My MFA exam, for weeks sitting on my desk untouched, is due in three short days. We pick two questions out of seven to answer; our answers should run 15 - 20 pages.
Looking at the questions, it seems that the Iowa Writers' Workshop called in my high school English teachers for a last-ditch attempt at torturing me. Question no. 3: "Discuss the structure, content, and narrative strategies of two of the three following books: The Great Gatsby, Red Badge of Courage, and As I Lay Dying." If I answer a question like that, my braces will rematerialize, my clothes will fade to black, and I'll have to go to Prom alone again.
Among the two questions I've finally relented to answering: "Please give your assessment of the current state of literary culture in the United States. What books if any will be read by subsequent generations? Why?"
Given that my ESP has bad reception in the Midwest, I'm throwing this question out to the blogosphere: what novels and stories will matter in 20, 30, 40 years?
(So far, I've lots of meta-answers, in which I explain the faulty logic behind the question's premise, but I'm hoping someone will de-meta me by Thursday.)
Update: Hey, look at this. Time Magazine wants to write my MFA exam for me. Thanks, but no thanks.
Posted by nchicha at November 17, 2003 08:54 AMDavid Foster Wallace, because of the footnotes. That's how Eliot did it. Edmund White, 'cuz of his lapidary prose (and being a founding member of a movement). Lydia Davis, outrageous micro-experiments with form, questioning foundations of narrative (plot, character, etc.) more delightfully than Gertrude Stein.
You should definitely include a paragraph questioning whether novels & short stories will even be anywhere near the center of verbal aesthetic endeavor and appreciation in 40 years. It's likely the theory of today will be the movies of tomorrow. Remember, in the early eighteenth century novels had pretty much an analogous readership, and were disdained for some of the same reasons and castigated in some of the same terms, as self-help literature today. The Fielding, Defoe, or Richardson of the self-help book might well be walking (even publishing) among us right now.
>>My MFA exam, for weeks sitting on my desk untouched, is due in three short days.
This doesn't really help solve that problem, but it's a wonderful quote from Poe I just posted on my blog that seemed apropos (apologies if you know it already):
We have a task before us which must be speedily performed. We know
that it will be ruinous to make delay. The most important crisis of
our life calls, trumpet-tongued, for immediate energy and action. We
glow, we are consumed with eagerness to commence the work, with the
anticipation of whose glorious result our whole souls are on fire. It
must, it shall be undertaken to-day, and yet we put it off until
to-morrow, and why? There is no answer, except that we feel perverse,
using the word with no comprehension of the principle. To-morrow
arrives, and with it a more impatient anxiety to do our duty, but
with this very increase of anxiety arrives, also, a nameless, a
positively fearful, because unfathomable, craving for delay. This
craving gathers strength as the moments fly. The last hour for action
is at hand. We tremble with the violence of the conflict within us,
-- of the definite with the indefinite -- of the substance with the
shadow. But, if the contest have proceeded thus far, it is the shadow
which prevails, -- we struggle in vain. The clock strikes, and is the
knell of our welfare. At the same time, it is the chanticleer-note
to the ghost that has so long overawed us. It flies -- it disappears
-- we are free. The old energy returns. We will labor now. Alas, it
is too late!
Motherless Brooklyn? White Teeth? Yes yes and Lydia Davis of course.
Where are you in the Midwest?
K-graph, representin' Toledo
Posted by: Kelly McGilvery on November 17, 2003 11:49 AMMichaela, great quote.
Kelly, I'm in Iowa City.
I'd write more, but I should probably now turn off my cable modem and start work on my exam.
Whether I'll get any work done: um, again, great quote.
Posted by: Nathalie Chicha on November 17, 2003 01:14 PMPastoralia by George Saunders, which is ripped off all the time.
Posted by: on November 17, 2003 07:00 PMOne Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz 1957-1987 Bilingual Edition
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
Cry The Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Manuel Puig
Collected Fictions- Jorge Luis Borges
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
The books about how we lived intensely, loved deeply, felt strongly will be timeless.
But even though she spangles her work with the satellite internet costume jewelry of literary and historical allusion, dish network challenging the reader with obscure, referential mengumalogy puzzles, she also evinces a rare grasp of emotional directv chemistry. This "fictional essay" on marriage and loan adultery--really an impressionistic poetic meditation--cuts satellite tv more truly, more deeply than any plain-spoken confessional mortgage monolog, dramatizing inner and outer conflict with online poker a precise, knowing wit. The husband holds "Yes and online casino No together with one hand/ while parrying the words
Posted by: casino on January 18, 2004 04:29 PMDUBYA'S PRAYER, a bio-snoop.com theater presentation. Laura sat on the side of the bed, adjusting her leather teddy for the night. Dubya knelt on the other side, his hands clasped tightly in prayer. First a word from our sponsor, bio-snoop.com. Does your boss know you're here, reading this, right now? Do you want your boss, your parents, or your wife or husband to find out about everything you do online?At bio-snoop.com, we have the leading products for protecting your privacy, permanently and safely purging your electronic trail, and detecting and removing spyware.
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Now, back to our story, Dubya's prayer. Dubya spoke, almost silently. "Dread Lord, I have given tons of money to the wealthy, but America's economy is still in the shitter. What should I do? Should I give the rich more money?"
Laura's body stiffened like a limp balloon becoming fully inflated. Her head slowly turned 180 degrees, to face her husband. Her vacant eyes became glowing embers. Tiny flashes of light, as from a distant violent thunderstorm, shown from her mouth, which was open slightly. From this storm, a voice hissed out.
You have nothing to fear, My pet. What is, matters not. Only what is perceived. Do you remember, after Afghanistan, when you announced your plans to attack Iraq?Dubya's stern frowny-face grew an impish grin. "Master, would you stay inside Laura for another couple of minutes? We can do some of your work right here and now. "Tune in again for another episode of bio-snoop.com theater. Posted by: bio-snoop on February 21, 2004 11:11 PM
America, with one united voice replied, "Huh?". For 6 months, you beat the war drum, until slowly, they took their places, in line behind you. Do you remember that, My precious?
The time has come to beat the drum again. Not for Iraq, which I promised unto you so many years ago, but for the economy. Tell your people to heed not the wailing of the unemployed factory worker or computer programmer. Their jobs are desperately needed by the starving masses in Mexico, India, China, and so many other deserving nations. Beat the drum for the new, exciting opportunities created by smaller, entreprenerial companies in the janitorial and trash collection fields. Ask your people how there can be a "job shortage" when Americans work longer hours than in any industrialized nation in the world!
And fear not, my Best Beloved. We will not fail. You have served Me well and We have much work yet to do.