" from the contemporary literature world, because I have no "favorite person" favorite writer :(.
I look forward to voting next Thursday.
I liked the female essayist and also Claudia Rankine, who I think is delectably bizarre and incredibly intelligent, while still being readable.
I am at the moment at a loss for who to vote for, all the presenters did such a wonderful job and they are all so passionate about their person. It makes me feel a little "detached" from the contemporary literature world, because I have no "favorite person" favorite writer :(.
I look forward to voting next Thursday.
11-27-08 Week Thirteen Thanksgiving
No class.
But there was turkey and my sister was condescending and my family played poker for way to long and were far to aggressive about the whole matter. Everyone judged what everyone else ate and I was accused of being bulimic. My sisters boyfriend refused to make eye contact with me but stared out the window looking trapped, as though he was going in the oven not the turkey. We did the NYT crossword aloud and criticized each other in the process, my sister suggesting my mother favored my answers, there was constant discussion about who should hold the puzzle and sit in the middle, everyone wanted the pen but no one wanted to be touched.
In the end I went home and snuggled with my cat and my boyfriend and was truly Thankfull that people no longer lived in the same house with their extended family.
But there was turkey and my sister was condescending and my family played poker for way to long and were far to aggressive about the whole matter. Everyone judged what everyone else ate and I was accused of being bulimic. My sisters boyfriend refused to make eye contact with me but stared out the window looking trapped, as though he was going in the oven not the turkey. We did the NYT crossword aloud and criticized each other in the process, my sister suggesting my mother favored my answers, there was constant discussion about who should hold the puzzle and sit in the middle, everyone wanted the pen but no one wanted to be touched.
In the end I went home and snuggled with my cat and my boyfriend and was truly Thankfull that people no longer lived in the same house with their extended family.
11-24-08 Week Thirteen Author Group Presentation
We gave our presentation of Russel today, which went well I think. I'm still not really sure how we are expected to present the author packet, but we ended up with a number of good questions so I think we can establish that the presentation was a success!
Prof. Row brought up an interesting point that if you use the fantastic consistently, as Russel does, as an allegory/metaphor for the experience of coming of age then what are the consequences of this use, does it limit the fantastic to only expressing this one idea?
This got me thinking about the reversal of this problem. If you always use the fantastic to describe the experience of coming of age then what does that suggest about coming of age? Why cannot that moment be articulated in a narrative set in reality?
My personal opinion is that if Russel's stories were robbed of their fantastic elements they would loose their charm and become simply depressing. Like a souffle the wolves and magic goggles in Russel's work keep the heavy content light and airy, so the moments are both deliciously fluffy and heavy, simultaneously.
Along with these questions we came up with a list of other questions my favorite of which was "define your assumed trajectory of your career", or something like that. I think every visiting writer should be asked this question, perhaps before their reading, or possibly we could have them submit a proposal in writing before they are seriously considered a candidate for the series. After all, how can we possibly invite a writer without knowing if they expect to be insanely famous in forty years. Haha, no but seriously I actually like that question, I forget who thought of it, I wish our Q and As could be completely sarcastic. It could be the VWS/ Creative Writing Communities Comedy Presentation. There is just something about all writers "reading their work" that gives me a deep desire to provide sarcastic commentary, at the same time that I genuinely enjoy the experience. It is so odd, us with our questions, them up there reading, its funny u know? At the same time that it is wonderful experience.
With that said I look forward to Russel's coming on the 4th.
Prof. Row brought up an interesting point that if you use the fantastic consistently, as Russel does, as an allegory/metaphor for the experience of coming of age then what are the consequences of this use, does it limit the fantastic to only expressing this one idea?
This got me thinking about the reversal of this problem. If you always use the fantastic to describe the experience of coming of age then what does that suggest about coming of age? Why cannot that moment be articulated in a narrative set in reality?
My personal opinion is that if Russel's stories were robbed of their fantastic elements they would loose their charm and become simply depressing. Like a souffle the wolves and magic goggles in Russel's work keep the heavy content light and airy, so the moments are both deliciously fluffy and heavy, simultaneously.
Along with these questions we came up with a list of other questions my favorite of which was "define your assumed trajectory of your career", or something like that. I think every visiting writer should be asked this question, perhaps before their reading, or possibly we could have them submit a proposal in writing before they are seriously considered a candidate for the series. After all, how can we possibly invite a writer without knowing if they expect to be insanely famous in forty years. Haha, no but seriously I actually like that question, I forget who thought of it, I wish our Q and As could be completely sarcastic. It could be the VWS/ Creative Writing Communities Comedy Presentation. There is just something about all writers "reading their work" that gives me a deep desire to provide sarcastic commentary, at the same time that I genuinely enjoy the experience. It is so odd, us with our questions, them up there reading, its funny u know? At the same time that it is wonderful experience.
With that said I look forward to Russel's coming on the 4th.
11-20-08 Week Twelve "Russle Among her Peers"
Today in class we continued our discussion of Karen Russel and I thought for this Blog entry I would talk about the title story of her book "St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised by Wolves". Through one perspective the story is simplistic in its structure, the narrative is a list of the levels of assimilation. Structuring her story in this way allows Russel to be more creative in description and more loose, we know the progression of the story and there is not necessarily the burden of creating a more concrete plot.
Emotionally, not analytically, my response to the story was sadness. The idea of detachment from the wolf life is not only an allegory of cultural assimilation, but also of the personal journey away from one's immediate family. There is time, in everyone's life, where the realization that mother and father are not perfect, and possibly quite f****ed up occurs. This moment can be extremely disillusioning and depressing. There is a sense of isolation we see in the narrator as she returns to a wolf pack that she has completely outgrown, and the emotional response to that outgrowth is a deep and private mourning.
I wish it was this story that Russel was expanding into a book as I think it could have possibility to be an amazing novel. Kind of like a Harry Potter gone wrong, where the innocent child does not discover that they are actually a magic wizard but that they are human...not so good. If she slowed down the narrative and expanded it I think there could be a lot done with the sisters and the nuns as well as the relation to the family. Although to work, as I discussed in my earlier blog I think Russel would really need to commit herself to a fantastic world, establish the "wolf people" and werewolves more firmly in this altered reality. It would be a commitment that drew her away from the genre of "literary fiction" and closer to "fantasy", but honestly I think this story in a "fantasy" novel would be fabulous. There is no shame in writing "fantasy" some of the most amazing and epic works fall into this genre, and I don't think people should be so quick to turn up their noses to works on worlds that are not ours. It is possible to write fantasy and be "literary" so lets all relax and embrace the fantastic elements of Russell's work despite what genre they place her in.
Emotionally, not analytically, my response to the story was sadness. The idea of detachment from the wolf life is not only an allegory of cultural assimilation, but also of the personal journey away from one's immediate family. There is time, in everyone's life, where the realization that mother and father are not perfect, and possibly quite f****ed up occurs. This moment can be extremely disillusioning and depressing. There is a sense of isolation we see in the narrator as she returns to a wolf pack that she has completely outgrown, and the emotional response to that outgrowth is a deep and private mourning.
I wish it was this story that Russel was expanding into a book as I think it could have possibility to be an amazing novel. Kind of like a Harry Potter gone wrong, where the innocent child does not discover that they are actually a magic wizard but that they are human...not so good. If she slowed down the narrative and expanded it I think there could be a lot done with the sisters and the nuns as well as the relation to the family. Although to work, as I discussed in my earlier blog I think Russel would really need to commit herself to a fantastic world, establish the "wolf people" and werewolves more firmly in this altered reality. It would be a commitment that drew her away from the genre of "literary fiction" and closer to "fantasy", but honestly I think this story in a "fantasy" novel would be fabulous. There is no shame in writing "fantasy" some of the most amazing and epic works fall into this genre, and I don't think people should be so quick to turn up their noses to works on worlds that are not ours. It is possible to write fantasy and be "literary" so lets all relax and embrace the fantastic elements of Russell's work despite what genre they place her in.
11-17-08 Week Twelve The "New Fabulism"
Today in class we discussed Karen Russel and her work of short stories. St. Lucy's home for girls raised by wolves. Our discussion focused primarily around Her use of fantasy, we collectively wondered: how, by utilizing fantasy in her work, does Russel align herself with a particular genre? Has she trapped herself in the voice of a child and is there a problem with depending on the metaphor of the fantastic to define the experience of loss of innocence/coming of age?
In my reflections in the class discussion I began thinking about what Prof. Row mentioned on authors like Saffron Foyer who have almost locked themselves into this trap of "out quirking" themselves. Each book must be more bazaar than the next. I read both of Saffron-Foer's popular novels and I would think the last was actually less quirkier. It is primarily one continuous narrative, unlike his first which jumps around in time. But still I could see how one finds themselves in this predicament. I don't know if this would apply to Russel but I couldn't imagine her publishing anything that did not include an aspect of the fantastic, it seems such the core of her narratives.
We talked about her expanding her alligator story into a novel and if it would still hold the same appeal as her short stories. I certainly think she could pull it off, but she will have restructure her work and define the role of the fantastic. She seems to walk a tight line between true bizarreness and the "real" world, and I believe that for her pieces to work as full length narratives she will have to more concretely situate writing into one of these perspectives.
In my reflections in the class discussion I began thinking about what Prof. Row mentioned on authors like Saffron Foyer who have almost locked themselves into this trap of "out quirking" themselves. Each book must be more bazaar than the next. I read both of Saffron-Foer's popular novels and I would think the last was actually less quirkier. It is primarily one continuous narrative, unlike his first which jumps around in time. But still I could see how one finds themselves in this predicament. I don't know if this would apply to Russel but I couldn't imagine her publishing anything that did not include an aspect of the fantastic, it seems such the core of her narratives.
We talked about her expanding her alligator story into a novel and if it would still hold the same appeal as her short stories. I certainly think she could pull it off, but she will have restructure her work and define the role of the fantastic. She seems to walk a tight line between true bizarreness and the "real" world, and I believe that for her pieces to work as full length narratives she will have to more concretely situate writing into one of these perspectives.
Monday, November 17, 2008
11-13-08 Week Eleven Next Years VWS Vote
I don't feel like writing anything cohesive so WARNING expect the followoing to have no connection except being somehow related to the Writers Communties and Creativity.
So class was kind of cancled today, but we still had to meet and vote on our VWS choice. We went through the short but sweet presentations of the authors we had not covered last class and then wrote the names on the board and voted.
I have started reading a portion of Karen Russells book and so far am very much enjoying it.
For another course I finished reading Troilus and Cressida which I now understnad to be one of Shakespeares few problem plays.
I have a headache.
So class was kind of cancled today, but we still had to meet and vote on our VWS choice. We went through the short but sweet presentations of the authors we had not covered last class and then wrote the names on the board and voted.
I have started reading a portion of Karen Russells book and so far am very much enjoying it.
For another course I finished reading Troilus and Cressida which I now understnad to be one of Shakespeares few problem plays.
I have a headache.
11-10-08 Week Eleven VWS Part Three
This was the first meeting for the next VWS series. We reviewed a number of promising authors who appeared good candidates for the next VWS. One interesting presentation was made by Rachel on a YA fiction writer. Her choice sparked a discussion on the selection of our visiting writers and how we can and/or should diversify are authors.
I found the suggestion a valuable one. As Prof. Row and students brought up many of the Degree Seeking students in the English department hope to continue on to teaching positions at the high school level. The VWS could expose these students to authors writing to a youth audience, something that future teachers could certainly utilize later in their career.
Our discussion made me start thinking about the limits of the VWS and how our class could stretch those precedents.
I found the suggestion a valuable one. As Prof. Row and students brought up many of the Degree Seeking students in the English department hope to continue on to teaching positions at the high school level. The VWS could expose these students to authors writing to a youth audience, something that future teachers could certainly utilize later in their career.
Our discussion made me start thinking about the limits of the VWS and how our class could stretch those precedents.
11-6-08 Week Ten Field Trip To New York
I went in the afternoon group outing to New York. Here is my breakdown of the trip.
I got on the train after my group at Princeton junction because it is closer to my house and the city, why drive all the way to Hamilton. The entire trip was a bit eclipsed by a serious problem I realized about half way between my car and the platform. My shoes were a size to big. Now I have at least three pairs of well broken in black heels that are quite comfortable but for a reason I still cannot remember I chose to wear my new patten leather pumps. OMG my feet were on F***ing fire before I was even on the train.
When we got into the city we bumbled around until we found the wrong subway which took us very far downtown...past Soho, almost to Brooklyn. We ended up taking a cab to Mtg. Prof. Row. When we eventually met Eileen she complimented my shoes! yea so the pain was not in vain. Her agency was beautiful I kept imagining how I would renovate and turn the space into my dream loft. Wonderful light and windows. She made being an agent sound difficult and work requiring but rewarding. The job sounds like it requires far too much human interaction for my taste. She was very smart in her answers and musing on her profession, and I really appreciated her taking the time from her day to talk to us.
Then we went to FSG and seemed to be walking into some coffee house cool hipster paradise where skinny jeans were the dress requirement. Everyone I observed was in no way older than 21 and found myself wondering how the hell these kids got professional jobs. But then again I don't want to work in publishing so whatever. The FSG discussion was very interesting and I particularly liked his answer to my Kindle question, although he is obviously a little biased. I do think the book will be electronic at some point, never obsolete, I mean some weirdos still listen to records, but the primary medium for book sales. I mean imagine how much money could be saved if universities issued electronic text books on a kindle-like device?
Overall it was a great day in the city that was educational and fun.
I got on the train after my group at Princeton junction because it is closer to my house and the city, why drive all the way to Hamilton. The entire trip was a bit eclipsed by a serious problem I realized about half way between my car and the platform. My shoes were a size to big. Now I have at least three pairs of well broken in black heels that are quite comfortable but for a reason I still cannot remember I chose to wear my new patten leather pumps. OMG my feet were on F***ing fire before I was even on the train.
When we got into the city we bumbled around until we found the wrong subway which took us very far downtown...past Soho, almost to Brooklyn. We ended up taking a cab to Mtg. Prof. Row. When we eventually met Eileen she complimented my shoes! yea so the pain was not in vain. Her agency was beautiful I kept imagining how I would renovate and turn the space into my dream loft. Wonderful light and windows. She made being an agent sound difficult and work requiring but rewarding. The job sounds like it requires far too much human interaction for my taste. She was very smart in her answers and musing on her profession, and I really appreciated her taking the time from her day to talk to us.
Then we went to FSG and seemed to be walking into some coffee house cool hipster paradise where skinny jeans were the dress requirement. Everyone I observed was in no way older than 21 and found myself wondering how the hell these kids got professional jobs. But then again I don't want to work in publishing so whatever. The FSG discussion was very interesting and I particularly liked his answer to my Kindle question, although he is obviously a little biased. I do think the book will be electronic at some point, never obsolete, I mean some weirdos still listen to records, but the primary medium for book sales. I mean imagine how much money could be saved if universities issued electronic text books on a kindle-like device?
Overall it was a great day in the city that was educational and fun.
Monday, November 3, 2008
11-3-08 Week Ten Monday Prep for Field Trip
OMG! Prof. Row what is up with not grading me? Let me explain something, my self-esteem and existential anxiety-level are dependent on two things: first and foremost, my weight, and second, my grades. Without theselittle letters and numbers to rank my worth I am entirely lost. There'sno innate understanding of self-value in Gabby's world. It comes from the outside, from scales and mirrors, and professors like yourself. I appreciate your constructive criticism on my creative response, as a student it really does mean alot to know that a teacher took the time to read and respond to your work but...there is no grade. I looked its not there! And just judging from your comments, you have to know, I am imagining horrible things like Cs and B-s. Now if this is where I stand on the particular assignment that is fine, I respect your authority as a teacher and will accept the bellow A grade stoically. I'm not one to make a scene and promise to wait to be in my car before I start crying. But, you see I need to know what it is, like ripping off a band aid just give it to me... maybe like a B+? I didn't know our poems had to be like , good, (just between us and whoever is reading this blog I'm actually a pretty bad writer) but I thought the grades would be based not just on our work but also on how we interpreted and managed our subjects work, which I was really very thoughtful about.
Im taking a deep breath. O.k. My grade is what it is. I am letting it go. I am visualizing. I put it in a box I wrap it up and throw it off the steepest cliff into the ocean.
I am not my grades or my not so wonderful paper comments. I am whole. I am perfect. I exsit in a world beyond words and ego and persons, everything melds together and I am just a part,not seperate,impossible to distinguish,just a peice of seeweed floating in the ocean.
And I lost a pound, so, despite being gradeless, my existence is obviously still justified.
Im taking a deep breath. O.k. My grade is what it is. I am letting it go. I am visualizing. I put it in a box I wrap it up and throw it off the steepest cliff into the ocean.
I am not my grades or my not so wonderful paper comments. I am whole. I am perfect. I exsit in a world beyond words and ego and persons, everything melds together and I am just a part,not seperate,impossible to distinguish,just a peice of seeweed floating in the ocean.
And I lost a pound, so, despite being gradeless, my existence is obviously still justified.
10-30-08 Week Nine Missed Class :(
I did not make it to class today because I was sick. Not to sick to get out of bed but to sick to be useful. So I missed the vote, which is fine, because I like so many authors we picked Im sure some good names will emerge.
Lets see what can I write about at all related to this class...um well, I started reading Karen Russell's book only the first ten pages or so but so far I really like it. Also recently I went to a TCNJ deaf hearing connection event of a man promoting his memoir. And it was amazing, like really good, I started thinking maybe we could book him for the VWS, but of course his book is not fiction it is a memoir and I think it is the story, not his prose, that got it published. But his anecdotes and personality were so consuming I could have listened to him for hours.
That's all I have for this post but I will compensate with longer ones next week.
Lets see what can I write about at all related to this class...um well, I started reading Karen Russell's book only the first ten pages or so but so far I really like it. Also recently I went to a TCNJ deaf hearing connection event of a man promoting his memoir. And it was amazing, like really good, I started thinking maybe we could book him for the VWS, but of course his book is not fiction it is a memoir and I think it is the story, not his prose, that got it published. But his anecdotes and personality were so consuming I could have listened to him for hours.
That's all I have for this post but I will compensate with longer ones next week.
10-27-08 Week Nine 2nd Next Years VWS
Professor Row,
If you are reading this, which I doubt, I was wondering how to go about finding where I stand grade wise in your course. I think Ill bring this up with you in class or office hours as well (that is probably most appropriate) but it was on my mind and I know some other students are wondering as well so I thought I would mention it in my blog and maybe you could explain your grading process to the class.
So today in class we went over the first round of authors and there were some really interesting people brought up. I really liked Arielle Greenberg who wrote the poem about the house/abusive relationship. Also the woman who wrote about the pregnancy test. When reading poetry I typically encounter the assumption of a male perspective and by switching this norm her poem really highlighted the subtle but present male pov that most literature, poetry, culture comes out of.
Taking a pregnancy test and having it be negative is a typically, somewhat universal, female experience, and Rachel Zuker did not explain anything. Most women know what one bar means, men I'm not so sure. The moment of peeing the the stick and looking is played over and over in films and often I feel like they don't get it right, seems like a man directed the scene. The familiarity of the female experience is so implicit to her poem that it is almost too obvious to recognize. I just read it and thought yes, that's how it is. And then looked around at the men in the class and thought, theyre really not ever going to get this. They understand the poem but the expereince is both private and uniquley female out of a mans grasp.
Great class discussion and presentations, really enjoyable as always.
If you are reading this, which I doubt, I was wondering how to go about finding where I stand grade wise in your course. I think Ill bring this up with you in class or office hours as well (that is probably most appropriate) but it was on my mind and I know some other students are wondering as well so I thought I would mention it in my blog and maybe you could explain your grading process to the class.
So today in class we went over the first round of authors and there were some really interesting people brought up. I really liked Arielle Greenberg who wrote the poem about the house/abusive relationship. Also the woman who wrote about the pregnancy test. When reading poetry I typically encounter the assumption of a male perspective and by switching this norm her poem really highlighted the subtle but present male pov that most literature, poetry, culture comes out of.
Taking a pregnancy test and having it be negative is a typically, somewhat universal, female experience, and Rachel Zuker did not explain anything. Most women know what one bar means, men I'm not so sure. The moment of peeing the the stick and looking is played over and over in films and often I feel like they don't get it right, seems like a man directed the scene. The familiarity of the female experience is so implicit to her poem that it is almost too obvious to recognize. I just read it and thought yes, that's how it is. And then looked around at the men in the class and thought, theyre really not ever going to get this. They understand the poem but the expereince is both private and uniquley female out of a mans grasp.
Great class discussion and presentations, really enjoyable as always.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
10-23-08 Week Eight Monday Beckman Reading
The Beckman reading was wonderful. He reminds me of a mix between my uncle and my first boyfriend. I appreciated hearing his poetry read allowed. When his poems are spoken they have a humor to them, there were times when I wanted to laugh but no one else was, till he read his last one. I also liked his whole attitude and style with the beard and the linen, it was like, where did this person come from?, you know? he was delightfully quirky. It really blows my mind when I encounter people like Beckman who have taken this whole different approach to life and somehow made it work. I always wonder if its worth it, seems like so much work, but then again so does a 9 to 5.
I noticed when Tracy read she looked up at the audience. And Her reading was superb, the style fit her poems, but I absolutely loved how when Beckman read he did not look up from his book once. It gave you some privacy as the listener, it was more of a performance than an exchange, like an actor not acknowledging the audience. Instead of making sure I was smiling in case he made eye contact with me I could loose myself.
It is hard for me to handle anything that takes itself seriously, I have an ironic nature. Beckmans poems seem to teeter on a self-aware mockery of poetry and the real thing. What I was interpreting as pretension when I read his written work is actually a type of obliviousness. I guess what I mean is hes not "trying" to be a poet (like I am when I write poetry) he is the real deal, and because of this his poems can sound arrogant, when they are simply so into being poems they are not constantly trying to be unpretentious. They allow the persona or speakers to be as loud, ridiculous, and cliche as they wish.
Beckman is awesome and adorable and his reading was a great experience.
I loved the line "every night I go to bed promising to quit smoking"-- it is sentences like that, almost thoughts, that get me.
I noticed when Tracy read she looked up at the audience. And Her reading was superb, the style fit her poems, but I absolutely loved how when Beckman read he did not look up from his book once. It gave you some privacy as the listener, it was more of a performance than an exchange, like an actor not acknowledging the audience. Instead of making sure I was smiling in case he made eye contact with me I could loose myself.
It is hard for me to handle anything that takes itself seriously, I have an ironic nature. Beckmans poems seem to teeter on a self-aware mockery of poetry and the real thing. What I was interpreting as pretension when I read his written work is actually a type of obliviousness. I guess what I mean is hes not "trying" to be a poet (like I am when I write poetry) he is the real deal, and because of this his poems can sound arrogant, when they are simply so into being poems they are not constantly trying to be unpretentious. They allow the persona or speakers to be as loud, ridiculous, and cliche as they wish.
Beckman is awesome and adorable and his reading was a great experience.
I loved the line "every night I go to bed promising to quit smoking"-- it is sentences like that, almost thoughts, that get me.
Friday, October 17, 2008
10-17-08 Week Seven (review of Narrative)
In the online world any site claiming to offer new “quality” prose (for free), deserves immediate suspicion. Why, if this is any good, one wonders, do I not have to pay? Narrative magazine is a non-profit quarterly described as “the leading online publisher of first-rank fiction”(www.Narrative.com). In the magazines first issue, Fall of 2003, the editors and co-founders Carol Edgarian and Tom Jenks write their standard introductory note describing the reasons for Narrative’s creation.
“With Narrative, we hope to offer as transparent a medium as possible to connect readers and writers. We aim to advance no editorial stamp or personality such that anyone might say that a particular work is a “Narrative magazine” sort of piece; rather, our interest is in good writing and narratives that are entertaining, unpredictable, and charged with the shock of recognition that occurs when the human significance of the work is made manifest. We enjoy pieces in which the effects of language, situation, and insight are intense and total.” (Editors Note Narrative 2003)
Narrative is fully aware of the challenges it faces, in what it terms this “age of hypertexts and lowered literacy.” But in a surprisingly optimistic belief, Edgarian and Jenks claim their work is a “wish to signal…the durability of narrative traditions”. Well yes, I would agree with you two there, the narrative is likely to survive Google, but isn’t Perez Hilton’s blog a a narrative tradition? Ah ha, but they have Joyce Carol Oates. The fiction offered up by Narrative is not particularly innovating in style but is quite good and sturdy. The non-fiction they publish is also remarkable; essays by well known writers, like W. H. Auden writing on reading in the Winter 2008 issue.
One of the best perks of being an online journal is having “the space to publish substantially long pieces-not only novellas and excerpts but extensive, works-in progress”, as well as their ability to offer instant access to archives (www.narrative.com) . The magazines overall aesthetic is also notable. Their site is simply nice to look at, with easy to navigate links and pictures of the authors. There is a very unobtrusive quality to their page; everything is displayed simply without fanfare. The San Francisco Chronicle goes father to claim “Narrative is also atypical in terms of quality. There is no whiff of literary hipsterism here, no veil of coolness to cover up the mediocre writing that is often found in new publications by editors who have spent their college years boning up on David Foster Wallace.”
But the lack of a certain style is not a universal opinion, far from it. The site leaves you wondering… yes, it is an amazing feat to publish this much work and give it away to anyone with an email address, but how did they finance such a venture? I have looked for this information extensively and have only found again and again that Narrative is a “non-profit organization”. My interpretation of non-profit, in this case, is Edgarian and Jenks are bored and independently wealthy, which, let me clarify, is not a reason to dismiss or dislike the magazine. But it does put a tint on the utopian ideal of connecting readers and writers. As one very angry blogger commented, “Yes, Jenks and Edgarton, a loving couple, a "symbiotic" match made in yuppieville, took time off from writing their own, "acclaimed" novels and went to Martha's Vineyard to put together their revolutionary website. How revolutionary?” (www.wetasphalt.com). However, no one can deny that if the goal was to offer easy access to good prose and poetry, Narrative has succeeded. I suppose the lesson with Narrative, and others of its type, is a simple one: don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but don’t give it your email address either, unless you’re ready for some serious spam.
By Gabrielle Reed
“With Narrative, we hope to offer as transparent a medium as possible to connect readers and writers. We aim to advance no editorial stamp or personality such that anyone might say that a particular work is a “Narrative magazine” sort of piece; rather, our interest is in good writing and narratives that are entertaining, unpredictable, and charged with the shock of recognition that occurs when the human significance of the work is made manifest. We enjoy pieces in which the effects of language, situation, and insight are intense and total.” (Editors Note Narrative 2003)
Narrative is fully aware of the challenges it faces, in what it terms this “age of hypertexts and lowered literacy.” But in a surprisingly optimistic belief, Edgarian and Jenks claim their work is a “wish to signal…the durability of narrative traditions”. Well yes, I would agree with you two there, the narrative is likely to survive Google, but isn’t Perez Hilton’s blog a a narrative tradition? Ah ha, but they have Joyce Carol Oates. The fiction offered up by Narrative is not particularly innovating in style but is quite good and sturdy. The non-fiction they publish is also remarkable; essays by well known writers, like W. H. Auden writing on reading in the Winter 2008 issue.
One of the best perks of being an online journal is having “the space to publish substantially long pieces-not only novellas and excerpts but extensive, works-in progress”, as well as their ability to offer instant access to archives (www.narrative.com) . The magazines overall aesthetic is also notable. Their site is simply nice to look at, with easy to navigate links and pictures of the authors. There is a very unobtrusive quality to their page; everything is displayed simply without fanfare. The San Francisco Chronicle goes father to claim “Narrative is also atypical in terms of quality. There is no whiff of literary hipsterism here, no veil of coolness to cover up the mediocre writing that is often found in new publications by editors who have spent their college years boning up on David Foster Wallace.”
But the lack of a certain style is not a universal opinion, far from it. The site leaves you wondering… yes, it is an amazing feat to publish this much work and give it away to anyone with an email address, but how did they finance such a venture? I have looked for this information extensively and have only found again and again that Narrative is a “non-profit organization”. My interpretation of non-profit, in this case, is Edgarian and Jenks are bored and independently wealthy, which, let me clarify, is not a reason to dismiss or dislike the magazine. But it does put a tint on the utopian ideal of connecting readers and writers. As one very angry blogger commented, “Yes, Jenks and Edgarton, a loving couple, a "symbiotic" match made in yuppieville, took time off from writing their own, "acclaimed" novels and went to Martha's Vineyard to put together their revolutionary website. How revolutionary?” (www.wetasphalt.com). However, no one can deny that if the goal was to offer easy access to good prose and poetry, Narrative has succeeded. I suppose the lesson with Narrative, and others of its type, is a simple one: don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but don’t give it your email address either, unless you’re ready for some serious spam.
By Gabrielle Reed
Thursday, October 16, 2008
10-16-08 Thursday Week Seven
Calm down everyone! Oh my GOD! I know my thousands of loyal readers, waiting at the edge of their keyboards for my week six installment of this blog were horribly disappointed last week. But it was fall break puppies, come on.
Anyway stop calling, jammin up my voice mail with your pleads, Im back. And you bet your sweet asses, I'm ready to discuss Creative Writing Communities.
Let me roll up my sleeves. Ahem. Wait for it...
I began reading Joshua Beckman's book Shake this week and it is a change of gears from Tracy K. Smith. We discussed in class today how Beckman literally makes his own books, which is both respectfully awesome, and like, oh come on, Josh, really? We spent so much time discussing the idea of consumerism, lit for profit/ lit for art, Beckman's education, his cute lil' books, we didn't even get to the poems, which is not our classes fault. Oh no. We are not ones to get side tracked. The fault is yours, Josh. If you had just published from some normal non-conversation starting press we could have actually focused on your poetry. So there.
No but seriously I haven't read any poems. Every time I try to open the book I end up staring blankly at the cover and running my fingers over the pretty paper.
Expect another post soon. When I make it to page one ;)
Anyway stop calling, jammin up my voice mail with your pleads, Im back. And you bet your sweet asses, I'm ready to discuss Creative Writing Communities.
Let me roll up my sleeves. Ahem. Wait for it...
I began reading Joshua Beckman's book Shake this week and it is a change of gears from Tracy K. Smith. We discussed in class today how Beckman literally makes his own books, which is both respectfully awesome, and like, oh come on, Josh, really? We spent so much time discussing the idea of consumerism, lit for profit/ lit for art, Beckman's education, his cute lil' books, we didn't even get to the poems, which is not our classes fault. Oh no. We are not ones to get side tracked. The fault is yours, Josh. If you had just published from some normal non-conversation starting press we could have actually focused on your poetry. So there.
No but seriously I haven't read any poems. Every time I try to open the book I end up staring blankly at the cover and running my fingers over the pretty paper.
Expect another post soon. When I make it to page one ;)
Monday, October 6, 2008
10-2-08 Thursday Week Five
The class after the reading and Prof. Row is back (yeah!) but not in the best health (boo). We had a guest speaker a recent TCNJ alum who was working in the field of "arts management". I am grateful to Prof.Row for setting this situation up because honestly that is what graduating seniors want to know. How do you actually get a job? And what kind of Jobs are there? The speaker was a sweet guy and very nice to come back and talk to us. I did not know that there were master programs like the one he described it was educational and interesting.
I think I'm just going to get married and have a child when I graduate. I love school and using my mind and fighting to be the quickest and the sharpest. I love ideas and arguing and analyzing and understanding the world in a deeper way through reading/writing. But that deepness can also feel superficial, like an idea is never going to be tangible. You can never snuggle it. You can never dress it up in little baby clothes and smell its little head. Babies you can do this with.
I need a break from the abstract and four to five years of being a wife and a mother and then Ill go get my five year masters in "the complex administrative maneging of the theoretical and rhetorical arts", except by then it wont be called that, and everyone will be doing something else, and Ill be 28, an old fart. Just kidding.
Who knows what the future will bring us. But it was really great to hear from a man just recently in my place, and the shape his path has taken so far.
I think I'm just going to get married and have a child when I graduate. I love school and using my mind and fighting to be the quickest and the sharpest. I love ideas and arguing and analyzing and understanding the world in a deeper way through reading/writing. But that deepness can also feel superficial, like an idea is never going to be tangible. You can never snuggle it. You can never dress it up in little baby clothes and smell its little head. Babies you can do this with.
I need a break from the abstract and four to five years of being a wife and a mother and then Ill go get my five year masters in "the complex administrative maneging of the theoretical and rhetorical arts", except by then it wont be called that, and everyone will be doing something else, and Ill be 28, an old fart. Just kidding.
Who knows what the future will bring us. But it was really great to hear from a man just recently in my place, and the shape his path has taken so far.
9-30-08 Week Five Tuesday
So today was the day of the Tracy K. Smith reading. I had in my day planner: "Tracy reading look decent" but i woke up from a delicious nap at threeish and had to run to get to TCNJ in time. So I ended up no make up, no shower, in my sweats, like always. I did put a hair bow in, I buy the little girl ones ,which I think look ADORABLE and my boyfriend thinks look creepy, like I want to be a five year old again. I'm addicted to children's clothes, I actually just bought a onesie for fat children (size 16 who knew?) that fits amazingly and is fleece with little monkeys and hearts on it..and its a REAL onesie like with the zipper and the booties with little pads on the feet so I don't slip. I am so adorable. I'm too much.
But on to Tracy, who I must say looked Very fashionable herself, she was rocking awesome Frye motorcycle boots which I'm just a teeny bit to tall to pull off. But Tracy def. did.
So when I got down to the library basement there was the whole PR group scuttling around with food and cakes and, thinking about having to cook, I was immediately relieved to be in the Author group. Inside, students and faculty started to fill up the room and soon Tracy walked in to a round of applause. Duncan gave a awesome but very, um, effusive introduction that Tracy totally took the right way, thank god, and then the reading began. It was short and sweet and wonderful. Afterwards everyone asked questions and I got really nervous that the questions were not smart/sharp/witty enough but, once again, she understood her audience and appreciated our effort.
Afterwards in the "reception" there was a terribly awkward moment where Dr. Carney literally dropped Smith off with me saying something like, "OH here is one of the students now" and then puttering away. Alone and unprepared I shook her hand thanked her at least twenty different ways and then nodded my head and made those awkward facial expressions we all do when you run out of things to say. Then I told her my sister lived in Brooklyn, like that is at all interesting, who doesn't have a sister living in Brooklyn? No, but seriously it was good. And I think she appreciated all the work we did for her reading even if it did come off a little "home-made" I mean were undergrads not professionals she knows this.
Everything in life is a growing experience so we can only do better for Beckman who I am really going to get dressed nicely for-seriously no sweat pants- and deodorant-and eyeliner- I promise ;)
But on to Tracy, who I must say looked Very fashionable herself, she was rocking awesome Frye motorcycle boots which I'm just a teeny bit to tall to pull off. But Tracy def. did.
So when I got down to the library basement there was the whole PR group scuttling around with food and cakes and, thinking about having to cook, I was immediately relieved to be in the Author group. Inside, students and faculty started to fill up the room and soon Tracy walked in to a round of applause. Duncan gave a awesome but very, um, effusive introduction that Tracy totally took the right way, thank god, and then the reading began. It was short and sweet and wonderful. Afterwards everyone asked questions and I got really nervous that the questions were not smart/sharp/witty enough but, once again, she understood her audience and appreciated our effort.
Afterwards in the "reception" there was a terribly awkward moment where Dr. Carney literally dropped Smith off with me saying something like, "OH here is one of the students now" and then puttering away. Alone and unprepared I shook her hand thanked her at least twenty different ways and then nodded my head and made those awkward facial expressions we all do when you run out of things to say. Then I told her my sister lived in Brooklyn, like that is at all interesting, who doesn't have a sister living in Brooklyn? No, but seriously it was good. And I think she appreciated all the work we did for her reading even if it did come off a little "home-made" I mean were undergrads not professionals she knows this.
Everything in life is a growing experience so we can only do better for Beckman who I am really going to get dressed nicely for-seriously no sweat pants- and deodorant-and eyeliner- I promise ;)
Sunday, September 28, 2008
9-25-08 Week Four Thursday
In our haste to get the Author Packet together I missed the deadline for the class discussion questions for Tracy K. Smith. So...since I did the work and want to do something with them I figured I would post them as my Thursday Journal:
1) When smith was asked why she titled her book of poems "The Body's Question" she responded: "the title was something that came to me only after I started thinking of my individual poems as a unified body of work. I realized that, more and more, the poems were valuable to me as sites of questioning and exploration rather than for their ability to lead me to answers or resolutions."
How does this affect the meaning of "apatite", do we think the title was pulled from the poem to make a clever name for the collection, or visa-versa? How does this affect the value of that particular poem in its relation to the work, as we were discussing last class?
2) In Elizabeth Alexander's blurb of Tracy K. Smith she comments "If duende were wine, it would certainly be red; if edible, it would be meat cooked rare, coffee taken black stinky cheese, bittersweet chocolate."
If "The Body's Question were wine or food...what would it be? Do you think all poets should be reviewed using food metaphors? (the right answer is yes)
3) In an interview when asked about her use of the personal in her work, the speaker often being an I in her poems, and when this happened in the world of poetry (e.g. post modern?) Tracy responds:
"When I think about how truth that [writing in modernist style] is and has been in African American poetry, I realize the America has never been the same thing to whites as it has been to blacks. Modernism was born in part out of the shock and disillusion and shattering of the self, brought on by the atrocities of WW!. Maybe the biggest shock was the fact that, as Americans, these writers were somehow implicated by all of this- were responsible on a systemic level. But African Americans were never that complicit; they weren't allowed to forget that a division existed between American and themselves. SO while the nuances of self were guiding the modernist aesthetic, the energy at work within and upon the poems of the Harlem Renaissance was much more aware of the context within which the poems and speakers existed. And that context become a large part of the subject of those poems. This is simplification, but I cant help thinking that these key differences have never gone away." (Smith)
Do we see the same "awareness of context withing which the poems and speaker exist" In the body's question as Tracy attributes to the African American writers of the Harlem Renaissance?
How does Tracy situate herself in relation to the legacy of African-American literature is she implying this awareness was constricting or did it allow Africa American lit more options than the whit modern writers of the time?
4) In his introduction of the Body's Question Kevin Young writes:
"Desire here often means the desire for desire, and a desire for language itself"
What does this mean? How would YOU articulate what he is trying to say? Do you agree? Where in what poems, do we see a 'desire for desire'?
5) Commenting on Duende Elizabeth Alexander writes:
"Writers and musicians have explored the concept of Duende, which might in English translate to a kind of existential blues.Smith is not interested in sadness, per se. Rather in the strange music of these poems.
How does Tracy's work value and utilize the Lyrical? If the title could translate to 'existential blues' is there an inherent musical quality of her work and where does it come from?
1) When smith was asked why she titled her book of poems "The Body's Question" she responded: "the title was something that came to me only after I started thinking of my individual poems as a unified body of work. I realized that, more and more, the poems were valuable to me as sites of questioning and exploration rather than for their ability to lead me to answers or resolutions."
How does this affect the meaning of "apatite", do we think the title was pulled from the poem to make a clever name for the collection, or visa-versa? How does this affect the value of that particular poem in its relation to the work, as we were discussing last class?
2) In Elizabeth Alexander's blurb of Tracy K. Smith she comments "If duende were wine, it would certainly be red; if edible, it would be meat cooked rare, coffee taken black stinky cheese, bittersweet chocolate."
If "The Body's Question were wine or food...what would it be? Do you think all poets should be reviewed using food metaphors? (the right answer is yes)
3) In an interview when asked about her use of the personal in her work, the speaker often being an I in her poems, and when this happened in the world of poetry (e.g. post modern?) Tracy responds:
"When I think about how truth that [writing in modernist style] is and has been in African American poetry, I realize the America has never been the same thing to whites as it has been to blacks. Modernism was born in part out of the shock and disillusion and shattering of the self, brought on by the atrocities of WW!. Maybe the biggest shock was the fact that, as Americans, these writers were somehow implicated by all of this- were responsible on a systemic level. But African Americans were never that complicit; they weren't allowed to forget that a division existed between American and themselves. SO while the nuances of self were guiding the modernist aesthetic, the energy at work within and upon the poems of the Harlem Renaissance was much more aware of the context within which the poems and speakers existed. And that context become a large part of the subject of those poems. This is simplification, but I cant help thinking that these key differences have never gone away." (Smith)
Do we see the same "awareness of context withing which the poems and speaker exist" In the body's question as Tracy attributes to the African American writers of the Harlem Renaissance?
How does Tracy situate herself in relation to the legacy of African-American literature is she implying this awareness was constricting or did it allow Africa American lit more options than the whit modern writers of the time?
4) In his introduction of the Body's Question Kevin Young writes:
"Desire here often means the desire for desire, and a desire for language itself"
What does this mean? How would YOU articulate what he is trying to say? Do you agree? Where in what poems, do we see a 'desire for desire'?
5) Commenting on Duende Elizabeth Alexander writes:
"Writers and musicians have explored the concept of Duende, which might in English translate to a kind of existential blues.Smith is not interested in sadness, per se. Rather in the strange music of these poems.
How does Tracy's work value and utilize the Lyrical? If the title could translate to 'existential blues' is there an inherent musical quality of her work and where does it come from?
9-22-08 Week Four Monday
Today in class we discussed The Body's Question which I have only read about half of, but so far I very much like. I had not heard of Tracy K. Smith, or any of the authors in the VWS, before this class and I feel very privileged for this opportunity of exposure. In the introduction given by Kevin Young he briefly explains her poetry in a way that made me appreciate the pieces more.
In other readings for this "reading journal" of mine I am reading Shakespeare's tragedies for a course I am in with Professor Venturo. We have a paper due tomorrow, which is difficult in that 'first paper of the semester way'. I have Hamlet on my mind. Whenever I am studding old Literature intensely I start to unconsciously shift my thoughts into whatever style I'm reading, like my internal monologue starts to sound like Austen etc. Anyway lately I've found myself composing self-pitying soliloquy's about my existential woe without really meaning to, the word 'thou' is being used a lot. But through all of this I love Shakespeare of course, who doesn't hes like the Elvis of writing, and I secretly love writing papers so its a stressful but fun time.
In other readings for this "reading journal" of mine I am reading Shakespeare's tragedies for a course I am in with Professor Venturo. We have a paper due tomorrow, which is difficult in that 'first paper of the semester way'. I have Hamlet on my mind. Whenever I am studding old Literature intensely I start to unconsciously shift my thoughts into whatever style I'm reading, like my internal monologue starts to sound like Austen etc. Anyway lately I've found myself composing self-pitying soliloquy's about my existential woe without really meaning to, the word 'thou' is being used a lot. But through all of this I love Shakespeare of course, who doesn't hes like the Elvis of writing, and I secretly love writing papers so its a stressful but fun time.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
9-18-08 Week Three Next Year's VWS Round One
We did not get to voting for next years authors today which is a shame because I was looking forward to see how that process would work. However the class was able to present on twenty different authors. With such a mass of names and awards and grants the whole thing becomes a little overwhelming.
I like the pictures. I think we should just invite whoever has the best picture.
Kidding. But I was surprised at how passionate two class members were about the author Claudia Ranklne. I have not read her but I plan too. Her work seems very smart and funny, even the title of the book Don't Let Me Be Lonely is humorous. One of the class members described her as "post-9-11" which I totally understand why, but it makes me uncomfortable to hear. I'm sure it my issue. I understand the beyond tragic profound impacts of 9-11, or the holocaust, or slavery, or patriarchy for that matter, but to classify literature as simply "before" or "after" these events seems to deny both the trauma of the events and work of writing. Sorry I'm off on a Tangent and don't know how to return.
I think I need to relax and let my sub-conscious wander through these authors in its own time. As we were going over them I marked NO or MAYBE or I LIKE so I can start sorting and reading more from the people I liked. Or, if all else fails, I just vote for the most attractive.
I like the pictures. I think we should just invite whoever has the best picture.
Kidding. But I was surprised at how passionate two class members were about the author Claudia Ranklne. I have not read her but I plan too. Her work seems very smart and funny, even the title of the book Don't Let Me Be Lonely is humorous. One of the class members described her as "post-9-11" which I totally understand why, but it makes me uncomfortable to hear. I'm sure it my issue. I understand the beyond tragic profound impacts of 9-11, or the holocaust, or slavery, or patriarchy for that matter, but to classify literature as simply "before" or "after" these events seems to deny both the trauma of the events and work of writing. Sorry I'm off on a Tangent and don't know how to return.
I think I need to relax and let my sub-conscious wander through these authors in its own time. As we were going over them I marked NO or MAYBE or I LIKE so I can start sorting and reading more from the people I liked. Or, if all else fails, I just vote for the most attractive.
9-15-08 Week Three Next Years VWS Round One
Today we began a sharing our picks for next years authors. I did not know how to go about picking my two author suggestions because I am not particularly familiar with the kind of writers TCNJ would have at the Visiting Writers Series. So I looked over the speaker schedule I received at the Brooklyn Book Festival and found a series of readings called "Brooklyn in the House" that featured local readers. I saw a name I remembered from the anthology Legitimate Dangers that I remember Trisha presenting on, Nick Flynn.
It was the poem we called "Emo" in class. I read his work in the anthology and did some research. He has an interesting bio, including homelessness. Apparently he wrote an acclaimed memoir about being homeless that from the excerpts I read looks artful and well written.
It was the poem we called "Emo" in class. I read his work in the anthology and did some research. He has an interesting bio, including homelessness. Apparently he wrote an acclaimed memoir about being homeless that from the excerpts I read looks artful and well written.
9-14-08 Brooklyn Book Festival
Today my boyfriend and I went to the Brooklyn Book Festival. It was a hot, muggy, and sweaty. We got to the festival at four o’clock and spent an hour or so walking around checking out the different booths and areas where people were reading. It was all outside and there were multiple stages where you could sit down and listen or leave as you pleased. I’m super sensitive to physical sensations and my environment so it was hard for me to experience the readers; too many people, bodies, smells, sounds, people smoking cigarettes, faces…It was overwhelming.
What we did see was the readings by Esmeralda Santiago, Dagoberta Glib and Jessica Hagedorn. They were on the Main stage, which sat people on the steps of Borough hall. I enjoyed all the pieces they read to the extent I could pay attention. After their reading was Chuck Klosterman who I would have liked to see becuase I am ambivalent towards his work. I think some of his pieces are hysterical, like the story about his bizarre experience with Val Kilmer and his essay on Saved by the Bell, but I find some of his other work sexist, arrogant, and ignorant. Unfortunately we had to meet my sister at a restaurant so we did not have time to hear him.
The whole book festival experience was, to be truthful, awful. I know the goal of the assignment was to experience a community of writers, to spark an interest in something new, to possibly find someone for the VWS, and I am sure that for the majority of students it will be just this. But the way I relate to books is in the dark, in the air-conditioning, by myself. Reading is something I do alone like showering or singing in the car. If my anxiety is low I can usually handle a class discussion. But put me outside where I feel hot, and fat, and uncomfortable, and my shirt is clingy, and I’m sweating, and eww that person just touched me, and this stone is too hard to sit on. If Jesus Christ came back to answer some quick questions I don’t think I could listen. I feel like running to a cold dark empty starbucks, snuggling into a plush chair to write an intelligent poem about how superior I am to these frauds of the book show. No REAL writer could handle so many other humans with their faces and sounds and stories congesting ones mind. I, Gabrielle Reed, am obviously the only true artist who appeared at the book festival today. I am kidding. I enjoyed the book festival it was just a little too much stimuli for my fragile self. But still I get it, I get why people go to readings why their good and why someone without social anxiety disorder would have had a wonderful time.
What we did see was the readings by Esmeralda Santiago, Dagoberta Glib and Jessica Hagedorn. They were on the Main stage, which sat people on the steps of Borough hall. I enjoyed all the pieces they read to the extent I could pay attention. After their reading was Chuck Klosterman who I would have liked to see becuase I am ambivalent towards his work. I think some of his pieces are hysterical, like the story about his bizarre experience with Val Kilmer and his essay on Saved by the Bell, but I find some of his other work sexist, arrogant, and ignorant. Unfortunately we had to meet my sister at a restaurant so we did not have time to hear him.
The whole book festival experience was, to be truthful, awful. I know the goal of the assignment was to experience a community of writers, to spark an interest in something new, to possibly find someone for the VWS, and I am sure that for the majority of students it will be just this. But the way I relate to books is in the dark, in the air-conditioning, by myself. Reading is something I do alone like showering or singing in the car. If my anxiety is low I can usually handle a class discussion. But put me outside where I feel hot, and fat, and uncomfortable, and my shirt is clingy, and I’m sweating, and eww that person just touched me, and this stone is too hard to sit on. If Jesus Christ came back to answer some quick questions I don’t think I could listen. I feel like running to a cold dark empty starbucks, snuggling into a plush chair to write an intelligent poem about how superior I am to these frauds of the book show. No REAL writer could handle so many other humans with their faces and sounds and stories congesting ones mind. I, Gabrielle Reed, am obviously the only true artist who appeared at the book festival today. I am kidding. I enjoyed the book festival it was just a little too much stimuli for my fragile self. But still I get it, I get why people go to readings why their good and why someone without social anxiety disorder would have had a wonderful time.
9-05-08 Week Two Issues and Arguments Fiction
We had class today and Prof. Row explained the chronological movements of writers in American from 1900 to now, which I was absolutely delighted to learn. I’m going on five years of undergraduate Literature classes and no Professor has ever explained the movements of fiction in such a comprehendible way, it was an accessible and informative history. I keep thinking about my father, J.D. Reed, in this class, who was a writer in the seventies and eighties; he published a book of poems and some fiction. Although his first book of poetry won a Guggenheim he was never a literary superstar (he taught creative writing at Amherst before moving to SI, Time, and People) but he was friends with some “real” authors. When he and my mother lived in Montana he was in a circle of Alcoholic writers like Jim Harrison and others whose names I forget.
My family has an odd relationship to the writing world, the popular eighties novel The Sports Writer was based on my family. I’ve never read the book and never will because Richard Ford who wrote it used my Dad’s friendship for material and presented my parents in a not too good light. And later my sister Alicia looking down for her cigarette lighter crashed her car into Joyce Carol Oates pulling out of her driveway. My family dislikes Oates because, well, she’s not a very good writer, but more importantly she was very difficult in the trial.
Anyway now that I’ve shared to much personal info I will return to my original question. What I’ve been wondering in this class is where my father, or the more-famous writers in his circle, fit in the movements you discussed. He was born in the forties and came of age in the era during and right after World War Two so maybe he would be considered post-modern. My mother, who also published some (not-too-good) fiction, always says my Dad and his friends all wanted to be Hemingway and all their poems were about food and sex, so who knows.
My family has an odd relationship to the writing world, the popular eighties novel The Sports Writer was based on my family. I’ve never read the book and never will because Richard Ford who wrote it used my Dad’s friendship for material and presented my parents in a not too good light. And later my sister Alicia looking down for her cigarette lighter crashed her car into Joyce Carol Oates pulling out of her driveway. My family dislikes Oates because, well, she’s not a very good writer, but more importantly she was very difficult in the trial.
Anyway now that I’ve shared to much personal info I will return to my original question. What I’ve been wondering in this class is where my father, or the more-famous writers in his circle, fit in the movements you discussed. He was born in the forties and came of age in the era during and right after World War Two so maybe he would be considered post-modern. My mother, who also published some (not-too-good) fiction, always says my Dad and his friends all wanted to be Hemingway and all their poems were about food and sex, so who knows.
9-4-08 (After Class) Week One Orientation
In class we discussed one of the poets I read, and a few that I liked that I had not read. I liked Juliana Sphar's poem (pg358 in Legitimate Dangers), which prof. Row told us was influenced by the Language Poets like Gertrude Stein. Poetry is such an interesting medium of art because it is both cerebral and lyrical, almost music and almost philosophy. I think Spahr’s poem embodies this type of light almost playfulness in language with her “and we…/and we…/and we…” line beginnings, it reminds me of a five year old telling a story. But the content of the poem is dense and a little to abstract for my liking. There is nothing concrete in the poem, which I assume is the point of something titled “localism or t/here”, but I like poetry where the grand concepts are entered through concrete detail.
9-4-08 Week One Orientation
Today we have class and I have been thinking about authors. I have read a few of the poets from Legitimate Dangers, but I want to go to class to see how we discuss their work before I write on them. The two popular fiction authors that I am most interested in are Marya Hornbacher and Stephenie Myer. Stephenie Myer would be impractical and impossible for the visiting writer’s series. She writes teen lit about vampires and, while insanely delicious and addicting, her work would not be termed “literary”. Also I’m sure TCNJ could not afford her rate for a reading, if she even does readings, I don’t know.
I think Marya Hornbacher is a bit more practical, but not much. I discovered her around a year ago when I read her memoir Wasted. Like usual, I was browsing through the Addiction/Recovery section of B&N when I saw the book, which from the first page captured my interest. Wasted tells her story with anorexia and bulimia. The story is captivation but the way she tells it is what makes this book truly beautiful. Her prose is graceful, energized, and completely smooth; it tells her autobiography from childhood to recovery with the delicate ease. Her ideas are solidly profound but never pretentious. She wrote the book at twenty two but it was published after she was much older.
I know recovery stories have a reputation as being formulaic, popular, or voyeuristic, but hers book is truly a remarkable piece of art. She wrote one book of fiction The Center of Winter which I have not read but is on my list. An example of her prose from Wasted:
“You cannot trick your body. You body, strange as it seems to we who are saturated with a doctrine of dualism, is actually attached to your brain. There is a very simple, inevitable think that happens to a person so is dieting: When you are not eating enough, your thinking process changes. You begin to be obsessed with food.” Pg 105
As much as I would love to suggest Hornbacher for the visiting writer’s series, I remain hesitant. First, her work that has received the most acclaim is not technically fiction. Second, like Meyer she is too popular (aka to expensive). But I would recommend her as my most favorite current author.
I think Marya Hornbacher is a bit more practical, but not much. I discovered her around a year ago when I read her memoir Wasted. Like usual, I was browsing through the Addiction/Recovery section of B&N when I saw the book, which from the first page captured my interest. Wasted tells her story with anorexia and bulimia. The story is captivation but the way she tells it is what makes this book truly beautiful. Her prose is graceful, energized, and completely smooth; it tells her autobiography from childhood to recovery with the delicate ease. Her ideas are solidly profound but never pretentious. She wrote the book at twenty two but it was published after she was much older.
I know recovery stories have a reputation as being formulaic, popular, or voyeuristic, but hers book is truly a remarkable piece of art. She wrote one book of fiction The Center of Winter which I have not read but is on my list. An example of her prose from Wasted:
“You cannot trick your body. You body, strange as it seems to we who are saturated with a doctrine of dualism, is actually attached to your brain. There is a very simple, inevitable think that happens to a person so is dieting: When you are not eating enough, your thinking process changes. You begin to be obsessed with food.” Pg 105
As much as I would love to suggest Hornbacher for the visiting writer’s series, I remain hesitant. First, her work that has received the most acclaim is not technically fiction. Second, like Meyer she is too popular (aka to expensive). But I would recommend her as my most favorite current author.
9-3-08 Week One Orientation
This is my first journal entry. I hope it's what it should be.
In our last class we read our erasure poems and discussed whether they qualify as “art” or a “game”. I had performed an erasure on Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and the poem I created was a story of rape. It was interesting to me that the other students who did erasures on Incidents also had poems about sexuality, although in the other poems the speaker had an active role.
The discussion in class centered on whether the poems could be counted as art and it, of course, expanded to the question “what qualities make any poetry/prose art? Originality or skill within in a set of rules?”. The question is difficult and classic and the dialogue in class was a nice philosophical exploration.
In our last class we read our erasure poems and discussed whether they qualify as “art” or a “game”. I had performed an erasure on Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and the poem I created was a story of rape. It was interesting to me that the other students who did erasures on Incidents also had poems about sexuality, although in the other poems the speaker had an active role.
The discussion in class centered on whether the poems could be counted as art and it, of course, expanded to the question “what qualities make any poetry/prose art? Originality or skill within in a set of rules?”. The question is difficult and classic and the dialogue in class was a nice philosophical exploration.
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