In the four descriptions, we idenitified a number of different "moves" the writers made to get the reader to read through the literal description as a way to evoke a feeling, idea or sense of "the way things are" in the story. In the Joyce excerpt from "The Dead," we noticed the repeated military references, so that the description of the food on the table also became suggestive of two armies staged for a battle. The extended references to food and objects in terms of military descriptions, whether the reader picked up on it consciously or not, evoked a sense of impending confrontation.
In the excerpt from "Prue" by Monroe, we noted the language construction of "denial" - all the insistence of what the act "was not" => as if the main character's rebellion and resistance were built into the grammatical structures of the description. We also noticed the use of symbolic objects (of addiction), the candy and the tobacco, and the significance of the action portrayed (possession without consent).
In Ozick's "Existing Things," we noted the incongruence of the poetic/symbollic language/metaphors associated with the description of the mica ("hypnotic semaphores signaling eeriness out of the ground") and the heat, and the light, as compared with the more straight-forward descriptive language for other objects. We also noticed the empty street, the absence of adults - the aloneness of the narrator in the presence of her realization - so that the physical correlate of the realization paralleled the sense of being "in your head with a big realization".
Finally, Dybek's "Thread," the story about his loss of faith, as in the other stories, also seemed to make the objects take on double signification = both with their literal meanings and with symbolic meanings. The act of "strangling" his finger, weighing the thread, tasting it for "gold" were all suggestive of parallel meanings in terms of his relationships to his beliefs.
You then wrote some descriptions with the material you brought to class - and they were wonderful. You were all working with the ideas/writerly moves from our past couple of weeks, and I am looking forward to see how these in-class writing exercises are morphing your writing!
Rhetorical analysis of writing venues. We talked through the assignment sheet for the analysis of a writing venue assignment - and you didn't seem to have many questions so I am guessing you have a good first approximation of what is expected. We spent the last 15 minutes of class clicking through the essays in the last issue of Brevity and classifying them in terms of the features listed on the assignment sheet. We looked for patterns in the publication's preferences for subject material, form, "mindsets" or value systems that shape the "take" or message embedded in the material, genre (really sub-genres of CNF), and so on.
Our discussion suggested that Brevity's audience was interested short CNF that was a kind of conservative, literary, personal reflective essay. In this case, conservative means that readers are interested in reading form as a feature of content in a way where form is central and varied but there is nothing really edgy or experimental about the forms used in this journal (they were mostly "traditional" variations on narrative = segments, stream of consciousness, metaphoric, letter etc.) The texts were literary in that they mostly complied with the definitions by Lott & Gutkind in terms of their earnestness/seriousness in terms of subject matter, were reflective and presented a "realization" (circling around a question/contemplation/representation). The subject material was serious =difficult, striking "revelatory" experiences portrayed through many of the descriptive moves we analyzed this evening.
For next week
Read: Zion, 402+ On writing Zion, 410 by Stanton, Pope, Teacher training, 388, Composing 'Teacher training'" 394.
Blog 11: Short essay 2 brainstorming
Also, look through the list of possible venues for CNF.
In addition to the link posted to the right, you might want to check out:
Fifty (plus) journals that publish CNF
Poets & Writer's Search Engine for publication venues (you can enter your own search terms)
Come to class with 3-4 possibilities for your analysis of a publication venue. We will work on figuring out who will present on which venue, and get started on your handouts for your presentations in class.
During the second part of class we will talk about setting up your portfolio and creating your reflective/craft essay (where you write about your writing process/what you learned about writing I this course).
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