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. 

"Sweat" ---> "A Rose for Emily"

In Zora Neale Hurston short story "Sweat" and William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"  it can be seen that each story has a independent women leading their own lives.  In Faulkner's short story Emily is found as the town misfit who came to be never seen but known by all. She is seen as a monument in the community and allowed to live there for free. In Faulkner's story Delia the main character and independent women of the story is completely different then Emily. Delia works for her money and has made a complete life for herself.

Looking at Faulkner's story by itself  Emily is a women who is crazy. She can be seen as a monument but becomes a recluse to the outside world.  After the vanishing of her newly husband Emily became insane cutting herself and house off from others. After the death of Emily at the age of 74 the town jumped at the opportunity to view the shut up house. "We noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair"(Faulkner 320). In Faulkner's writing I believe Emily was even more twisted then keeping dead human remains in her house but willing to lay with it. Through the description of the second floor room that was shut up you can see Emily with in some time towards the end of her life enter that room laying down with the remains because of the indentation of the pillow and the long strand of iron-gray here she had later in her life.

In reading "Sweat" Delia is seen as an independent women who has worked her whole life and made a earning all by herself. As she is married to a man who uses and abuses her she still places her sweat and blood into her work. She takes care of her house still supports her husband even though he cheats and spends her money on his mysterious Bertha. Delia still stands strong even when her husband what her gone in the hope of a snake taking her life. Ironically the creature that was going to take her life that she fears the most removes the person causing her the most pain. "She could scarcely reach the chinaberry tree, where she waited in the growing heat while inside she knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye which must know by now that she knew" (Hurston 386). During the time Delia waited outside ironically under a poisonous berry tree as her husband died. Not only did she wait as he died but as Hurston stated in her writing the cold river was creepy as the snake bite slowly killed him. I believe this represented the long years Delia put in working and going through the pain her husband caused her coming back to bite him.



Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." 1931. The Story and its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 314-320. Print.

Zera Neale Hurston. "Sweat." 1926. The Story and its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 378-386. Print.

Midterm ---> Essay Article Practice

Possible Article:

Research to why children's literature studies are disappearing. Why is children's literature important?

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.pegleg.park.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=9a5af2b8-7743-485b-95ba-116694b93aab%40sessionmgr110&hid=109&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVpZCZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZl#db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.362727673

(Found through Ebscohost database)

"Desiree's Baby" ---> "The Story of an Hour"

In both "Desiree's Baby" and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin's I found both endings unsuspected. How Chopin wrote both story’s made her writing mean so much more than words on a page. The story and situations in each piece made the reader think outside the box about how a person’s world can be changed in an instant. In “Desiree’s Baby” a happy family is changed by the color of their child’s skin with blame pointed to the wrong person. Again a person’s world was changed when Desiree’s mother finds that Desiree killed both herself and child in the bayou. Once more the story is flipped around when Armand the child’s father finds out he is partial African American and it was truly his fault for his child’s skin color.

In the Story of an Hour” it is easy to tell that the news of a death brought joy or at least a sense of relief. A wife who finds through others words that her husband dies begins to rejoice in her own ways. Through her relief others would find her very sinister. In this life changing event of freedom her life is changed. In the end of the story her changing event is proven wrong and her hopes are gone with a deathly collapse to the floor changing someone’s life once again. Does this mean she still has freedom through ultimate relief? 

"Oliver Twist" ---> "Through the Looking-Glass"

Reading both "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens and "Through the Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll brought back many thoughts and memories of the past. “Through the Looking-Glass” reminded me of its prequel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and how a child’s imagination can take them to a whole other world. Reading “Oliver Twist” by Dickens reminded me very much of “Annie” and how a child was faced with abandonment and poverty.

Lewis Carroll’s writings of Alice has brought happiness and has inspired imagination in many people’s lives especially children. I can remember watching Disney’s creation of Alice in Wonderland as a child and have many thoughts to why there was such a story made of nonsense. The nonsense inspired by Carroll’s writing of Alice and all the people she meets along the way opens the mind of children. Children love the adventure and the ability to create their own picture of Alice’s world in their minds just as many adults may have that same feeling. This was not apparent to me until recently when having our discussion about “Through the Looking-Glass” in class. Through our discussion I realized there is so many thought provoking moments in Carroll’s writings that it opens the rabbit hole or looking-glass for adults as well.  

Reading Dickens’ writing of “Oliver Twist” reminded me so much of “Annie” and how I would watch the movie as a kid. Yes, these two stories are different but they both have similar themes and outcomes that make them easy to compare. The theme of poverty and a broken system are things that face people daily and relate back to our current world and the people in it. 

"Candide" --- > "Don Quixote"

After Reading “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes and “Candide” by Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, I find myself interested in “Don Quixote” more. Between the two stories that were read last week and then discussed in class I can vison Cervantes writing much more vividly then Voltaire’s. Cervantes overall voice spoken through the narrator gives insight to the life of Don Quixote and allows us to see what Don Quixote sees along with what it truly looks like. 

                                                                                                 http://themzinus.wordpress.com

Seeing a wealthier older gentleman live out a fantasy in his own life that he creates through his insanity of “reading too much” places a whole new twist on literature for myself. The very idea of insanity coming from reading to much, as well as seeing the metafiction produced in the reading of “Don Quixote” creates a whole new world of reading between the lines in someone else work. For example with the metafiction blatantly given to us by the active voice of the narrator, we see a rundown inn with prostitutes hanging out front.  In the eyes of the main character Don Quixote we see an astonished knight ride up to a gorgeous castle flowing with beautiful ladies. In the mind of anyone who can envision this scene can see the two different views and can clearly tell the full craziness of Don Quixote in his mid-life crisis. 

                                                             https://www.fimfiction.net/user/Scootareader

After reading “Don Quixote” and writing about censorship and the possibilities of what reading too much of one genre may possibly do to someone’s mind is something I would have never given thought to before. Lots of people talk about video games, movies and what television may do to your mind but never have I thought of reading to fall into the category of causing insanity. Cervantes work is most definitely thought provoking.

"Bluebeard" --> "The Bloody Chamber"

As a child when you hear fairy tale you think of "Happy.... Ever.... After!" Stories with endings full of joy and finding true love. You believe your life can one day be a fairy tale and nothing can go wrong.

Then reality hits and you are forced to face the real world. That's when twisted fairy tales and not so happy ever after endings are written. Reading "Bluebeard" you think of older days where men set out to marry who they want based on beauty. At the start of the story it is believed to be what many would call a normal fairy tale until you continue to read and find the disturbing plot as a whole.

Comparing the stories of "Bluebeard" to "The Bloody Chamber" I found "Bluebeard" to be a much more appealing read then "The Bloody Chamber". Looking between the two "Bluebeard still had a fairy tale aspect compared to the rewritten version "The Bloody Chamber". Still looking at both stories they were very twisted and found by many to not be a fairy tale due to its horrific outcomes.


http://www.fairytales.biz/charles-perrault/blue-beard.html