Margins by Donald Barthelme

Margins consists of dialogue between two men named Carl and Edward. This structure gives the story a quick and snappy pace. Each line of dialogue flows into the next and there are few interruptions. The story is also approximately five pages long making it an easy read.

The title of the story refers to Carl's theory that the width of a person's margins signals something about that person's personality. "The width of the margin shows culture, aestheticism and a sense of values or the lack of them." he says. As the story progresses, Carl and Edward's characters are revealed through their dialogue. For example it is revealed that Edward is white while Carl is black.

The dynamic between the two men is best described as peculiar. Each man references historical figures such as Francois Villon and John Hawkes who is a comptemporary to Barthelme. Barthelme speaks through Carl and Edward like a puppeteer. It becomes clear that Carl and Edward are undeveloped or unrealistic characters. They could be more accurately described as voices. This suggests that character is not what is important to Barthelme because it is simply used as a vehicle to convey ideas.

A caricature of Donald Barthelme from the New Yorker

Carl and Edward continually make snap judgement about each other based on superficial qualities. At one point Carl even says that Edward's handwriting theory is "a superficial approach to the problem." Yet Edward doesn't appear to acknowledge Carl's comment because he goes on to elaborate on the details of his theory. The dialogue is more like two monologues where each character occasionally acknowledges the other. It makes sense that the story ends with Carl and Edward slapping each other in the face. These two men don't seem to have any desire to help each other. Violence is the natural conclusion of this conversation. Thankfully they only slap each other instead of something more destructive. There is more to a conversation than being able to say what you think in an interesting way.

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Dundun

The title of this story refers to a character who Fuckhead, the narrator, visits to get some opium. Fuckhead learns that Dundun has shot another character named McInnes who is fortunately still alive. Fuckhead goes inside of a house to see for himself that Mcinnes has been shot. It looks pretty bad so Fuckhead decides that he will drive Mcinnes to the hospital with Dundun and Jack Hotel tagging along.

Mcinnes dies in the backseat before Fuckhead makes it to the hospital. Dundun says to throw Mcinnes out of the car. Fuckhead and Dundun are disturbed that Mcinnes has died but they pretend not to care.The final paragraphs of this brief story add some background to Dundun's character:

"His left hand didn't know what his right hand was doing. It was only that certain important connections had been burned through. If I opened up your head and ran a hot soldering iron around in your brain, I might turn you into someone like that." (51).

Fuckhead believes that Dundun is not in control of his actions. Fuckhead says that people like Dundun are created through a process similar to a soldering iron being ran through someones brain, burning the important connections, a disturbing image to say the least. Fuckehad wants us to understand that dangerous people like Dundun do not exist in a vacuum. They are created by other people.

The lesson of this story is that a first impressions are not necessarily correct. It's tragic that Mcinnes dies and it is normal to want to blame the person who shot him -- but Johnson reminds us that blame usually lies with much more than just one person. Trying to understand why Dundun is the way he is is more honorable a task than writing him off as a sadistic murderer. Most people would choose the latter but Fuckhead and Johnson seem to think that this choice fails to capture the entire story. I believe this is the main lesson that Johnson hopes to teach his readers.

Other people have written online about "Dundun". Check out this short but insightful piece from treehousemag.com. As Denis Johnson teaches us, it is better to understand something from multiple perspectives than it is to go with your gut reaction. If you have any thoughts or questions related to "Dundun" please leave them in a comment. Thanks for reading.

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What To Do If You Are Stuck Writing a Story

As someone who reads a lot of short stories, I often think about story structure and whether or not it is an important element of effective storytelling. It makes sense that structure is related to good storytelling but how does this relationship work exactly?

The majority of my favorite stories have a structure. If you take a screenwriting course, narrative structure is going to be one of the first things you learn. The traditional method of analyzing a story is to divide it into three sections called acts. This method is interesting but I have never found it to be particularly helpful.

One of my favorite philosophies when it comes to fiction writing is that a writer should include only what is absolutely necessary. This idea is helpful to me because I usually feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants while writing. If I have planned enough in advance, then I usually can tell if what I'm writing is necessary to my story. It may be unclear if what I'm writing is necessary. In this case it is helpful to reflect on where you are and think about the various paths that your story could travel. Something that I have found helpful in this situation is Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling. Rule #9 explains what to do when you are stuck:

#9: When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up. 

It doesn't matter what is on this list. The only thing that matters is making the list. This exercise is essentially a way of increasing your chances of writing something that coheres with the rest of your story. You must take a second to get all the bad ideas out of your head before anything resembling a good idea can show up. This directly relates to rule #12:

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th - get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

Unless you want to write boring stories your entire life, you should make this rule a habit. Writing the first thing that comes to your mind is a great way to create predictable stories.

Writing effective stories is difficult and it takes practice. Even if you manage to complete a first draft, you should revise that draft to make it better. Although writing stories is difficult, there are many tools to help you make it through. I find that focusing on thought processes while writing helps me recognize and thus break free from the patterns that limit my creativity. It also helps to consistently question whether what you are writing is necessary to your story. The most important question you can ask yourself while writing is "why does my story need this section?".

Car Crash while Hitchhiking Summary and Analysis

Summary

The story begins with the narrator waking up in a delirious state. The narrator has done a lot of drugs with a salesman, a Cherokee Indian and a college student. The narrator is in pain but he also seems strangely coherent. He states that he can sense things before they happen.

The narrator is picked up by a family in an Oldsmobile. The narrator knows that there will be a car crash but he chooses to say nothing and goes to sleep. The Oldsmobile crashes into another car and the narrator takes the baby into the night. Walking by the other car, the narrator notices a person lying on the ground. The narrator can tell that this person will soon die and later refers to him as the "dying man". The narrator is taken to a hospital where he sees the wife of the dying man. The wife shrieks like an eagle and the narrator states that hearing the shriek actually felt wonderful. The narrator then describes lying on a hospital bed and being given vitamins by a nurse. Then he describes an outdoor setting while directly addressing the readers of the story.

Analysis

In "Car Crash while Hitchhiking" Denis Johnson introduces us to the narrator that will remain throughout all of the stories in the book Jesus' Son. We do not learn the narrator's name until later in the book. It's a mysterious story without barely any explanation. The narrator's tone is similar to that of a journalist attempting to describe something as clearly as possible. The problem is that the narrator is high on several kinds of drugs which threatens the reliability of his story. The ending of the story presents the possibility that the entire story is just a hallucination occurring in the narrator's mind. Although we have no reason to suspect that the narrator is a bad person, his actions in the story make him seem self-interested. 

Another reasons why I believe this story occurs in the narrator's head is that he claims to possess the ability to see the future. I find it hard to understand why Johnson chose to include this element in the story. It does not serve a purpose for the story, seeing how the narrator does not act on his premonitions. The narrator is either too stoned or too tired to share his knowledge of the future. The only times the narrator expresses any feelings on the events taking place are when he sees the dying man on the road and when he hears the wife of the dying man shriek in the hospital. The narrator does not express grief during these moments but he does express feelings of awe.

"Car Crash while Hitchhiking" is an aberration of normal storytelling. There is a climactic event some exposition but none of the characters possess an arc and the story might be merely a figment of the narrator's imagination. There is more work than usual on the reader's end to find meaning because the story's purpose is unclear. 

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"Thief" by Jess Walter: The Senselessness of Guilt

In the stories I have read, Jess Walter tends to focus on blue-collar people or worse. "Thief" is no different. The story is about a family of five. Each family member's persona, except for the mother, is described in detail because each is a suspect. The father Wayne is tearing himself apart trying to understand why one of his children would steal loose change from the family vacation fund. At first I thought the father was the thief because he prowls around the house at night examining his children, however the father is simply a workaholic and possibly a drunk who thinks a lot about his friend Ken's affair with a woman named Donna. Caring about the Father's dilemma is difficult because the stakes of the story don't seem very high. Who cares about a few cents here and there.

Wayne has fond memories of the vacations his family took when he was a child. He smiles while telling his wife about a trip to Yellowstone. The vacation fund is a tradition that started with Wayne's father. It takes two years before the family has enough money to take a vacation. Early on Wayne tells his wife why the missing money is a problem: "You want one of your kids stealing from their own goddamn family? You want your kids to be like this?" On his day off Wayne pretends to leave for work and instead hides in the closet, hoping to catch the thief in the act. Wayne hear the thief take money from the jar but he doesn't have the nerve to confront them. When the thief has left the room, Wayne can only reach for a beer. And here is where the story takes a turn. The narrator several numerical facts about the family in quick succession: "The house cost $44,000. The interest rate is 13 percent. The father works rotating shifts at a dying aluminum plant - day, swing, graveyard - for $9.45 an hour, and he comes home so tired, so greasy, so black with soot and sweat that he unrecognizable, and yet, every day he gets up to do it again." The ending completely changes how we view the rest of the story. Wayne becomes a messiah-like figure who dies everyday for his family's sins. You understand the father's struggle on a deeper level. Life is extremely difficult and Wayne struggles everyday to make ends meet with only the faint hope of a vacation every two years to motivate him. Sometimes the people we love don't realize the true consequences of their actions. The thief "burns with shame" but shame is not enough to keep the thief from stealing. What's on the surface is rarely enough to fully understand something. The truth is always far more complicated than appearances suggest. Few writers capture this idea better than Jess Walter.

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Why Starting at the End of a Story is best.

I recently read an interview where author Ted Chiang talks about his writing process:

"The way it usually works is that I have an idea that I’ve been turning over in my head for a long time: for example, the idea of a world where everyone is engaged in lifelogging. I think about different possible stories set in such a world; I can usually come up with a bunch of starting points, but I don’t know where those would go. It’s only when I come up with an ending that I can actually begin writing; I need to have my destination in mind. I don’t have the whole story worked out in detail, but I have a general sense of what needs to happen."

I love when writers talk candidly about their process and Chiang seems like the type of writer who would be completely honest about how he writes. It's interesting that Chiang can only begin writing when he knows how a story will end. Chiang refers to this as a "general sense of what needs to happen" as opposed to a sense of what could potentially happen. Writing is difficult so writers should use anything they can to produce their stories. Starting at the end works for Chiang because it allows him to see where things will eventually end up. Isn't it ironic that the ending is a more practical starting point than the beginning?

When I think about the most important stories in my life, I usually gravitate towards these stories' endings. The ending is naturally the most resonant part of a story because nothing comes after an ending. Often when I write stories, I find myself getting stuck somewhere in the middle, questioning every possible direction that the story could go. It also helps to have some idea of how an ending will affect an audience emotionally. The best endings leave readers in an extreme emotional state.

My goal is to write stories that resonate with readers. To make this happen, it helps to have a systematic method to make things easier. The less random I can make the process, the more likely it becomes that my stories will be effective. Starting at the end is one possible method that can make stories better. It may not work for everybody but it is definitely worth a try.

"Anything Helps" by Jess Walter

"Anything Helps" is narrated in the third person and the narrator has direct access to the main character's memories and thoughts. This main character, named Bit, is an experienced homeless vagrant who routinely panhandles for money with a cardboard sign reading "anything helps".

The story is intended to be a realistic depiction of Bit's struggle. I doubt that this is a true story but I can imagine many people like Bit who exist in reality. Sometimes fiction can be more "true" than reality. While the teller's motivation is never explicitly stated, I assume that the story exists to shine a light on a marginalized person. This is an honorable intention and it can sometimes backfire when the writer does not have good knowledge of the marginalized person's experiences. Fortunately Jess Walter seems to have a good idea of what a homeless person's life is like. That is what makes this story work.

The story is paced deliberately with very clear scenes that lead to a climax. It's easy to track Bit as he moves from point A to point B. It's the story of someone wanting to do something good for a family member but failing because of real-life circumstances. Bit buys a Harry Potter book for his son Nate but he does not realize that Nate's foster parents prohibit their children from reading Harry Potter. It's the thought that counts and Nate is mature enough to reasonably refuse his father's gift. At this point in the story, we understand Bit's pathos. All he wants is to give his son something so he can feel like good father he never was. It's too late and Nate is clearly better off living with Foster parents, evidenced by his bike and braces, which he likely would not have if he still lived with Bit.

The story is circular in that it ends exactly where it began with Bit panhandling at by the freeway. Bit's mind is on the Harry Potter book and its meaning to him as a reminder of his experiences with Nate. This is an ending that leaves you wanting more, a perfect opening story. There is no closure. We don't know what will happen to Bit. We only know that Bit thinks he would be better off dead like his wife Julie. Perhaps the ending is somewhat hopeful because it depicts Bit finding some solace in one of his darkest moments. I choose to think of the ending in this way.

Other writers on the internet have done some really great writing on this story. I recommend this piece from greatwriterssteal.com.

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Related Posts:

• Mr. Voice by Jess Walter

"Redeployment" by Phil Klay

"Redeployment" by Phil Klay is told from the point of view of a soldier named Price as he readjusts to normal life. Price begins by talking about some of the atrocities he experienced in the Middle East. His least favorite parts were shooting dogs and almost dying. After a brief detour in Ireland where every soldier gets as drunk as possible in a three hour span, Price arrives in the U.S. where he is greeted by his wife Cheryl. Price is also reunited with his dog Vicar who is so old that he can barely move or eat. Price attempts to resume life as usual. This involves sitting on the couch, watching baseball and going shopping which turns out to be stressful because it reminds Price of the war. When Price and Cheryl return from shopping, they decide that Vicar is too sick and should be put down. Price understandably takes his time to shoot Vicar. Price remembers the only other time he can remember hesitating when he was looking down at an Insurgent hiding in a cistern of feces. Price shoots Vicar three times, twice in the chest and once in the head, quickly because it is the most humane method. 

War is a traumatic experience. It is incredibly difficult to experience war and come through unscathed. Those who experience war are left with long-lasting psychological problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Somehow our society expects soldiers to adjust back to normal life with little difficulty. "Redeployment" is a story that focuses first and foremost on the soldiers who must overcome the challenge of readjusting. I have read a few different stories like this, but I find this story never gets old. I relate with these soldiers because I too find it difficult to fit in with society. Perhaps my interest in these stories is morbid but I believe that our society should pay more attention to the soldiers like Price. These men have learned their entire lives to ignore their pain and pretend to be strong. Psychological pain is just as serious as physical pain and in some situations can have much more devastating effects.

Lydia Davis - The Professor

Lydia Davis. The Professor. Analysis. Summary. If you came looking for anything related to these words, then you came to the right place. I have been really digging Lydia Davis recently. Been reading her story collections and some scholarly articles on her work. I started with Break it Down and I'm currently reading Almost no Memory, which contains the story I am writing about today.

Lydia Davis is more philosophically concerned than the average writer. Her stories don't really possess narrative as you would traditionally think of narrative. Instead her stories exist in the minds of her characters. There is some action but it clearly takes place in the form of memory, which is less exciting than action that takes place in reality, but I don't really mind. It's all the same to me and I actually enjoy many elements of Davis's writing style. She's a good writer and more importantly, she's a writer who does her own thing regardless of what anyone else thinks. The following is a summary and analysis of Davis's story "The Professor".

Summary

The narrator tells us that a few years ago she fantasized about marrying a cowboy. She admits that she lives on the East Coast and she is currently married to a someone who is not a cowboy. The idea of marrying a cowboy is appealing because it would stop the narrator from thinking so much. Feel free to take offense if you're a cowboy. The narrator says she got this idea from watching a movie with a friend which causes her to envision herself as a tough businesswoman who owns a motel. Around this time the narrator also met a student who was the closest thing to a cowboy that the narrator would ever find. She asks this guy out on a date and he says yes. On the date the man reveals a gun in his car and says that dangerous men are looking for him. The date goes well but the man says that he can never see the narrator again, which she understands.

The story ends with the narrator admitting that she thinks about marrying a cowboy much less often than she used to. She is so used to her husband that if she married a cowboy, it would essentially be a threesome.

Analysis

"The Professor" is classic Lydia Davis in that it presents a problem without an answer. The narrator is clearly longing for a great change. This longing takes the form of a cowboy fantasy. The fantasy merely occupies the narrator's thoughts while she does her job and lives the life that developed naturally for her.

It's interesting that the problem is never resolved. The narrator admits that she still thinks about marrying a cowboy today. This is par for the course with Davis's fiction. In a different story the narrator would end up actually meeting and marrying someone who fits her view of a cowboy and they would go off and live an idealized lifestyle. This is the traditional narratives of many stories in the romance genre. In Davis's world, she merely goes out on one date with someone who somewhat resembles a cowboy and that's that. It's a truncated and more realistic version of that much longer traditional narrative. Davis shows us that real life is often much different than what we read in fiction. This by itself is an old and cliche idea. Davis's stories may be fun to read although they seem to focus on the same ideological territory too frequently.

I am still pretty deep into the Lydia Davis rabbit hole so expect more posts on her work in the future. Thanks for reading.

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Does Anyone care about Fiction?

I have been wondering for a while what to do with this blog.

I started writing on here in college. I wanted an outlet to write about all the amazing stories I read in class. It seemed there was a new incredible story every week and I had to share the experience. I also entertained the notion of becoming a fiction writer and blogging about short stories was one way to improve my skill. I wanted to learn from the best.

My favorite writers at the time were George Saunders, Raymond Carver and Anthony Doerr. I consumed every word written by these writers to gain their powers and I wrote summaries and commentaries on their works. I had no idea there would be an audience for my writings. At this time of writing, my post on George Saunders' story Puppy has 21,000 views over three years. This averages out to almost 20 views per day.


Lately I have been posting more on this blog, but I am struggling with thoughts of doubt. Reading works of fiction is hard enough without having to summarize them. Short story blogs are not cash cows. If I wanted to make money, I would blog about technology or dieting.

I would not be who I am today without short stories. This may sound corny but short stories have taught me things that I otherwise would not have learned. From Saunders I learned about the double-edged sword of judgement. From Carver I learned about the importance of honest communication. I hope that I can overcome my own weaknesses and continue reading short stories and learning from them. Truthfully this is one of my favorite things.

To anyone who reads this, what were you searching for and did you find it? How can I improve my writing?

Lydia Davis - "Five Signs of Disturbance"

"Five Signs of Disturbance is the final "story" in Davis's collection "Break it Down". Similar to other stories in the collection, there is an unnamed narrator and the only character is a "she". Here the "she" is another eccentric type who is easily entranced by inanimate objects. The following is my commentary on Davis's "Five Signs of Disturbance".

I have come to understand that Davis's stories rarely possess a plot. The focus, more often than not, is on character psychology. The narrator usually has unfettered access to characters' minds and uses this power without limit. Language is another central concern of Davis. She likes experimenting with language, testing the meanings of words and creating humorous moments. While I believe it is still somewhat valuable, focusing on narrative in Davis's works misses the point that Davis is more concerned with other things.

In "Five Signs of Disturbance", the main character "she" is sensitive and analytical. Because she is isolated, every little stimuli has a disproportionate effect on her. For example ads involving old people or children tend to make her cry. She is unable to compartmentalize. However I am going to assume that "she" is a very intelligent person or at least very self-aware. At one point the narrator even says that her smartness has counted less and less over the years. This thought belongs to the character and is presented as an objective thought.

There are images in the story alternating with the internal and external descriptions of the character. These images are sometimes separate from the character's experience and sometimes they are part of it. The title of the story refers to five specific stimuli that "she" identifies as particularly disturbing. This speaks to the character's analytical personality. With all the sources of meaning in her life, she still feels compelled to mark some as uniquely disturbing. Perhaps this character was an accountant or a lawyer in a previous life.

If I were to associate this story with one specific idea, I would choose the human tendency to create meaning everywhere. It's human nature to attach meaning to objects based on all sorts of criteria. Often this behavior is more problematic than useful. The characters in Davis's stories can attest to this. The more I read Davis, the more I think of her as a philosopher parading as a fiction writer.

Check out my other posts on the stories "Therapy" and "Break it Down". I am too far down the Lydia Davis rabbit hole to spot now so expect posts on her later works in the future. 

"Nirvana" by Adam Johnson

Nirvana by Adam Johnson exemplifies why Johnson won the 2013 Pulitzer prize for fiction. The following is my summary and analysis of the opening story of Johnson's collection Fortune smiles.

An unnamed male computer programmer lives with his wife Charlotte who is temporarily paralyzed from the shoulders down. Both the husband and wife are feeling bad and each copes with their feelings in a unique way. While the wife listens to the band Nirvana when she sleeps, the husband talks to a hologram of a recently assassinated president. Speaking with the president helps the husband to keep his morale high. Creating the hologram was possible for the husband because he works at a company called Reputation Curator that threatens people to retract their negative comments about businesses on the internet.

Charlotte wants to have a baby to give her life purpose. The husband and Charlotte have sex but the husband stops because he sees Charlotte crying. Charlotte tells her husband to put her headphones on to listen to Nirvana. This inspires the husband to create a hologram of Kurt Cobain for his wife. Charlotte is awestruck at seeing this and she asks Kurt Cobain not to kill himself. Charlotte's fascination with Cobain has something to do with the mystery surrounding his death. The story ends on this positive note allowing the reader to glimpse Charlotte feeling briefly happy.

"Nirvana" succeeds at being both deep and funny. The interactions between the husband and the president are my favorite moments. The husband's emotional desperation contrasts with the president's robotic political rhetoric. The story exists in a future that seems strange but nothing is overly fantastic. The brilliance of the story is that it uses science-fiction elements that are not too far off from the technology of today. I never felt like the technology was gimmicky. It was instead very carefully used to create humor and explore the characters' emotions. I am curious to know how much time Johnson spent developing this story because it feels like it would be difficult to pull off.

It's rare that a story works as well as "Nirvana" does. Everything is so well executed. I look forward to reading the rest of Johnson's stories in Fortune Smiles.

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"Therapy" by Lydia Davis

A first person narrator states that she moves to the city just before Christmas. The narrator shares that she has a husband who does not live with her. The narrator has no friends. Her days are spent drinking coffee, smoking and occasionally reading. In the middle of summer, the narrator decides to see a doctor. There are several reasons why the narrator does not like her doctor but she continues seeing him once per week. Over time the narrator develops an affinity for her doctor. The narrator feels a constant wall between her and other people but this wall does not exist between her and the doctor.

Late in the fall, the narrator experiences a "slowing down". The narrator's perspective on life is dark and she loses her ability to love. As a result of therapy, some of the narrator's problems go away. The narrator now laughs, reads and talks to people on the street. Although many of her problems persist, the narrator wants to end her therapy. Unfortunately the narrator can not bring herself to end the therapy, therefore therapy does not end. 

Davis's "therapy" presents many questions and few answers. Attempting to analyze this story would be difficult. My favorite thing about "therapy" is the narrator's tone. I would describe it as "matter of fact". But how trustworthy is the narrator? If I met this person on the street, then I would not take them seriously. Plot matters very little in "Therapy". I hope that the more of Davis's fiction I read, the better I will be able to understand her peculiar style.

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"Break it Down" by Lydia Davis

The following is my summary and analysis of Lydia Davis's short story "Break it Down". The story is one of the more memorable pieces in Davis's oeuvre. It is so important that Davis used "Break it Down" as the title for her collection originally published in 1986.

A third person narrator describes a man sitting at a desk trying to break it down. The narration shifts to the first-person voice of the man himself assigning a dollar amount to a love affair. The man concludes that each hour of sex costs him 33 to 50 dollars an hour.

But that barely even begins to cover it all because the man and his lover spent entire days together and every small interaction between them is worth something to the man. It is absurd to think that the man's money should only be allocated to the sex because the sex is influenced by so many other things. It's more than just sex too. It's a complex human relationship.

The man worries that he will forget the moments of his relationship. He thinks back to several meaningful scenes. In one moment he admits that without his lover he would be unable to continue living. In a nutshell, the man is obsessed with the past relationship because it gave him something that he never had before.

Lydia Davis pictured with her only friend.

At this point the obsessive nature of the man's thoughts seem unhealthy. If there is an overarching idea here, then it is the destructive power of love. Perhaps that is where his urge to assign dollar values to his experiences comes from. A dollar value is as concrete and easily understandable as it gets, whereas whatever is going on his head is tough to quantify. The man also remembers many bad experiences with his lover but these moments are few and far between.

The man accepts that pain is a necessary part of the equation. Pain and pleasure are not distinct from each other. The hard part is that the pain lasts much longer than the pleasure. The man understands all of this but he admits that he would still do the same thing over again knowing how bad the pain is. At the end of the day, the only tangible effect of the relationship is an estimated loss of $1,000 and nothing to show for it. Ain't love grand.

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The Hunter Gracchus

Kafka begins "The Hunter Gracchus" with a pedestrian description of different villagers in their daily routines. Two men carrying the dead Hunter Gracchus enter a house where they meet a man in a top hat. This man isolates himself in a room with the dead hunter who suddenly wakes up and begins a conversation with the man who is revealed to be the Burgomaster of Riva.

The Huntsman reveals that he died several years ago falling from a cliff in the Black Forest but he claims that "my Death Ship lost its way". So the Huntsman now remains on Earth, always in motion, unable to find his destination. The Huntsman claims that his situation is unique and unmanageable. No matter where he goes, no one wants to help him because no one knows where to find him, thus the Huntsman travels the Earth aimlessly

The Huntsman Gracchus is a mysterious character. There is very little to guide the reader in how to interpret the Huntsman's bizarre situation. Kafka simply presents us with the facts and leaves us to draw our own tenuous conclusions. It seems that the Huntsman's situation is an anomaly, yet his situation is similar to the village people at the beginning of the story.

No one really has any idea what happens in the afterlife. Gracchus's story serves to remind people of just how little they truly know. While religion can provide an illusion of knowledge, it cannot even begin to grasp the true nature of death. Not even Gracchus nor his boat captain have any clue as to what sort of forces are at play. In any case, "The Huntsman Gracchus" is a story that presents more questions than answers. Gracchus's fate bears no connection to how he lived his life, so what determines what eventually happens to humans after they die?

I don't know and neither does Kafka. The point seems to be whatever happens afterlife is unknowable so it is foolish to pretend otherwise. If you have any stories that you would like me to read and write about, just let me know in a comment.

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A Hunger Artist

Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" is about a performer who fasts before an audience. This performer is incredibly committed to his art, but he is surrounded by people that do not understand it. The artist lives in a small cage with only a clock and a signpost showing how many days he has been fasting. In the beginning of the story, the hunger artist is a popular attraction in his local community. People are impressed and mystified by the hunger artist's capacity to perform a seemingly impossible task, yet the hunger artist feels that his task is quite easy. He laments the 40-day limit imposed on his fast by his impresario and also the ceremony after he completes his 40 days. The hunger artist feels that this 40 day limit essentially cheats him out of his own fame.

At the very beginning of "A Hunger Artist", Kafka tells us "During these last decades, the interest in professional fasting has markedly diminished." From this we can infer that "professional fasting" is a dying profession. Yet the hunger artist is truly connected with his profession. He has reached a stage of being totally consumed by his art. In fact, the hunger artist considers fasting to be the primary element of his identity. Fasting is everything for the hunger artist, like writing was to Kafka. Once Kafka realized that writing was his sole purpose for living, he completely abandoned the rest of his usual activities. According to Kafka's diaries, this was necessary because what little energy he could spend needed to be spent on writing.

The later pages of "A hunger Artist" depict the performer moving to a crowded circus environment. The hunger artist's enclosure is placed close to the main tent where the most exciting circus spectacles take place. This is both a blessing and a curse for the hunger artist. A lot of people pass by his tent but barely any of them are interested in his performance. Whatever spectacles await inside the main tent are much more appealing to the circus patrons. While he may be able to fast without a time limit, his talents are wasted because no one is interested in him anymore.

Eventually the hunger artist is replaced by a young panther. It's incredible how quickly the panther consumes the space of the hunger artist and begins garnering attention. Kafka's depiction of the panther is a stark contrast to the hunger artist: "the joy of life streamed with such ardent passion from his throat that for the onlookers it was not easy to stand the shock of it. But they braced themselves, crowded round the cage, and did not want to ever move away." The panther represents a 360 degree turnaround from the hunger artist. The panther needs no explanation to be entertaining. It's a freaking panther for god's sake. Yet the panther is lauded for its ability to draw a crowd, something the hunger artist failed to accomplish in his later years. One could also argue that the hunger artist and the panther are more similar than you might think, since both creatures performances obscure a more complex reality.

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Axis

Alice Munro's story "Axis" has appeared in The New Yorker and was published in the 2012 edition of The Best American Short Stories. What follows is my attempt to summarize the story's plot and provide some insight into the story's meaning.

Summary

"Axis" is about Grace and Avie, two young women attending the same college. Grace has a boyfriend named Royce who visits Grace on her parents' farm. Royce eats dinner with Grace's family and then the couple goes for a walk. The two devise a plan to have sex while Grace's family is away the following day. But as Grace and Royce are about the have sex, Grace's mother barges in on them, causing Royce to leave in a hurry. Royce hitchhikes to an area called the Niagara Escarpment and he realizes that Geography is his true calling.

The story now switches gears to Avie who ends up marrying her boyfriend Hugo and having six children. Hugo works as a teacher while Avie spends most of her time reading and taking care of her children. On a train to visit one of her daughters, Avie runs into Royce who is now a retired geology teacher. Royce tells Avie about the Frontenac Axis, a natural phenomena viewable from the train. Avie thanks Royce who falls asleep.

The story now switches gears to the last time Avie remembers hearing from Grace. Avie has reason to believe that Grace is unwell but she is too busy to visit her. Avie asks Royce if he has heard from Grace but Royce says "no".

Analysis

"They understood - everybody understood - that having any sort of job after graduation would be a defeat. Like the sorority girls, they were enrolled here to find somebody to marry. First a boyfriend, then a husband. It wasn't spoken of in those terms, but there you were."

The most impressive thing about this story, in my opinion, is the amount of realistic detail given to the characters. In sixteen pages the story tells Avie's entire life story and does virtually the same thing for Grace. There is so much meaning in the characters' small gestures. The effect is that you (the reader) feel for the characters because they are vulnerable and human. As a writer I understand the difficulty of creating characters, therefore I give credit to Munro for her characters in "Axis".

The overall mood of this story is depressing. At the end I felt bad for Avie who seems disappointed with her life. The outlook for Grace is even more bleak since there's an assumption that her life went downhill after failing to hook up with Royce. I wouldn't call "Axis" a tragedy but it does leave you feeling rather pessimistic about the human experience.

There is a lot to talk about in this story and my brief analysis here does not do it justice. As of today I think the major theme of the story is the unending battle of the sexes. Grace and Avie's primary objective in life is to find men who will be their husbands. But this is not either woman's choice. It is a consequence of their environment and socioeconomic status.

If you have read "Axis", feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on the story. I welcome any thoughts on this story because, honestly, I'm not sure what to make of Alice Munro at this point. Thank you for reading.

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"Fat" - Raymond Carver

"Fat" is the first story in Raymond Carver's collection Will You Please Be Quiet Please?.  The story is framed as a conversation where an unnamed woman tells a story to her friend Rita about serving an extremely fat man at the restaurant where she works. The waitress takes the fat man's large order and brings it to the kitchen. She is approached by one of her co-workers who says, "Who's your fat friend?"

The narrator serves the fat man bread and a caesar salad. Despite her co-workers' jabs, she talks to her customer, making an effort to appear helpful. After serving the man a special dessert with a big bowl of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup to the side, the man says, "we have not always eaten like this...but there is no choice."

Later that night the waitress is lying in bed where she is violated by her partner Rudy. She admits that while this happened, she felt enormously fat like the customer she served earlier. Rita doesn't seem to understand the point of the narrator's story . The narrator admits to the reader that she feels depressed and that she feels her life is going to change.

In Raymond Carver's fiction small actions and statements mean a lot. It's easy to read one of his stories and feel like absolutely nothing meaningful has happened. But that is usually not the case. It's necessary to read Carver's stories at least twice to uncover the deeper meanings. This is my favorite thing about Carver's writing style -- how seemingly insignificant actions are revealing.

In this story the most telling action is the fat man's admission that there is no choice. He wants the waitress to understand that he should not be blamed for the way he eats. Just this one statement adds psychological depth to this character. It also speaks to a larger theme of control, specifically the question of if someone can be blamed for their actions if they are not in control. The narrator compares herself to the fat man when she is raped to illustrate her lack of control. This explains why the narrator treats her customer so well when her co-workers are quick to make fun of the fat man.

It's amazing that such a small and seemingly insignificant story deals with such a universal theme. In my opinion this is the most useful effect of Carver's minimalist style. It always feels like something is missing from his stories and this is most likely true. Carver's editor Gordon Lish was a ruthless editor who made Carver trim his stories down to the bare essentials. Without Lish's help, Carver's fictions would perhaps say too much and lose their ability to speak to universal themes. Despite its short length, "Fat" is a great illustration of Carver's minimalist style.

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Al Roosten

Getting back to some George Saunders stories here.

Summary

This story feels like a roller coaster of contradictory thoughts. The constant banter of Roosten's inner thoughts makes it difficult to follow the story, but I am going to give it a shot. Roosten is the owner of a store called Bygone Daze, a shop that sells vintage collectibles. Roosten is volunterring in a strange charity event called LaffKidsOffCrack. Along with Larry Donfrey, Roosten is going to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Roosten and Donfrey both saunter down a runway, presumably to increase their chances of being bid on. After Roosten does his runway walk, he walks to the "cardboard jail" where he has "his own barred window". Once this bizarre spectacle is over, Roosten retires to the changing area where, in a fit of jealous anger, he kicks Donfrey's keys and wallet underneath a "stack of risers."
Roosten drives "through the town where he'd lived his whole life" while his mom talks to him from heaven. Roosten feels guilty about Donfrey's keys so he envisions an alternate timeline where he goes back to the event and helps Donfrey find his keys and wallet. He even envisions himself eating dinner with the entire Donfrey clan. None of this is actually happening.
Roosten reaches his shop across the street from a junkyard where "hoboes hung out." Roosten imagines himself beating up a homeless man with "ghoulish" teeth and red eyes. Roosten frames this as a valuable lesson for the homeless man. Instead Roosten and the homeless man exchange weak smiles and go on their ways.

Analysis

The narrator of this story cycles between a third person detached POV and direct access to Al Roosten's real thoughts. I would argue that the focus of the story is the distinct voice representing Roosten's inner thoughts. The voice is contradictory. It goes from one thought to the exact opposite immediately. I would characterize it as neurotic and possibly unstable. Roosten typically envisions himself performing outrageous feats but his real-life behaviour is contained and measured. The frankness of the third-person narrator brings the reader closer to Roosten, making him a more sympathetic character. There's a tension between Saunders's view of Roosten as disgusting and the narrator's desire to make Roosten seem pitiful and sweetly stupid.

Donfrey acts as an interesting foil to Roosten. Donfrey is much more successful and handsome than Roosten and Roosten even admits that Donfrey is a "good guy". The narrator remarks that Donfrey and Roosten are "twin pillars of the local business community," yet appears to have a much better life. Donfrey is simply and upgraded version of Roosten in every way.

The voice of Roosten's mother is an interesting aspect of this story. It's telling that the dead mother is still speaking so coherently and frequently in Roosten's head. We can add hearing voices to the list of Roosten's issues. The mother is giving and realistic. She tells Roosten that his "moral courage" is his most important trait.

I am surprised at how much there is to examine in this story. On the first reading, it was hard to track the story's plot while following the crazy statements of Roosten's inner thoughts. Once I became comfortable with this structure, it became easier to find the meaning in this story. It will be fun to revisit this story and find even more insane ways that Saunders creates meaning. There's a lot to chew on in Roosten's thoughts and in the story's unique setting. 

An illustration of Al Roosten and Larry Donfrey from the New Yorker.

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"Mr. Voice" by Jess Walter

"Sometimes your life changes in big, dramatic ways, as though you've been cast in a play you don't remember auditioning for. Moments have the power of important scenes: being paraded in a tiny purple dress at a wedding, someone putting headphones on you and playing a rock song. But other scenes seem to occur offstage; it's as if you just awake one morning and understand that a certain thing is now something else."

Summary

I recently checked out 2015 edition of The Best American Short Stories. The final story in this collection is Jess Walter's "Mr. Voice". The teller of this story is a young woman named Tanya who lives with her single mother. Tanya's mother is a "stunner" who goes through men like toilet paper. Out of nowhere, Tanya's mother settles down with a man referred to as Mr. Voice, a fifty-year-old radio host known for his distinctive speech patterns. Tanya and her mother move in with Mr. Voice and his son Brian, a teenager who wiles smoking weed and playing guitar.

One day, Tanya's mother leaves with Brian's guitar teacher Allen. This forces Tanya to spend more time with Mr. Voice who she starts referring to as Claude. Tanya realizes that Mr. Voice AKA Claude is the closest thing to a responsible parent that she will ever have. He even teaches Tanya about female reproduction. Tanya reaches puberty and starts to notice the attention of men, but Tanya only has eyes for her step-brother Brian. To get closer to Brian, Tanya flirts with his best friend Clay. Unfortunately, this leads to Clay practically raping Tanya when she is home alone. But this story interrupts the rape by having Mr. Voice kick Clay out of the house. Mr. Voice teachers Tanya that she never has to do something that she doesn't want to do. Tanya also learns that Brian is gay so there goes her chances with him. After her mother dies, Tanya learns that Allen, the guitar teacher, is her biological father, though at this point, Tanya could care less because the only real parent she has ever had is Mr. Voice.

Analysis

This story is both uplifting and tragic. Although Tanya's mother abandoned her with Mr. Voice, it's probable that she married Mr. Voice because she knew he would take care of Tanya. So even though mother made poor choices, at least she could give Tanya the parent that she would never be. Mr. Voice is clearly a hero in this story. When Tanya finds out that Allen is her biological father, she ends the story by referring to Mr. Voice as father. A parent is not someone who creates you, a parent is someone who takes care of you after you are created.

The turning point in Tanya's character is when she realizes that she is her own person. She doesn't have to listen to her mother's crazy advice and no matter how similar they look, she can blaze her own trail. Without Mr. Voice, Tanya would have lived her life is accordance with her mother's advice: "Your looks are like a bank account...at some point you'll have to spend the money." Understandably, something about this advice makes Tanya feel ill.

This is a very pleasant and succinct story. The events are straightforward and easy to understand and the characters' actions are clear-cut by the story's end. Tanya's mother leaves because that is what the story needs to have happen. The story also gives the audience exactly what it wants. Mr. Voice saves Tanya from Clay because that is what needs to happen. If Tanya were actually raped, the story would progress in a very different fashion. The story gives you the possibility of horror but would never fully allow this horror to take place. God forbid the people reading this story might feel sad or cold at the end and then Jess Walter would look like a creep. There's no chance of that happening. Jess Walter needs his readers to feel somewhat happy so they will go out and read his next book.

I shouldn't say that about this story. It's my first encounter with Walter's work and I found it to be quite clever and engaging. However I hope that the other stories in this collection are not as family-friendly wholesome entertainment. I hate it when literary fiction tries too hard to make you feel happy. Literature exists to challenge us and make us consider things with new perspectives. It has no obligation to feed us warm emotions. This is not what I expect or find admirable in work of literature.

As always, please feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment. Thanks for reading.

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Related Posts:

• "Anything Helps" by Jess Walter
• "Thief" by Jess Walter

Junot Diaz: "The Sun, The Moon, The Stars"

"The Sun, The Moon, The Stars" is the opening story in Junot Diaz's "This is How You Lose Her". The stories in this collection deal with the relationship failures of Yunior, a character who appears in many of Diaz's works. Yunior is a complex character. He is macho like the typical Dominican male, but intelligent and inclined towards referencing famous works of literature.

Summary

This story focuses on the relationship between Yunior and his girlfriend Magda. The relationship starts out well but deteriorates after Yunior sleeps with another woman named Cassandra. Magda learns about Yunior's infidelity and starts treating him differently. While Yunior and Magda still hang out, it's clear that Magda doesn't want to stay with Yunior. However Yunior still loves Magda so the two take a vacation to Santo Domingo to hopefully renew their love for one another. Nothing changes. The two still don't get along and Yunior has to placate Magda's every desire. Eventually Yunior reveals that the relationship ended despite his attempts to keep it going.

Analysis

The tragedy of the story lies in Yunior's inability maintain his relationship. Even though he loves Magda, he has no control over his animal desires. The real question is how much Yunior actually loves Magda. His words say one thing while his actions say another. Magda is probably correct in judging Yunior based on his actions rather than on his words.

Similar to other stories written by Diaz, the teller is looking back to the past and acknowledging that he has changed. Yunior wants to show exactly how foolish he used to be, but how do we know if Yunior has really changed? Yunior expects us to trust him merely on his word. You could argue that the main conflict is not between Yunior and Magda, but between Yunior's past and future selves. The version of Yunior telling the story thinks long-term, whereas the Yunior in the story thinks short-term.

The tragedy of the story is balanced by Diaz's humorous tone. This is the main reason why I enjoy reading Diaz's work. He finds humor in some of the darkest places. He also has a good eye for picking out the most revealing character actions. When describing the fancy resort in Santo Domingo, Yunior says, "Every fifty feet there's at least one Eurofuck beached out on a towel like some scary pale monster that the sea's vomited up."

Conclusion

I am excited to read more of the stories from "This is How You Lose Her". If you liked this post, also check out my thoughts on Diaz's story "Aurora". Please let me know what you thought of this post, or why you read my reviews. Tell me what story you are reading and would like to talk about. Thanks in advance.

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