Fiction: Readers, Writers---> What matters?

Questions for the Authors of fiction:

- Why did you begin writing in the first place?
- What inspires you to write? Or who inspires you, such as other authors?
- What have you found the hardest when writing fiction?
- What do you do when what your writing is not working out how you planned?
- What would be some tips you would tell to a young writer interested in writing fiction?

Some critics argue that only the text matters, that the author is irrelevant – do you agree? Is the author “dead”? Should we focus only on the text and the craft and ignore the author’s biography?

I believe the author is not irrelevant to the story's and works they create. With some pieces of work it does not matter at all who wrote them but with others I find it interesting and important. If reading an authors biography allows me to know more about them, then would it not be easier to understand their reasoning behind writing it in the first place. A author could write a story that is completely of the wall and it makes you wonder where these ideas come from. For example the authors story is set in New York and is about a business women with a unbelievable power.  After researching the author you could learn they are inspired by other authors who write magical realism  and that the author grew up in New York. With everything learned about the writer it would be easy to say their work was inspired by something in their life. 

Also knowing about the author and reading their biographies you could learn about a theme they may have through all their works. The story of each writer is not irrelevant it only allows the readers to think more in-depth about the writer and their work.  

Elements of Fiction ---> Prisoner on the Hell Planet ---> The Veil

          David Foster Wallace stated "We all suffer alone in the real world; true empathy's impossible. But if a piece of fiction can allow us imaginatively to identify with a characters pain, we might then also more easily conceive of others identifying with our own. This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside" (1082). 

         This quote by David Foster Wallace aligns very well with Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis:The Veil and Art Spiegelman's "Prisoner on the Hell Planet: A Case History." In each graphic novel the author tells the audience about an event in their life. Both authors do this in the hope that the readers can understand the pain or struggles that have had to deal with. Each piece is considered a memoir  but is also fiction because the way the authors portray their stories. Wallace also states in the interview that "true empathy's impossible." I believe this to be very true in many ways. In Spiegelman's story his mother commits suicide and many could show sympathy towards that event but no one will ever be able to show complete empathy. For example my father committed suicide but that is not the same as a mother nor is my father the same as a mother who was a Holocaust victim. 

        Each piece is a great example of how the authors want the audience to understand their life problems. Wallace's quote shows how the author wants their characters to be identifiable to the readers. 

"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" --- STYLE

           
             Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" has a very direct style. For example Marquez's writes in the story, "Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff's club, and before going to bed he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop. In the middle of the night, when the rain stopped, Pelayo and Elisenda were still killing crabs. A short time afterward the child woke up without a fever and with a desire to eat" (334). As we can see in the story Marquez's style is very straightforward and not up for interpretation. The author also creates this effect by keeping the story line in a chronological order. Marquez does not use flash forwards or flashbacks to tell the story. Marquez style of writing creates a magical idea but keeps it very real. The idea of Magical Realism is definitely present and shown in a unique way that does not leave much room for the reader to change or create their own idea of the story. 

           I also believe Marquez's work can be seen as an allegory. A reader could take the magical and realistic ideas in the story showing that each character, place and thing represent or symbolize multiple ideas. The enormous wings or the chicken coop can all represent different ideas. The chicken coop can represent the cage one has on their life. There are many examples that can be found in Marquez's story. This is one way the magical aspect can come into play.




Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 334-338. Print.

"The Heart of Darkness"

I found this week’s reading to be a very interesting read. “The Heart of Darkness” is a literary work that I believe will be timeless.  I know if I was to read the story again and again something new would stick out to me. The images and symbolism within “The Heart of Darkness” is what allows its reader’s to find meaning in the decisions the author Joseph Conrad makes. “The Heart of Darkness” can represent civilization, savagery, darkness, power and many other ideas that have an effect on meaning behind the story itself. “The Heart of Darkness” is a novella that I encourage be exposed to all students in their high school years. Even part of the story would create very meaningful and intellectual conversations.

In class on Thursday we were assigned to read articles that were different literary criticisms. I thought this task was going to be very tedious and not useful. After starting and completing the activity with others in class my thoughts were definitely changed. Through our readings and discussion I was able to hear even more details of the stories that did not stick out to me in the beginning. The criticisms of others can make you think even more about the ideas and meanings represented in “The Heart of Darkness.”

Fiction Findings!

               At the start of the semester I had no idea what to expect about EN234 Intro to Fiction. I would soon learn though. Through EN234 I have learned more about fiction then I could every imagine. I found many of the readings that were assigned very interesting and new to my reading list. Many of our readings definitely placed a twist in the average readings any person would complete.

For example I would have never read stories such as "A Rose for Emily", "Metamorphosis", or our classes very first reading " Bluebeard." Each piece of literature was a twist in my mainstream thinking of fiction. Most often I believe people think of happy endings and fairy tales when they hear the word fiction. A person hears fiction and thinks fake or not real. In many cases it can be a super extreme but in others it could almost a person reality.

In the different readings through this midpoint in the EN234 semester I would say the most shocking discovers I have come to find are the large differences in how fiction has been created over the years. Their has been a lot of new readings and the understanding of fictions history that has been very enjoyable and expanded my thinking on the many possibly genres that can fall under fiction.

I would say the most surprising thing learned so far in this semester happened right at the start of the readings assigned in class. The idea of our first readings "Bluebeard" and "A Bloody Chamber" being considered a fairy tale completely blew me away. Everyone knows fairy tales would never consist of such horror and violence. Until a person takes the time to learn and understand the possibilities of fairy tales and fiction they will never know that their understandings of a genre can change in a instant.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" ---> Close Reading

Close Reading of Edgar Allan Poe's  story "The Tell-Tale Heart"

Poe writes, "And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage." (Poe 729)

In  Edgar Allan Poe's writing you can see madness everywhere. Reading the paragraph above shows that the man in Poe's story is completely insane. The man tries to cover up his insanity by convincing himself and the readers that he is not crazy. The fact that he tries to do that and tells us that it is a over-acuteness of the senses proves he has lost his mind. This man hears the quick, dull, low sound that he says he knows well. How can you know a heart beat well? The lune the man is would have to of listened to the heart of the old man over and over again while it was still alive to know that you can hear it still beating. The beating of the dead heart as if a watch shows Poe's theme of clocks with in his works and how the heart "continues on" after being dead as time will if a watch is to stop. The very sound that gives person life torments the man to have enraged fury as if a large drum encourages a solider. The emphasis on the repetitive sound shows the unbelievable comparison back to the haunting beat of the old mans heart. The man will never be the same even if he is away from the old mans heart. The beating will continue just as time will . Thump...Thump!!

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart" 1843. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 727-731. Print.

Symbolism of the MOTH

After reading and discussing "The Moths" by Helena Maria Viramontes in class I came to find the story very interesting. Hearing everyone's view on what the moths released from Abuelita represented really had me thinking. I wondered if the moths represented freedom, releasing of her soul or her soul moving else were to continue life. All I found could be true in some sense as long as you looked back at Abuelita’s life and how it was shown with in the story. The life shown could then be connected to what the moths truly represent.

When thinking of the possibilities of what the moths symbolize I wondered why moths and souls were considered to be connected in some way. I found a moth to be ugly and a pest that flutters around and is attracted to light. I wondered why a butterfly would not be a better way to symbolize the soul being released from Abuelita because of how beautiful a butterfly can be. While thinking of all the creatures and insects that could have been released my mind of course went back to the moth. The ugly insect being released from Abuelita showed a cleansing of the soul. The wrong done with in her life was being released after her death and moving elsewhere. The hate she may have held or the troubles she endured were gone as was her soul.