Chekhov, Kharms' "Mini Stories", & Various Projects
After listening to Ewan McGregor read Chekhov's "His Wife." consider the elements of the fine fiction story. In normal fiction, character is exposed when conflicting forces meet in a cause/effect situation. What is most important in standard fiction is not the PLOT or events of the story, but how these events or conflicts AFFECT a character (i.e., how the character reacts to a situation).
In Daniil Kharms "Mini Stories" this is not the case. Instead, he is poking fun of the fictional form. Each mini-story is constructed like a joke, with a powerful punch line at the end. Characters, plot, and conflicts are simply there to create the illusion of importance, significance, and relevance that one expects from a standard story. In this way, Kharms is at once writing meta-fiction (fiction about fiction), but also commenting on the absurdity of human beings and the odd way our brains work. These stories are sprinkled with overstatement, understatement, hyperbole, incongruity, non-sequitars, and often: situational irony. We laugh because the cause and effect we have come to study in plot is illogical or missing. We laugh because characters we hardly know come to tragic ends in odd ways. We laugh because there is something at once true, albeit absurd, hidden within the lines of these short stories.
PROJECT idea: Write an absurd mini-story or play scene of your own. (Recall the absurdity of Vvedensky's Christmas with the Ivanovs). Form these like short narrative jokes, with a punch line ready at the end that redirects the story or adds the subtle juxtaposition of human meaning at the end. You may wish to write a symphony of your own, or pick a real author or historical figure and write fictional Anecdotes about his/her life. You may wish to do several of these pieces. Keep all in your portfolio.
Please also read: Skvorecky's "An Insolvable Problem of Genetics" and Isaac Babel's "Di Grasso" -- these more traditional short stories push prose style toward verse (particularly in Babel's work) or deal with culture and/or difference. Feel free to respond to these stories (or Chekhov's or Tolstoy's -- from the earlier packet) and write a short story set in Russia or Eastern European locale.)
Finally, write a poetry cycle based on a trip or vacation or event from which you can examine objects, souvenirs, pictures, etc. to help you recall your experience.
HOMEWORK: Please continue reading "All Quiet on the Western Front" (you should be nearly done after this weekend). Please note that there is some written homework due (not portfolio work)--see the blog entry under this one. Please complete this assignment for Monday, April 5.
In Daniil Kharms "Mini Stories" this is not the case. Instead, he is poking fun of the fictional form. Each mini-story is constructed like a joke, with a powerful punch line at the end. Characters, plot, and conflicts are simply there to create the illusion of importance, significance, and relevance that one expects from a standard story. In this way, Kharms is at once writing meta-fiction (fiction about fiction), but also commenting on the absurdity of human beings and the odd way our brains work. These stories are sprinkled with overstatement, understatement, hyperbole, incongruity, non-sequitars, and often: situational irony. We laugh because the cause and effect we have come to study in plot is illogical or missing. We laugh because characters we hardly know come to tragic ends in odd ways. We laugh because there is something at once true, albeit absurd, hidden within the lines of these short stories.
PROJECT idea: Write an absurd mini-story or play scene of your own. (Recall the absurdity of Vvedensky's Christmas with the Ivanovs). Form these like short narrative jokes, with a punch line ready at the end that redirects the story or adds the subtle juxtaposition of human meaning at the end. You may wish to write a symphony of your own, or pick a real author or historical figure and write fictional Anecdotes about his/her life. You may wish to do several of these pieces. Keep all in your portfolio.
Please also read: Skvorecky's "An Insolvable Problem of Genetics" and Isaac Babel's "Di Grasso" -- these more traditional short stories push prose style toward verse (particularly in Babel's work) or deal with culture and/or difference. Feel free to respond to these stories (or Chekhov's or Tolstoy's -- from the earlier packet) and write a short story set in Russia or Eastern European locale.)
Finally, write a poetry cycle based on a trip or vacation or event from which you can examine objects, souvenirs, pictures, etc. to help you recall your experience.
HOMEWORK: Please continue reading "All Quiet on the Western Front" (you should be nearly done after this weekend). Please note that there is some written homework due (not portfolio work)--see the blog entry under this one. Please complete this assignment for Monday, April 5.
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