161 this morning - though it could be bunk because my scale is broken...
1 yogert
1/2 C wheateis
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Thursday, May 12, 2005
For my final semester (yup the next one is the FINAL ONE!!!) we have to do an annoatated bibliography of 10-15 titles that most shapped our writing over the course of study. Here is what I came up with so far.
Annotated Bibliography
Short list of primary influences spanning four semesters
Rabih Alameddine. I, The Divine. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2001.
A juxtaposition of form against content is how Alameddine experiments in I, the Divine. By giving the reader successive first chapters in a supposed failed attempt by the subject and fictitious author, Sarah Nour el-Din to write her memoir, Alameddine gives the reader a cunning story within a story while propelling the novel with partially revealed substance. I, the Divine subtly states information by mentioning items in one chapter, but leaving them out in the next. However, even though this information is missing, the reader is still aware of the prior chapters, which leads to a deeper understanding of the novel.
These successive first chapters successfully weave content through the form allowing the reader to gather meaning while still being confronted with new substance. Propelled by substance yet immersed on form I, the Divine is a perfect balance of a story within a story.
I, the Divine has to be one of my favorite books of all time. The character is impossibly real and even though I don�t like the main character that much I kept reading. I am really going to think about the human details of this book when I do future writing and rewriting on mine.
Aimee Bender. An Invisible Sign of my Own. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2001.
Creating empathy for a character is essential to allowing the reader to understand how the character is interacting with the world. In An Invisible Sign of my Own, Aimee Bender takes a socially and personally flawed character and creates a sense of empathy for the reader that allows them to judge the situation the character is in by the scope of what the character must be feeling within that given scenario.
I love the way she takes something as bizarre as incessant knocking and makes it an endearing character trait. It is quite a talent to be able to get inside the head of that kind of person and then to further be able to make you empathize with them. It is a little bit like what David Sedaris does in his memoirs; the taking of the trait and exposing it for the purposes of exposing the character. He does his in a humorous way but Bender does it in a way that allows the reader to see a little bit of his or her own neuroses.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear (t), Larissa Volokhonsky (t). Notes From Underground. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
The difference between definition and description in regards to the protagonist and narrator the Underground Man is an interesting quandary to explore in Notes from Underground. When pointing out the differences between the definition and description shown by the narrator, the reader gets a sense that the reliability of the narrator in summarizing his own life (at least in the context of providing a definition of himself) can be called into question.
What is clear is that as unreliable in description as the Underground Man may be, it is clear that the subtly between his definition of himself and how he describes himself is meant as a way for the reader to be brought into the distinctions without the narrator having to write a clear roadmap to his life.
Notes from Underground was interesting. I read it while on tour with RobotZen in Budapest and in Slovakia. I kept wondering what it would be like to read it in Russian. It would take me years probably but it might be worth it to see. Not that just reading it in Russian would give me the full story. It�s one of those books where you have to read everything he was reading at the time to be able to get the full story. He makes so much of the culture then too which I was at a distinct disadvantage for. Though I hear that the translation I choose is one of the best. All in the eye of the beholder I suppose.
Bret Easton Ellis. American Psycho. New York, NY: Vintage, 1991.
The absolute center of this novel resides in the subtlety of the choices between bone, eggshell, and off-white. Seemingly, small differences in the color, shape or style of an object (in this case business cards) have large differences in perceived value by the main character Patrick Bateman and his over-consumptive cohorts. Everything from the appearance (but not the taste) of a plate of sushi to the maker of a particular suit are discussed and coveted if correct and scorned if they are even slightly off. Parts of the book are written almost in the style of a journal chronicling the main character�s obsession with perfection. Lists of the places he goes and the branded things he has, wears and eats dominate the flat fatalistic first-person narrative. They serve to remind the reader that the goal of this character is to consume. But not just to consume any type of good or service, but the very best good or service. This consumption holds equally true for the people in Pat Bateman�s life as it does for the ODM II music system with dynamic tuning or the six button wool and silk blend navy suit jacket by Zenga paired with charcoal grey pressed Ralph Lauren pants and a spread-collar pencil-striped Sea Island cotton French cuffed Polo shirt.
I was really excited to write about this book because the character is so rational about his actions that he doesn�t even think they are unusual, It is just a part of him to do this and the way that is portrayed in the book is chilling. If I ever wrote a psychological mind-fuck I would want it to be much like this book where the character seems totally �normal� but the reality is that they are deeply disturbed.
Ron Hanson. Mariette in Ecstasy. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1992.
Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen is more of a narrative poem than a novel. The unusual format and structure does not distract but rather further enhances the reader�s ability to derive meaning from the physical and spiritual symbolism that abounds within the construct of the story. The story is written in such a way as to leave spaces inside the narrative for the reader to contemplate. Much like the hours of silent contemplation and prayer scheduled within the daily tasks of a nun, Hansen schedules time and space to allow the reader brief moments of respite in order to allow them the fully contemplate the meanings of the symbols presented. The two main types of symbols presented within the work are physical and spiritual.
This novel allows both the physical and spiritual symbols the freedom to create a story within a story and allows the reader space and time to contemplate their meanings. Without its poetic style, the book may well lose those quiet moments of contemplation and force the reader out of the story much like Mariette was forced out of her physical symbol for consecration.
Do I believe she had the stigmata? That is an interesting question because it never occurred to me to make the choice to either believe or not believe her. Perhaps that is my failing but I assumed that she believed she had it when it was necessary for her to. I also think that the people around her either thought she had it or didn�t because of their own feelings rather than any reality. What I really felt was that it didn�t matter if the stigmata were the truth or not. It was about the perception like religion in general.
John Irving. The World According to Garp. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2000.
When analyzing what makes The World According to Garp an interesting and appealing piece of fiction, one must look at three distinct features of the book. Although quite dense and packed-in, the language of the book is both simple and relatively straightforward. This treatment allows the reader to easily harmonize with the story. Another aspect that allows harmony is the characterization, most specifically that of Garp himself. He starts out unborn and develops through the book into an everyman character. He speaks directly to the reader through bits of text straight from the story. In addition, Garp is easy to relate to, as he is not particularly naturally good at anything. The third aspect that bears analysis has to do with structure. The linear nature of the book brings the reader through the story easily. It allows the reader to live right alongside Garp from his zygote history all the way through adulthood.
Oh John, tell me about your life. Oh wait, never mind, ya did� Ok, maybe Irving wasn�t conceived through the rape of a comatose man by his �feminist� mother, but there are parallels!
Have you ever read what Joseph Heller said about Something Happened? After working on it for 10 years he was quoted in a NY Times article as saying something like;
�I�m about 200 pages in and it�s about this guy, but I don�t know much about him. I know he has a job but I don�t know what it is or what he does. He has this family, but I don�t really know who they are or where they live. I don�t even know his name. He just goes to work and comes home. That�s about all.�
Not that I am comparing my writing in anyway to his, (lord no!) but I do know how he feels!
This one from The World According to Garp was good too:
�He tried to write a story about a family; all he knew when he began was that the family had an interesting life and the members were all close to each other. That was not enough to know.�
Franz Kafka, Donna Freed (t). The Metamorphosis. New York, NY: Fine Creative Media, 2003.
Would a book about a man turning into an insect be considered science fiction? Perhaps if it was written by any other author than Kafka it might be, but The Metamorphosis is more a reality play based on the contents of Kafka�s life than a work of fiction, science or otherwise. The style of this book epitomizes Kafka's general writing style. Even with perfect realism and attention to every detail of life, it is common to find impossible situations as the center of Kafka�s stories. A man turning into an insect transforms from a mere surreal story to a work about the interactions of people and the psychology of living. His detailed account and down to earth style seems to ground the story in reality, heading off any talk of the possibly this story was a dream. Even with these details, the actual bones of the story could not have happened in reality. This juxtaposition of reality verses the fantastical forces the reader to look for deeper meanings within the story.
I love when bizarre things happen and the reader is expected to take them for granted. Of course a man could turn into an insect! Of course it would seem odd but not something to report to medical science, but rather something to have on Springer. Life often feels just like this book!
Maxine Hong Kingston. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
Maxine Hong Kingston�s The Warrior Woman is commonly classified as a memoir, however it does not take the traditional memoir track. The book instead intersperses stories as remembered by the narrator, myths and legend reinterpreted by her, and family history that is as much fiction as it is fact. Many aspects of Kingston�s childhood contribute to this unconventional style of narrative, not the least of which is her second-generation immigrant status. That status causes a disconnect not only with the culture of her parents� country, but with her home country as well. This cultural separation forces Kingston to form and explore stories, myths and history within the framework of an outsider looking in. This can allow the reader greater access to the narrator and a greater understanding of the narrator�s struggles. It does serve, however, to alienate the reader as well since Kingston is the reader�s only way in to the story. Unlike most memoirs there are few occasions when she tells stories from her point of view of things that have actually happened to her.
Whether it be personal stories like that of the torture Kingston inflicted on a silent little girl; myths re-told like that of the enigmatic Fa Mu Lan; or family history that is used as a warning, Kingston weaves the layers of narrative together into a statement about her own identity as a Chinese-American. Wanting to be fully assimilated into the culture that believes achieving straight A�s is as good as avenging a village, Maxine is left in a middle place where both cultures pull on her. Not fully understanding or agreeing with her Chinese heritage but held back by it from becoming fully American, Kingston struggles to find her voice among the ghosts of both her ancestry and her present.
Toni Morrison. The Bluest Eye. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1994.
Having two forms of narration within one relatively short novel is quite a challenge for an author. However, Toni Morrison uses both first-person and third-person narration to great effect in The Bluest Eye.
Because Morrison uses multiple points of view and multiple narration styles, no one narrator is allowed to take over the story. Each is balanced and counter balanced by the next allowing no one voice to take over. Perhaps this method of multiplying narrative perspectives puts more demand on the reader to glean the real story from that of the different perspectives but it also serves to challenge the reader into active participation with the story. Using both first and third narration and switching perspectives leaves the reader feeling whole even though the characters are left searching.
The Bluest Eye was great to read. I love books that are a bit surreal without going too creepy on you. And the fact that everything seemed so inevitable was really great. Perhaps it�s the fatalist in me that enjoyed it so much.
Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum (t). A Wild Sheep Chase. New York, NY: Penguin, 1989.
Engaging characters leap off the page and directly into the imagination of the reader in Murakami�s book A Wild Sheep Chase. Wholly rooted within the context of the story but allowing enough facets to invite the reader into the dream of the text along with them and create a familiarity with the character. Murakami�s characters encompass the qualities of an everyman while allowing for supremely surprising situations to arrive and propel them within the narrative. The ostensibly simplistic character portraits within his novels allow Murakami�s readers to place themselves within the action of the book through the actions and inactions of the narrator. This representation allows the characters to live and lead on the page and within their imaginations.
The imagination of the reader as to how the character will react and to how the reader would react given the set of circumstances is as important to the story as the descriptions and characters. Simplistic but realistic portraits allow these characters to move and interact in such a way as to make the reader truly feel a part of the story rather then an outsider looking in.
The Wild Sheep Chase was so good. I wrote about the characters because they didn�t feel like characters. He has such a talent for writing real people and making their real thoughts and lives interesting. Not to mention the surreal aspect of things, which adds a whole other layer. I went out and got two more of his books to read for after the semester is over.
J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1991.
In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger portrays a bare and open style of prose that makes the reader feel that the author is truly connecting with the scenes within the book. These connections show the author not only has a stake in the narrative and the characters, but that they are truly coming from a place of utter sincerity. This sincerity resonates with the reader and is achieved through a slow and steady unfurling of action within the narrative that shows, not only the good qualities of the character, but also his many faults.
I had never read this when I was young, though I hear from a few of my teacher friends it is basically required text in some advanced high school English classes. I thought this book was fascinating. Thinking of the history of when it was written, it must have been a huge sensation. It is so honest and cutting, and must have been one of the first books from that point-of-view. Did he invent the whole idea of young adult fiction? Though I rather disagree with categorizing like that. If something is well written it shouldn�t be pigeonholed as a �kids� book.
Constantine Stanislavski, Elizabeth Reynolds. An Actor Prepares. New York, NY: Routlegde, 1989.
I did not write an annotation on this book, but I did read it and use it as a supply of knowledge. I felt like it was a great resource for building a character form scratch. He advocates taking a simple approach. Making your characters real by being your character in that moment. I think the most vivid description was when he describes an actor playing the part of a socially anguished person. Instead of telling the actor (or in my case telling your reader) �you are socially anguished�, you simply give them a problem to solve and let both the actor and the view (in my case the character and the reader) figure out the emotion. He uses the example of a person who is nervous in social situations. When he told the actor that the character developed a tic every time a beautiful woman spoke to him, the resulting scene was forced and over wrought and the tic was entirely too noticeable. Instead, he told the actor simply. This woman is very very beautiful and you are not worthy of her. The acting in that case was more natural and fluid with the added benefit of the fact that even though the actor may not have thought to use a tic as something to show nervousness, the actor did come up with everything from a stammer to a sweaty palm etc. The actor, in that case, inhabited the character enough to make what the character would do in that situation, believable.
Robert Louis Stevenson. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York, NY: Signet, 1987.
The main and generally accepted theme of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is that of the duality of human nature and its materialization and expression in the world of white, middle class men. Though this theme has been discussed before, one major piece of the theme is not just good verses evil but the true nature of evil itself and how the freedom and romance of it was the driving force to why Dr. Jekyll sought to split human nature in the first place.
Evil is a necessary and integrated part of the human psyche and though Stevenson did not yet have the psychological vocabulary in which to somewhat describe the root of the evil present in his common man, he does recognize its allure and presence in even the most respected of citizens. This is not a novel of good verses evil for Dr. Jekyll is not wholly good as is Mr. Hyde not wholly evil. It is a novel of how this evil is seductive and even freeing and how, perhaps, society creates a certain sense of this evil by not allowing the full nature of man to surface.
Why does Dr. Jekyll continue to allow Mr. Hyde to emerge? Perhaps the antidote does wear off or perhaps a crucial �impurity� is missing in its raw ingredients. What is more likely is that Dr. Jekyll has succumbed to the part of himself that automatically allows Hyde his freedom. His full nature, up until now suppressed within his cultural standards, will be repressed no longer and comes out in full force wising to be finally freed. Evil is a necessary and integrated part of humanity and it is not clear at the end of the book which aspect, if either, wins out but what is clear is that Stevenson�s allegory brings such struggles into focus and allows a glimpse into human nature and into evil itself.
I didn�t realize until I actually read it how different Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was from any of the movie or TV versions. It had an almost experimental feel with the way it was set up. I have to admit I really enjoyed it
Jennifer Weiner. Good in Bed. Washington Square Press, New York, NY, 2001.
In one of my other annotations I noted that honesty on the part of the writer is one of the most important elements in the crafting of an engaging story. Good in Bed seems honest to a fault. It presents a narrative by a modern-day lead character who lives much like many of my friends live. There was a connection to real-life in this book that was charming and yet had a slice of cynicism.
This book, however, taught me a valuable lesson in writing. The prose can�t just seem honest; it has to be honest to a fault. Every action and scrap of dialogue must be crafted with an eye towards realism. So much so in fact that if even one line is off, it can serve to ruin the entire book. Even one line can hold such power and sway that nothing can be just tossed off but each word must be decidedly deliberate and executed with elegance.
I simply could NOT help myself with this book. I knew it wasn�t on my list, but my husband had to have surgery and I couldn�t concentrate on the books I had brought so I bought this in the gift shop. NY Times bestseller and all and it looked like a quick read. The second I opened it I knew it was kismet that I read this book. Admittedly it�s ChickLit (by current definition, not by original definition), but what is so bad about that exactly? And this one seemed smart and funny and very well put together. The whole thing opened my eyes to the idea of truth and honesty in fiction.
Annotated Bibliography
Short list of primary influences spanning four semesters
Rabih Alameddine. I, The Divine. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2001.
A juxtaposition of form against content is how Alameddine experiments in I, the Divine. By giving the reader successive first chapters in a supposed failed attempt by the subject and fictitious author, Sarah Nour el-Din to write her memoir, Alameddine gives the reader a cunning story within a story while propelling the novel with partially revealed substance. I, the Divine subtly states information by mentioning items in one chapter, but leaving them out in the next. However, even though this information is missing, the reader is still aware of the prior chapters, which leads to a deeper understanding of the novel.
These successive first chapters successfully weave content through the form allowing the reader to gather meaning while still being confronted with new substance. Propelled by substance yet immersed on form I, the Divine is a perfect balance of a story within a story.
I, the Divine has to be one of my favorite books of all time. The character is impossibly real and even though I don�t like the main character that much I kept reading. I am really going to think about the human details of this book when I do future writing and rewriting on mine.
Aimee Bender. An Invisible Sign of my Own. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2001.
Creating empathy for a character is essential to allowing the reader to understand how the character is interacting with the world. In An Invisible Sign of my Own, Aimee Bender takes a socially and personally flawed character and creates a sense of empathy for the reader that allows them to judge the situation the character is in by the scope of what the character must be feeling within that given scenario.
I love the way she takes something as bizarre as incessant knocking and makes it an endearing character trait. It is quite a talent to be able to get inside the head of that kind of person and then to further be able to make you empathize with them. It is a little bit like what David Sedaris does in his memoirs; the taking of the trait and exposing it for the purposes of exposing the character. He does his in a humorous way but Bender does it in a way that allows the reader to see a little bit of his or her own neuroses.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear (t), Larissa Volokhonsky (t). Notes From Underground. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
The difference between definition and description in regards to the protagonist and narrator the Underground Man is an interesting quandary to explore in Notes from Underground. When pointing out the differences between the definition and description shown by the narrator, the reader gets a sense that the reliability of the narrator in summarizing his own life (at least in the context of providing a definition of himself) can be called into question.
What is clear is that as unreliable in description as the Underground Man may be, it is clear that the subtly between his definition of himself and how he describes himself is meant as a way for the reader to be brought into the distinctions without the narrator having to write a clear roadmap to his life.
Notes from Underground was interesting. I read it while on tour with RobotZen in Budapest and in Slovakia. I kept wondering what it would be like to read it in Russian. It would take me years probably but it might be worth it to see. Not that just reading it in Russian would give me the full story. It�s one of those books where you have to read everything he was reading at the time to be able to get the full story. He makes so much of the culture then too which I was at a distinct disadvantage for. Though I hear that the translation I choose is one of the best. All in the eye of the beholder I suppose.
Bret Easton Ellis. American Psycho. New York, NY: Vintage, 1991.
The absolute center of this novel resides in the subtlety of the choices between bone, eggshell, and off-white. Seemingly, small differences in the color, shape or style of an object (in this case business cards) have large differences in perceived value by the main character Patrick Bateman and his over-consumptive cohorts. Everything from the appearance (but not the taste) of a plate of sushi to the maker of a particular suit are discussed and coveted if correct and scorned if they are even slightly off. Parts of the book are written almost in the style of a journal chronicling the main character�s obsession with perfection. Lists of the places he goes and the branded things he has, wears and eats dominate the flat fatalistic first-person narrative. They serve to remind the reader that the goal of this character is to consume. But not just to consume any type of good or service, but the very best good or service. This consumption holds equally true for the people in Pat Bateman�s life as it does for the ODM II music system with dynamic tuning or the six button wool and silk blend navy suit jacket by Zenga paired with charcoal grey pressed Ralph Lauren pants and a spread-collar pencil-striped Sea Island cotton French cuffed Polo shirt.
I was really excited to write about this book because the character is so rational about his actions that he doesn�t even think they are unusual, It is just a part of him to do this and the way that is portrayed in the book is chilling. If I ever wrote a psychological mind-fuck I would want it to be much like this book where the character seems totally �normal� but the reality is that they are deeply disturbed.
Ron Hanson. Mariette in Ecstasy. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1992.
Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen is more of a narrative poem than a novel. The unusual format and structure does not distract but rather further enhances the reader�s ability to derive meaning from the physical and spiritual symbolism that abounds within the construct of the story. The story is written in such a way as to leave spaces inside the narrative for the reader to contemplate. Much like the hours of silent contemplation and prayer scheduled within the daily tasks of a nun, Hansen schedules time and space to allow the reader brief moments of respite in order to allow them the fully contemplate the meanings of the symbols presented. The two main types of symbols presented within the work are physical and spiritual.
This novel allows both the physical and spiritual symbols the freedom to create a story within a story and allows the reader space and time to contemplate their meanings. Without its poetic style, the book may well lose those quiet moments of contemplation and force the reader out of the story much like Mariette was forced out of her physical symbol for consecration.
Do I believe she had the stigmata? That is an interesting question because it never occurred to me to make the choice to either believe or not believe her. Perhaps that is my failing but I assumed that she believed she had it when it was necessary for her to. I also think that the people around her either thought she had it or didn�t because of their own feelings rather than any reality. What I really felt was that it didn�t matter if the stigmata were the truth or not. It was about the perception like religion in general.
John Irving. The World According to Garp. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2000.
When analyzing what makes The World According to Garp an interesting and appealing piece of fiction, one must look at three distinct features of the book. Although quite dense and packed-in, the language of the book is both simple and relatively straightforward. This treatment allows the reader to easily harmonize with the story. Another aspect that allows harmony is the characterization, most specifically that of Garp himself. He starts out unborn and develops through the book into an everyman character. He speaks directly to the reader through bits of text straight from the story. In addition, Garp is easy to relate to, as he is not particularly naturally good at anything. The third aspect that bears analysis has to do with structure. The linear nature of the book brings the reader through the story easily. It allows the reader to live right alongside Garp from his zygote history all the way through adulthood.
Oh John, tell me about your life. Oh wait, never mind, ya did� Ok, maybe Irving wasn�t conceived through the rape of a comatose man by his �feminist� mother, but there are parallels!
Have you ever read what Joseph Heller said about Something Happened? After working on it for 10 years he was quoted in a NY Times article as saying something like;
�I�m about 200 pages in and it�s about this guy, but I don�t know much about him. I know he has a job but I don�t know what it is or what he does. He has this family, but I don�t really know who they are or where they live. I don�t even know his name. He just goes to work and comes home. That�s about all.�
Not that I am comparing my writing in anyway to his, (lord no!) but I do know how he feels!
This one from The World According to Garp was good too:
�He tried to write a story about a family; all he knew when he began was that the family had an interesting life and the members were all close to each other. That was not enough to know.�
Franz Kafka, Donna Freed (t). The Metamorphosis. New York, NY: Fine Creative Media, 2003.
Would a book about a man turning into an insect be considered science fiction? Perhaps if it was written by any other author than Kafka it might be, but The Metamorphosis is more a reality play based on the contents of Kafka�s life than a work of fiction, science or otherwise. The style of this book epitomizes Kafka's general writing style. Even with perfect realism and attention to every detail of life, it is common to find impossible situations as the center of Kafka�s stories. A man turning into an insect transforms from a mere surreal story to a work about the interactions of people and the psychology of living. His detailed account and down to earth style seems to ground the story in reality, heading off any talk of the possibly this story was a dream. Even with these details, the actual bones of the story could not have happened in reality. This juxtaposition of reality verses the fantastical forces the reader to look for deeper meanings within the story.
I love when bizarre things happen and the reader is expected to take them for granted. Of course a man could turn into an insect! Of course it would seem odd but not something to report to medical science, but rather something to have on Springer. Life often feels just like this book!
Maxine Hong Kingston. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
Maxine Hong Kingston�s The Warrior Woman is commonly classified as a memoir, however it does not take the traditional memoir track. The book instead intersperses stories as remembered by the narrator, myths and legend reinterpreted by her, and family history that is as much fiction as it is fact. Many aspects of Kingston�s childhood contribute to this unconventional style of narrative, not the least of which is her second-generation immigrant status. That status causes a disconnect not only with the culture of her parents� country, but with her home country as well. This cultural separation forces Kingston to form and explore stories, myths and history within the framework of an outsider looking in. This can allow the reader greater access to the narrator and a greater understanding of the narrator�s struggles. It does serve, however, to alienate the reader as well since Kingston is the reader�s only way in to the story. Unlike most memoirs there are few occasions when she tells stories from her point of view of things that have actually happened to her.
Whether it be personal stories like that of the torture Kingston inflicted on a silent little girl; myths re-told like that of the enigmatic Fa Mu Lan; or family history that is used as a warning, Kingston weaves the layers of narrative together into a statement about her own identity as a Chinese-American. Wanting to be fully assimilated into the culture that believes achieving straight A�s is as good as avenging a village, Maxine is left in a middle place where both cultures pull on her. Not fully understanding or agreeing with her Chinese heritage but held back by it from becoming fully American, Kingston struggles to find her voice among the ghosts of both her ancestry and her present.
Toni Morrison. The Bluest Eye. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1994.
Having two forms of narration within one relatively short novel is quite a challenge for an author. However, Toni Morrison uses both first-person and third-person narration to great effect in The Bluest Eye.
Because Morrison uses multiple points of view and multiple narration styles, no one narrator is allowed to take over the story. Each is balanced and counter balanced by the next allowing no one voice to take over. Perhaps this method of multiplying narrative perspectives puts more demand on the reader to glean the real story from that of the different perspectives but it also serves to challenge the reader into active participation with the story. Using both first and third narration and switching perspectives leaves the reader feeling whole even though the characters are left searching.
The Bluest Eye was great to read. I love books that are a bit surreal without going too creepy on you. And the fact that everything seemed so inevitable was really great. Perhaps it�s the fatalist in me that enjoyed it so much.
Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum (t). A Wild Sheep Chase. New York, NY: Penguin, 1989.
Engaging characters leap off the page and directly into the imagination of the reader in Murakami�s book A Wild Sheep Chase. Wholly rooted within the context of the story but allowing enough facets to invite the reader into the dream of the text along with them and create a familiarity with the character. Murakami�s characters encompass the qualities of an everyman while allowing for supremely surprising situations to arrive and propel them within the narrative. The ostensibly simplistic character portraits within his novels allow Murakami�s readers to place themselves within the action of the book through the actions and inactions of the narrator. This representation allows the characters to live and lead on the page and within their imaginations.
The imagination of the reader as to how the character will react and to how the reader would react given the set of circumstances is as important to the story as the descriptions and characters. Simplistic but realistic portraits allow these characters to move and interact in such a way as to make the reader truly feel a part of the story rather then an outsider looking in.
The Wild Sheep Chase was so good. I wrote about the characters because they didn�t feel like characters. He has such a talent for writing real people and making their real thoughts and lives interesting. Not to mention the surreal aspect of things, which adds a whole other layer. I went out and got two more of his books to read for after the semester is over.
J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1991.
In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger portrays a bare and open style of prose that makes the reader feel that the author is truly connecting with the scenes within the book. These connections show the author not only has a stake in the narrative and the characters, but that they are truly coming from a place of utter sincerity. This sincerity resonates with the reader and is achieved through a slow and steady unfurling of action within the narrative that shows, not only the good qualities of the character, but also his many faults.
I had never read this when I was young, though I hear from a few of my teacher friends it is basically required text in some advanced high school English classes. I thought this book was fascinating. Thinking of the history of when it was written, it must have been a huge sensation. It is so honest and cutting, and must have been one of the first books from that point-of-view. Did he invent the whole idea of young adult fiction? Though I rather disagree with categorizing like that. If something is well written it shouldn�t be pigeonholed as a �kids� book.
Constantine Stanislavski, Elizabeth Reynolds. An Actor Prepares. New York, NY: Routlegde, 1989.
I did not write an annotation on this book, but I did read it and use it as a supply of knowledge. I felt like it was a great resource for building a character form scratch. He advocates taking a simple approach. Making your characters real by being your character in that moment. I think the most vivid description was when he describes an actor playing the part of a socially anguished person. Instead of telling the actor (or in my case telling your reader) �you are socially anguished�, you simply give them a problem to solve and let both the actor and the view (in my case the character and the reader) figure out the emotion. He uses the example of a person who is nervous in social situations. When he told the actor that the character developed a tic every time a beautiful woman spoke to him, the resulting scene was forced and over wrought and the tic was entirely too noticeable. Instead, he told the actor simply. This woman is very very beautiful and you are not worthy of her. The acting in that case was more natural and fluid with the added benefit of the fact that even though the actor may not have thought to use a tic as something to show nervousness, the actor did come up with everything from a stammer to a sweaty palm etc. The actor, in that case, inhabited the character enough to make what the character would do in that situation, believable.
Robert Louis Stevenson. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York, NY: Signet, 1987.
The main and generally accepted theme of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is that of the duality of human nature and its materialization and expression in the world of white, middle class men. Though this theme has been discussed before, one major piece of the theme is not just good verses evil but the true nature of evil itself and how the freedom and romance of it was the driving force to why Dr. Jekyll sought to split human nature in the first place.
Evil is a necessary and integrated part of the human psyche and though Stevenson did not yet have the psychological vocabulary in which to somewhat describe the root of the evil present in his common man, he does recognize its allure and presence in even the most respected of citizens. This is not a novel of good verses evil for Dr. Jekyll is not wholly good as is Mr. Hyde not wholly evil. It is a novel of how this evil is seductive and even freeing and how, perhaps, society creates a certain sense of this evil by not allowing the full nature of man to surface.
Why does Dr. Jekyll continue to allow Mr. Hyde to emerge? Perhaps the antidote does wear off or perhaps a crucial �impurity� is missing in its raw ingredients. What is more likely is that Dr. Jekyll has succumbed to the part of himself that automatically allows Hyde his freedom. His full nature, up until now suppressed within his cultural standards, will be repressed no longer and comes out in full force wising to be finally freed. Evil is a necessary and integrated part of humanity and it is not clear at the end of the book which aspect, if either, wins out but what is clear is that Stevenson�s allegory brings such struggles into focus and allows a glimpse into human nature and into evil itself.
I didn�t realize until I actually read it how different Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was from any of the movie or TV versions. It had an almost experimental feel with the way it was set up. I have to admit I really enjoyed it
Jennifer Weiner. Good in Bed. Washington Square Press, New York, NY, 2001.
In one of my other annotations I noted that honesty on the part of the writer is one of the most important elements in the crafting of an engaging story. Good in Bed seems honest to a fault. It presents a narrative by a modern-day lead character who lives much like many of my friends live. There was a connection to real-life in this book that was charming and yet had a slice of cynicism.
This book, however, taught me a valuable lesson in writing. The prose can�t just seem honest; it has to be honest to a fault. Every action and scrap of dialogue must be crafted with an eye towards realism. So much so in fact that if even one line is off, it can serve to ruin the entire book. Even one line can hold such power and sway that nothing can be just tossed off but each word must be decidedly deliberate and executed with elegance.
I simply could NOT help myself with this book. I knew it wasn�t on my list, but my husband had to have surgery and I couldn�t concentrate on the books I had brought so I bought this in the gift shop. NY Times bestseller and all and it looked like a quick read. The second I opened it I knew it was kismet that I read this book. Admittedly it�s ChickLit (by current definition, not by original definition), but what is so bad about that exactly? And this one seemed smart and funny and very well put together. The whole thing opened my eyes to the idea of truth and honesty in fiction.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
One of my favorite poets (and how many people can say they have a favorite poet, muc h less more than one?) did this on his blog, so I am too <>
Here is the list of books I have read for my MFA since January 2004. I still have one sememster to go... but I might not have to read so many next semester...
List - - In order by semester:
Semester 1
Sherwood Anderson. Winesburg, Ohio. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1995.
Carol Anshaw. Aquamarine. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
Truman Capote. In Cold Blood A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences. New York, NY: Random House, 1965.
Julio Cort�zar, Gregory Rabassa (t). Hopscotch. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1995.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear (t), Larissa Volokhonsky (t). Notes From Underground. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
Ron Hanson. Mariette in Ecstasy. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1992.
Ann E. Imbrie. Spoken in Darkness: Small-Town Murder and a Friendship Beyond Death. New York, NY: Hyperian, 1993.
Jack Kerouac. Visions of Cody. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972.
Maxine Hong Kingston. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
Harper Lee. To Kill a Mocking Bird. New York, NY: Warner Books Inc., 1982
Toni Morrison. The Bluest Eye. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1994.
Carson McCullers. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. New York, NY: Modern Library, 1993.
Alice McDermott. At Weddings and Wakes. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1992.
Dale Peck. Martin and John. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1993.
Robert Louis Stevenson. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York, NY: Signet, 1987.
Marilynne Robinson. Housekeeping. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.
Richard A. Wright. Black Boy, New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1998.
Semester 2
Annotations:
Rabih Alameddine. I, The Divine. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2001.
Rudolfo Anaya. Bless me, Ultima. New York, NY: Warner Books, 1972.
Nina Nikoleavna Berberova, Marian Schwarts (t). The Tattered Cloak and Other Stories. New York, NY: New Directions Publishing, 2001.
Mary Caponegro. The Star Caf�. New York, NY: Scribner 1990.
Sandra Cisneros. The House on Mango Street. New York, NY: Random House, 1984.
Douglas Coupland. Shampoo Planet. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1992.
John Irving. The World According to Garp. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2000.
Franz Kafka, Donna Freed (t). The Metamorphosis. New York, NY: Fine Creative Media, 2003.
A.L. Kennedy. So I am Glad. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 2001.
Alice Munro. The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose. New York, NY: Vintage, 1991.
Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum (t). A Wild Sheep Chase. New York, NY: Penguin, 1989.
Walker Percy. The Moviegoer. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1998.
Plato, Christopher Gill (t). The Symposium. New York, NY: Penguin, 1999.
Terry Ryan. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2001.
Jean Paul Sartre. What is Literature. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1989.
Colson Whitehead. The Intuitionist. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 1999.
Long Critical Paper � Poetry: Why it�s Best When it�s Spoken
Works Cited
Babette Deutsch, Poetry Handbook 4th Ed., Copyright 1981 by Babette Deutsch, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., New York, NY
Bill Moyers, The Language of Life, Copyright 1995 by Public Affairs Television, Inc., Doubleday, New York, NY
Charles Bukowski, Love is a Dog From Hell, Copyright 1977 by Charles Bukowski, Black Sparrow Press, Santa Rosa, CA
Judson Jerome, The Poets Hand-Book, Copyright 1980 by Judson Jerome, F&W Publications, Inc., Cincinnati, OH
Kathleen Norris, The Virgin of Bennington, Copyright 2001 by Kathleen Norris, River Head Books, New York, NY
Robert Hass, Sun Under Wood, Copyright 1996 by Robert Hass, Ecco Press, Hopewell, NJ
Robert Pinsky, The Sounds of Poetry, Copyright 1998 by Robert Pinksy, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, NY
Sam Cornish, Cross A Parted Sea, Copyright 1996 by Sam Cornish, Zoland Books, Cambridge, MA
Sherman Alexie, The Business of Fancy Dancing, Copyright 1992 by Sherman Alexie, Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, NY
Works Consulted
Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi, Copyright 1995 by Coleman Barks, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY
Coleman Barks, John Moyne, Open Secret: Versions of Rumi, Copyright 1999 by John Moyne and Coleman Barks, Shambhala Publications, Boston, MA
Catherine Sasanov, All the Blood Tethers, Copyright 2002 by Catherine Sasanov, Northeastern University Press, Boston, MA
Catherine Sasanov, What�s Left of Galgani, Copyright 2004 by Catherine Sasanov, Franciscan University Press, Steubenville, OH
Elise Paschen, Rebekah Presson Mosby (Eds.), Poetry Speaks, Copyright 2001 by Sourcebooks, Inc., Sourcebooks, Naperville, IL.
James Austin (Prod.), The Beat Generation, Copyright 1992 by Rhino Records, Rhino Word Beat, Santa Monica, CA.
Kathleen Norris, Little Girls in Church, Copyright 1995 by Kathleen Norris, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh PA
Lawson Fusao Inada, Legends from Camp, Copyright 1993 by Lawson Fusao Inada Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, MN
Maya Angelou, Wouldn�t Take Nothing for my Journey Now, Copyright 1993 by Maya Angelou, Random House, New York, NY
Poets & Writers, Poet as Rock Star, May/June 2001, Vol. 29 Issue 3, p. 75-79
Richard Ellmann and Robert O�Clair (Eds.), The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry 2nd Ed., Copyright 1988 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY
Richard Jones (Ed.) Poetry East, Copyright 1996 by Poetry East, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Robert Hass, Field Guide, Copyright 1998 by Robert Hass, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
Robert Pinsky, Maggie Dietz, Americans� Favorite Poems, Copyright 2000 by Maggie Dietz, Robert Pinksy, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY
Yeah I know I wrote my LCP on poetry even though I'm writing a novel... Closet poet...
Semester 3
Hanan Al-Shaykh. I Sweep the Sun Off Roof Tops. New York, NY: Random House, 1998.
Aimee Bender. An Invisible Sign of my Own. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2001.
Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita. New York, NY: Vintage, 1996.
Sarah Shun-leir Bynum. Madeline is Sleeping. New York, NY: Harcourt, 2004.
Jennifer Donnelly. A Northern Light. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2003.
Bret Easton Ellis. American Psycho. New York, NY: Vintage, 1991.
Francisco Goldman. The Divine Husband. New York, NY: Grove/Atlantic, 2004.
A.L. Kennedy. Original Bliss. New York, NY: Vintage, 2000.
Daniel Keyes. Flowers for Algernon. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 1987.
Mark Mathabane. Kaffir Boy. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1998.
Haruki Murakami. The Elephant Vanishes. New York, NY: Vintage, 1994.
Walter Dean Myers. Fallen Angels. New York, NY: Scholastic, 1988.
Katherine Paterson. Bridge to Terabithia. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1997.
J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1991.
Constantine Stanislavski, Elizabeth Reynolds. An Actor Prepares. New York, NY: Routlegde, 1989.
John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men. New York, NY: Penguin, 1993.
Jennifer Weiner. Good in Bed. Washington Square Press, New York, NY, 2001.
Teaching Essay � Trust
Works Cited
Cynthia Stokes Brown, Like It Was: A Complete Guide to Writing Oral History, Copyright 1988 by Cynthia Stokes Brown, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, New York, NY
Sanford Kaye, Writing as a Life Long Skill, Copyright 1994 by Sanford Kaye, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Boston, MA
Works Consulted
Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, Copyright 1986 by Natalie Goldberg, Shambhala, Boston, MA
Chuck Klosterman, Fargo Rock City; A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota, Copyright 2001 by Chuck Klosterman, Scribner, New York, NY
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Copyright 1994 by Anne Lamott, Pantheon Books, New York, NY
Patrick D. Morrow (ed), Growing up in North Dakota, Copyright 1979 by University Press of America, Inc., Washington, D. C.
Timothy Murphy, Set the Ploughshare Deep: A Prairie Memoir, Copyright 2000 by Timothy Murphy, Ohio University Press, Athens, OH
Kathleen Norris, Little Girls in Church, Copyright 1995 by Kathleen Norris, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh PA
Kathy L. Plotkin, The Pearson Girls: a Family Memoir of the Dakota Plains, Copyright 1998 by Kathy L. Plotkin, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Philo T Pritzkau, Growing Up in North Dakota: A Memoir, Copyright 1996 by Philo T Pritzkau, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Ron Vossler, Dakota Kraut: a Memoir, Copyright 2003 by Ron Vossler, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Ward Wilkins, And Some Went Hungry, Copyright 2002 by Ward Wilkins, Coon Rapids, MN
Ward Wilkins, The Blackboards Whisper, the Walls Shout! : Inside School Houses (Big and Small), Copyright 2003 by Ward Wilkins, United States
Jo Ann Winistorfer, Cathy A. Langemo, Tracing Your Dakota Roots: a Guide to Genealogical Research in the Dakotas, Copyright 1999 Dakota Roots, Bismarck, ND
Selected Workshop Readings
Hazel Grange, Live Arrival Guaranteed: a Sandhill Memoir, Copyright 1996 by Hazel Grange, Lost River Press, Boulder Junction, WI
Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: a Low Culture Manifesto, Copyright 2003 by Chuck Klosterman, Scribner, New York, NY
Frances Mayes, Bella Tuscany, Copyright 1999 by Frances Mayes, Broadway Books, New York, NY
Kathleen Norris, Dakota A Spiritual Geography, Copyright 1993 by Kathleen Norris, Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY
Albert Tangeman Vollweiler, Roosevelt�s Ranch Life in North Dakota, Reprint from the Quarterly Journal of UND, Copyright 1918, University of North Dakota, Grandforks, ND
Larry Woiwode, Aristocrat of the West, The Story of Harold Schafer, Copyright 2000 by Larry Woiwode, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Web Resources
http://www.blogger.com/start
http://www.capturingmemories.com/tips.html
http://www.dakotawest.org
http://www.lakeregionwriters.bravehost.com
http://www.state.nd.us/arts
http://www.twc.org/
Here is the list of books I have read for my MFA since January 2004. I still have one sememster to go... but I might not have to read so many next semester...
List - - In order by semester:
Semester 1
Sherwood Anderson. Winesburg, Ohio. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1995.
Carol Anshaw. Aquamarine. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
Truman Capote. In Cold Blood A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences. New York, NY: Random House, 1965.
Julio Cort�zar, Gregory Rabassa (t). Hopscotch. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1995.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear (t), Larissa Volokhonsky (t). Notes From Underground. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
Ron Hanson. Mariette in Ecstasy. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1992.
Ann E. Imbrie. Spoken in Darkness: Small-Town Murder and a Friendship Beyond Death. New York, NY: Hyperian, 1993.
Jack Kerouac. Visions of Cody. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972.
Maxine Hong Kingston. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
Harper Lee. To Kill a Mocking Bird. New York, NY: Warner Books Inc., 1982
Toni Morrison. The Bluest Eye. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1994.
Carson McCullers. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. New York, NY: Modern Library, 1993.
Alice McDermott. At Weddings and Wakes. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1992.
Dale Peck. Martin and John. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1993.
Robert Louis Stevenson. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York, NY: Signet, 1987.
Marilynne Robinson. Housekeeping. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.
Richard A. Wright. Black Boy, New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1998.
Semester 2
Annotations:
Rabih Alameddine. I, The Divine. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2001.
Rudolfo Anaya. Bless me, Ultima. New York, NY: Warner Books, 1972.
Nina Nikoleavna Berberova, Marian Schwarts (t). The Tattered Cloak and Other Stories. New York, NY: New Directions Publishing, 2001.
Mary Caponegro. The Star Caf�. New York, NY: Scribner 1990.
Sandra Cisneros. The House on Mango Street. New York, NY: Random House, 1984.
Douglas Coupland. Shampoo Planet. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1992.
John Irving. The World According to Garp. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2000.
Franz Kafka, Donna Freed (t). The Metamorphosis. New York, NY: Fine Creative Media, 2003.
A.L. Kennedy. So I am Glad. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 2001.
Alice Munro. The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose. New York, NY: Vintage, 1991.
Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum (t). A Wild Sheep Chase. New York, NY: Penguin, 1989.
Walker Percy. The Moviegoer. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1998.
Plato, Christopher Gill (t). The Symposium. New York, NY: Penguin, 1999.
Terry Ryan. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2001.
Jean Paul Sartre. What is Literature. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1989.
Colson Whitehead. The Intuitionist. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 1999.
Long Critical Paper � Poetry: Why it�s Best When it�s Spoken
Works Cited
Babette Deutsch, Poetry Handbook 4th Ed., Copyright 1981 by Babette Deutsch, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., New York, NY
Bill Moyers, The Language of Life, Copyright 1995 by Public Affairs Television, Inc., Doubleday, New York, NY
Charles Bukowski, Love is a Dog From Hell, Copyright 1977 by Charles Bukowski, Black Sparrow Press, Santa Rosa, CA
Judson Jerome, The Poets Hand-Book, Copyright 1980 by Judson Jerome, F&W Publications, Inc., Cincinnati, OH
Kathleen Norris, The Virgin of Bennington, Copyright 2001 by Kathleen Norris, River Head Books, New York, NY
Robert Hass, Sun Under Wood, Copyright 1996 by Robert Hass, Ecco Press, Hopewell, NJ
Robert Pinsky, The Sounds of Poetry, Copyright 1998 by Robert Pinksy, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, NY
Sam Cornish, Cross A Parted Sea, Copyright 1996 by Sam Cornish, Zoland Books, Cambridge, MA
Sherman Alexie, The Business of Fancy Dancing, Copyright 1992 by Sherman Alexie, Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, NY
Works Consulted
Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi, Copyright 1995 by Coleman Barks, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY
Coleman Barks, John Moyne, Open Secret: Versions of Rumi, Copyright 1999 by John Moyne and Coleman Barks, Shambhala Publications, Boston, MA
Catherine Sasanov, All the Blood Tethers, Copyright 2002 by Catherine Sasanov, Northeastern University Press, Boston, MA
Catherine Sasanov, What�s Left of Galgani, Copyright 2004 by Catherine Sasanov, Franciscan University Press, Steubenville, OH
Elise Paschen, Rebekah Presson Mosby (Eds.), Poetry Speaks, Copyright 2001 by Sourcebooks, Inc., Sourcebooks, Naperville, IL.
James Austin (Prod.), The Beat Generation, Copyright 1992 by Rhino Records, Rhino Word Beat, Santa Monica, CA.
Kathleen Norris, Little Girls in Church, Copyright 1995 by Kathleen Norris, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh PA
Lawson Fusao Inada, Legends from Camp, Copyright 1993 by Lawson Fusao Inada Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, MN
Maya Angelou, Wouldn�t Take Nothing for my Journey Now, Copyright 1993 by Maya Angelou, Random House, New York, NY
Poets & Writers, Poet as Rock Star, May/June 2001, Vol. 29 Issue 3, p. 75-79
Richard Ellmann and Robert O�Clair (Eds.), The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry 2nd Ed., Copyright 1988 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY
Richard Jones (Ed.) Poetry East, Copyright 1996 by Poetry East, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Robert Hass, Field Guide, Copyright 1998 by Robert Hass, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
Robert Pinsky, Maggie Dietz, Americans� Favorite Poems, Copyright 2000 by Maggie Dietz, Robert Pinksy, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY
Yeah I know I wrote my LCP on poetry even though I'm writing a novel... Closet poet...
Semester 3
Hanan Al-Shaykh. I Sweep the Sun Off Roof Tops. New York, NY: Random House, 1998.
Aimee Bender. An Invisible Sign of my Own. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2001.
Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita. New York, NY: Vintage, 1996.
Sarah Shun-leir Bynum. Madeline is Sleeping. New York, NY: Harcourt, 2004.
Jennifer Donnelly. A Northern Light. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2003.
Bret Easton Ellis. American Psycho. New York, NY: Vintage, 1991.
Francisco Goldman. The Divine Husband. New York, NY: Grove/Atlantic, 2004.
A.L. Kennedy. Original Bliss. New York, NY: Vintage, 2000.
Daniel Keyes. Flowers for Algernon. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 1987.
Mark Mathabane. Kaffir Boy. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1998.
Haruki Murakami. The Elephant Vanishes. New York, NY: Vintage, 1994.
Walter Dean Myers. Fallen Angels. New York, NY: Scholastic, 1988.
Katherine Paterson. Bridge to Terabithia. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1997.
J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1991.
Constantine Stanislavski, Elizabeth Reynolds. An Actor Prepares. New York, NY: Routlegde, 1989.
John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men. New York, NY: Penguin, 1993.
Jennifer Weiner. Good in Bed. Washington Square Press, New York, NY, 2001.
Teaching Essay � Trust
Works Cited
Cynthia Stokes Brown, Like It Was: A Complete Guide to Writing Oral History, Copyright 1988 by Cynthia Stokes Brown, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, New York, NY
Sanford Kaye, Writing as a Life Long Skill, Copyright 1994 by Sanford Kaye, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Boston, MA
Works Consulted
Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, Copyright 1986 by Natalie Goldberg, Shambhala, Boston, MA
Chuck Klosterman, Fargo Rock City; A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota, Copyright 2001 by Chuck Klosterman, Scribner, New York, NY
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Copyright 1994 by Anne Lamott, Pantheon Books, New York, NY
Patrick D. Morrow (ed), Growing up in North Dakota, Copyright 1979 by University Press of America, Inc., Washington, D. C.
Timothy Murphy, Set the Ploughshare Deep: A Prairie Memoir, Copyright 2000 by Timothy Murphy, Ohio University Press, Athens, OH
Kathleen Norris, Little Girls in Church, Copyright 1995 by Kathleen Norris, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh PA
Kathy L. Plotkin, The Pearson Girls: a Family Memoir of the Dakota Plains, Copyright 1998 by Kathy L. Plotkin, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Philo T Pritzkau, Growing Up in North Dakota: A Memoir, Copyright 1996 by Philo T Pritzkau, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Ron Vossler, Dakota Kraut: a Memoir, Copyright 2003 by Ron Vossler, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Ward Wilkins, And Some Went Hungry, Copyright 2002 by Ward Wilkins, Coon Rapids, MN
Ward Wilkins, The Blackboards Whisper, the Walls Shout! : Inside School Houses (Big and Small), Copyright 2003 by Ward Wilkins, United States
Jo Ann Winistorfer, Cathy A. Langemo, Tracing Your Dakota Roots: a Guide to Genealogical Research in the Dakotas, Copyright 1999 Dakota Roots, Bismarck, ND
Selected Workshop Readings
Hazel Grange, Live Arrival Guaranteed: a Sandhill Memoir, Copyright 1996 by Hazel Grange, Lost River Press, Boulder Junction, WI
Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: a Low Culture Manifesto, Copyright 2003 by Chuck Klosterman, Scribner, New York, NY
Frances Mayes, Bella Tuscany, Copyright 1999 by Frances Mayes, Broadway Books, New York, NY
Kathleen Norris, Dakota A Spiritual Geography, Copyright 1993 by Kathleen Norris, Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY
Albert Tangeman Vollweiler, Roosevelt�s Ranch Life in North Dakota, Reprint from the Quarterly Journal of UND, Copyright 1918, University of North Dakota, Grandforks, ND
Larry Woiwode, Aristocrat of the West, The Story of Harold Schafer, Copyright 2000 by Larry Woiwode, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Web Resources
http://www.blogger.com/start
http://www.capturingmemories.com/tips.html
http://www.dakotawest.org
http://www.lakeregionwriters.bravehost.com
http://www.state.nd.us/arts
http://www.twc.org/
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
SOOOOO I got this cute little story published
So read my sotry and let me know what you think. Someday I might write this as a novel. What a summer that was.
Recently this woman from work read it and she was like...
Who are you again? LOL gotta love that kind of reaction
Here is how it appears
It was Shear Madness Alley
A wok full of heroin dominated the tiny but spotless stove. The kitchen was a wall at the end of the living room, separated from the rough carpet by a thin strip of scuffed beige linoleum. The whole of the apartment could be seen by standing in the corner of the kitchen. The living room was finished in an "early 90s student" sort of way, and the bathroom sat small and red behind the secret door. There were bedrooms too but that wasn�t where the action was.
Gogo laid naked on the couch in the living room in front of the large windows. She listened to the CD player that played the song that filled the apartment and played off the street sounds of Shear Madness Alley a few stories below. They were the 2am sounds, the still-partying-on-a-Saturday-morning sounds, the we�re-all-in-this-together sounds.
Slinkster was naked as well. He radiated the heat, but the ocean was responsible for the humidity. In his modesty he had donned a brown corduroy suit jacket with velour patches at the elbows. He paced the apartment with a pipe in hand, puffing rings of cerebral smoke, which hung like fine-spun cotton candy around his head. I listened to him talking, and could smell his cannabis thoughts from my hole in the bathroom. Dark and cool, the hipbath surrounded me like a slick red womb. Up to my neck, I felt like I was emerging into the world but hadn�t gotten very far. Slinkster walked into my dark layer. Through the haze he stared at his bare reflection in the mirror.
"I can�t remember, am I a dead fish or a monkey?" He looked down at me while my own pair of dead fish bobbed in the water glowing white against the red.
The French song was on repeat in the CD player. I idly wondered whether they realized it had played 47 times. It comforted my OCD; I always knew what would be and what had been. I was beginning to understand French; I was the woman in the song, a lazy 1920s diva with a cigarette holder and dainty cigarettes who expected a light from insanely beautiful young men. Gogo started to sing the love song to the Egyptian who was on the street below. Her voice husky from the haze that Slinkster was leaving everywhere. I suddenly knew that the diva wasn�t me. I was more the suitor and I longed to run from the bath to light her cigarette. But the water kept me still, chill and comforted, holding my body in place. I was too late anyway. Slinkster had heard her call and wandered over to offer her a light. Even though I could not see them, I know they gazed at one another with love and unrequited want. They knew they should fuck but never would. It wasn�t in the schema.
This summer sublet was granted through karma. I tend to browse bulletin boards at school and hanging there was a sign. Two bedrooms, furnished sublet, no cats, students welcome, Shear Madness Alley. Fate began there in that living room next to the kitchen in the wok.
Gogo�s singing blended with the French Diva�s. I could no longer tell them apart. The Egyptian was yelling from the street. Inviting her to visit his homeland. Did he come every Saturday? Perhaps he was a customer of one of the neighbors whom we heard working mostly at night. They did a big business in lonely Egyptians.
So read my sotry and let me know what you think. Someday I might write this as a novel. What a summer that was.
Recently this woman from work read it and she was like...
Who are you again? LOL gotta love that kind of reaction
Here is how it appears
It was Shear Madness Alley
A wok full of heroin dominated the tiny but spotless stove. The kitchen was a wall at the end of the living room, separated from the rough carpet by a thin strip of scuffed beige linoleum. The whole of the apartment could be seen by standing in the corner of the kitchen. The living room was finished in an "early 90s student" sort of way, and the bathroom sat small and red behind the secret door. There were bedrooms too but that wasn�t where the action was.
Gogo laid naked on the couch in the living room in front of the large windows. She listened to the CD player that played the song that filled the apartment and played off the street sounds of Shear Madness Alley a few stories below. They were the 2am sounds, the still-partying-on-a-Saturday-morning sounds, the we�re-all-in-this-together sounds.
Slinkster was naked as well. He radiated the heat, but the ocean was responsible for the humidity. In his modesty he had donned a brown corduroy suit jacket with velour patches at the elbows. He paced the apartment with a pipe in hand, puffing rings of cerebral smoke, which hung like fine-spun cotton candy around his head. I listened to him talking, and could smell his cannabis thoughts from my hole in the bathroom. Dark and cool, the hipbath surrounded me like a slick red womb. Up to my neck, I felt like I was emerging into the world but hadn�t gotten very far. Slinkster walked into my dark layer. Through the haze he stared at his bare reflection in the mirror.
"I can�t remember, am I a dead fish or a monkey?" He looked down at me while my own pair of dead fish bobbed in the water glowing white against the red.
The French song was on repeat in the CD player. I idly wondered whether they realized it had played 47 times. It comforted my OCD; I always knew what would be and what had been. I was beginning to understand French; I was the woman in the song, a lazy 1920s diva with a cigarette holder and dainty cigarettes who expected a light from insanely beautiful young men. Gogo started to sing the love song to the Egyptian who was on the street below. Her voice husky from the haze that Slinkster was leaving everywhere. I suddenly knew that the diva wasn�t me. I was more the suitor and I longed to run from the bath to light her cigarette. But the water kept me still, chill and comforted, holding my body in place. I was too late anyway. Slinkster had heard her call and wandered over to offer her a light. Even though I could not see them, I know they gazed at one another with love and unrequited want. They knew they should fuck but never would. It wasn�t in the schema.
This summer sublet was granted through karma. I tend to browse bulletin boards at school and hanging there was a sign. Two bedrooms, furnished sublet, no cats, students welcome, Shear Madness Alley. Fate began there in that living room next to the kitchen in the wok.
Gogo�s singing blended with the French Diva�s. I could no longer tell them apart. The Egyptian was yelling from the street. Inviting her to visit his homeland. Did he come every Saturday? Perhaps he was a customer of one of the neighbors whom we heard working mostly at night. They did a big business in lonely Egyptians.
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