Horse; Julio Cortazar; The Overcoat by Gogol, Part 1 & Writing Time/Workshop
This morning, let's workshop the three short stories you read for homework until around 8 or 8:10. Take out your "workshop" notes/handouts (or pick up a new one!)
Together with 1-3 others (groups of 2-4), discuss the writing and effectiveness of the stories:
Together with 1-3 others (groups of 2-4), discuss the writing and effectiveness of the stories:
- "Horse" by Amy Bonnaffons
- "A Continuity of Parks" & "A Yellow Flower" by Julio Cortazar.
Make sure you comment on the following:
- Image
- Voice
- Character
- Plot
- Form
- Sound/Rhythm/Diction
- Setting
- Theme
After the pledge, we'll begin reading "The Overcoat", a short story by the Russian author Nikolai Gogol. You may have already heard of him somewhere...Take a couple minutes to read about Gogol at the link.
Some context:
Short stories were a recent, new form of writing in the early 19th century when Gogol was writing. His first collection of stories (Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka) was published in 1831. While short stories or narratives have been around for ages (Boccaccio's Decameron, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, or Scheherazade's 1001 Nights), the first "short story" appears in 1827 with the honor going to Sir Walter Scott's story "The Two Drovers." The style caught on, and traveled throughout Europe and even ended up inspiring American authors like Hawthorne and Poe. Nikolai Gogol, then, was one of the first to tackle the short form--far from short in our Contemporary style, it's a good idea to travel back to a time when people, without cell phones and needlessly busy lives could sit around a fire and while away an evening (or two) reading. Of his short stories, Gogol's masterpiece "The Overcoat" is a memorable one.
The Russians are not "known" for their humor, but they should be. There is a lot of satire, irony, hyperbole, and silliness in this grim and stark, long-winded tale. Let's take a look! We'll stop from time to time to discuss/write.
At some good stopping point, we will end class with some writing time.
HOMEWORK: The Namesake: Chapter 11-12. Please finish reading the novel. We will have our test and final discussion on the novel Thursday, Oct. 3. Bring your "Overcoat" texts back with you next class. Feel free to continue writing your drafts for your portfolio.
Comments
The image of this short story is vividly detailed. The voice being the voice of a man who is reading a novel and finds himself almost enraptured in the story. The main character being calm but curious; and the primary problem being that his novel describes a similar setting and event that he is currently in. The form helps us determine what is occurring in the short story and deciphering it from realism to the story world. As the sound is very well-written and cohesive, smooth-flowing. The setting similar in both novel and "reality;" and the theme being people being able to determine their fate and separating reality from fiction.
(Group: Me, Kemani, Britney, Turon)
Horse:
Horse was more of metaphor for people behavior, their strength and spirit. The voice is subtle and strong in its comparison to people and horses. However, the shift from the introductory paragraph to the rest of the story felt strange and sloppy. Which is also not helped by the strand question and answer form of the story.
A Continuity of Parks:
The short story uses a circular plot in order to play with the perspective of the story. The recurring image of the man in the green velvet chair sitting while reading a story about a man who is about to be murdered, yet is also him.
A Yellow Flower:
The short story has a nice form. As the story goes on, the character reflects on his life and how he met a young man named Luc. The character development was sound, allowing the characters to interact with each other as they would, the dialogue didn't seem too out of the ordinary. At the end of the story, the yellow flower is there. The story talks about how cherishing life is the ultimate prize and that the yellow flower signifies that.
The imagery in this short story merely detailed, They way she describes the man and the bar as they talk she describes his looks and his story. The voice being the voice of a woman as she listens to this man she met. The characters are a woman and a man in a place drinking. The woman is curious to hear this mans story and he is open to tell his truth while being drunk. The plot is this man seeing this 13 year old boy 95 bus that looks like how he looked at that age. He feels as he is immortal and the boy was going to end up being him. The form helps give us the idea of what is going on and the realism of the world. The theme being people being able to see their old self turning into who they are today. Separating realism and immortality.
(Group: Me, Turon, Kemani and Raeona)
“Horse” uses its imagery to describe the scene. It’s not anything really interesting or compelling. The voice, however, is an innocent tone with almost some deep-seated sadness underneath the narrator. It creates a tone of escapism throughout the text. The characters kind of all take a backseat to our narrator and the interviewer. The main character is this person who cares about others… or at least tries to in a clumsy way. The form of the story being an interview works really well. It makes up for some of the lack of descriptive diction and imagery. The settings work to expand the story and it's theme of free will v. fate.
Horse is a somewhat confusing short story. Our group tried to debunk the metaphor, but maybe we’re reading into it a bit too much. It is clear that the main character wants to transition into a horse and this is depicted through all of the description of the fur growing, her hooves coming in, and the idea of freedom. After reading the story we’ve come to the conclusion that the character wants to be a horse, which represents freedom, in order to get away from the restraints of a typical woman. Taking place in her shared apartment, the ranch, outings, etc. we grow accustomed to her feelings of being bored and unsatisfied in life. The woman has affairs with other women, and she most definitely does not want children. Her sister, Serena, is the complete opposite— a woman who wishes to have a family and kids. This contrast between the two allows the readers to really see what it is that the main character wants. We are able to understand her wishes in life through hearing her thoughts, and asking questions of the doctor.
The image of the story is so detailed that the character in the story and the reader of the story become so immersed in the reading that they become the character. The voice of the short story is the main character who is also the only character in the story reading a novel about a man on the brink of death. The ending line of the short story hints that the main character has become so immersed in the novel that he is in the same position as the character he's reading about in the novel. The story is circular with the image of a man sitting in his study in an armchair covered in green velvet and reading a novel is described at the beginning and end. The theme of the story is about becoming so immersed into a reading that the fictional world in the story feels like a reality.
Group: Akhiyar, Joshua, Jenna,Kyla
The story effectively incorporates many images into the narrative to produce a symbolic meaning behind the yellow flower. Throughout the story, the setting of the number 95 bus is constantly being reminded of because of what it represents: the turning point in the main character's perspective. This bus is where the interaction between the man and Luc begin, and where his understanding of immorality develops. The image of wine reappears throughout the text as well, from how "wine was coming out of their eyes" from laughter or life withering away "day after day, wine after wine." The theme of the story is mortality and continuing your life through the bodies of others as generations go on. The connection between the man and Luc is essential to the plot of the story, where the characters are just as important as a driving force to narrate the themes.
Jenna, Kyla, Akhiyar, Joshua.
This short story employs characterization, imagery, and setting to explore its theme on the effect stories can have on the real world even though they are just contained in pages. The lack of characterization of the main character and his common experiences allows the story to be generalized to any of the readers. The impression the characters and plot has on the reading man while he sits in the real world--the setting that is described--reading begins to develop the idea of the impression stories can have on their audience. Then, imagery is used to show how the story begins to actually become reality as the man the reading man is reading about enters down the same hallway as the reading man lives in and into the same room with an "armchair covered in green velvet."
A Yellow Flower
The theme of this story is very similar to The Stone Gods in that it reflects on how life moves in circles/tends to repeat itself as the same circumstances beget the same outcomes. The voice in the story is both the person who talks to the only mortal man and the mortal man himself, as his dialogue compiles most of the story. The plot of the story is what allows the idea that we are all immortal to be expressed as the mortal man describes how he met the reincarnated version of himself and how he knew beyond a doubt that that was who he met because all of the same occurrences that the man experienced as a child, Luc came to experience as well, with certain exceptions and alterations. The image of the yellow flower allows Cortazar to show how powerful such a simple thing can be and causes the old man to realize what nothingness truly means and in doing so, he realizes the finality of his death and his own mortality.
Horse
Horse was a strange story that compared the nature of humans to horses. It utilized a unique form to tell the story through a series of questions and answers. The voice of the story is simple yet powerful, exemplifying the contrast between the unsatisfactory life of the character and their desire for more. The plain setting allows us to empathize with the boredom and desire for escape that the main character experiences.