AT LAST...

GODOT or least some version of that elusive figure did arrive. At long last, let the dialogue begin. Please drop the "Dear Wyzard" salutation. We are not writing letters.

Just begin your conversation. I'm still waiting for your acknowledging any of the content that was written entirely for your benefit and no one else. All of that commentary was intended to launch several conversations, but alas, we are still bogged down in HUE AND CRY--- Oh, the wonder of it all!

Hue has a double meaning as it can refer to color, or it can refer to the quality of one's values. Cry might be someone shouting, or it might be someone weeping. This hadn't occurred to me until now, although I've read this story before, and now I can see that Appel's ambiguity is deliberate.

PLEASE: TITLES IN CAPS! Let's have a sense of style.

Godot did arrive

 Dear Wyzard,

Forgive me for my absence, I’ve been struggling with time consuming tasks. Reading, for some reason, is quite a laborious task. I’ve yet to master the art of speed reading, much less reading carefully.

In my opinion, Godot did arrive. The two men, Vladimir and Estragon made him (whoever Godot is) into someone we desire to meet. In that sense, Godot (who may not have existed) become a person 

WAITING FOR GODOT?

I've come to this space twice since our email exchanges. I find no response to my entries. 

Maybe you should schedule some of your Messaging and FaceBook time to a regular interaction with me on this Blog. An attractive feature of a Blog format is that it allows an asynchronous conversation between or among participants.

So I am waiting. I hope it is not for Godot. I don't think he ever arrived.

HUE AND CRY

 

I can't read HUE AND CRY for you. It is written in intelligible English. The gist is about a community's reaction and a particular family's reaction to the public notice that a convicted Sexual Predator has moved into the community. It happens that this person has moved back home with his mother who is ill. The girls decide to break into the home and see what they can find out about this "predator." You may recall that the father invited the sex offender to dinner. This act prompted the "Hue and Cry" of the community as residents direct protests at the family for treating the offender with respect.

Maybe you need to read it a couple of times. I can't see that there is anything in the prose that is incomprehensible. I don't think there is anything beyond your intelligence.

 

Some things worth noticing: How does Appel use dialogue in this story? Why do you think he wrote this story? Do you think he believes the community might be the offender? 

 

You probably noticed that Appel divides the story into six sections. How does that organize the narrative? Who are the characters in the story? How do the characters relate to each other, and what is the significance of the father?

What is the ratio of dialogue to narrative? What devices are used to identify who is speaking? Conversation in stories is often an issue. One of the best writers in handling dialogue is Hemingway. How many stories have you read of Hemingway?

After reading the introductory material in our Blog, how do others make distinctions between essays and short stories?

One of the things that impressed me the most when I first met you was that you were informed through extensive reading. It appeared that the bulk of your reading was not fiction.

 

 

IDEAS GOOD & BAD & MOVING ON

I would not characterize my entries as "annoyed." Rather, I was disappointed, because I think you are smart, and quite capable of original ideas, as well as grasping the ideas of content that you read. So far, I see no evidence of that in your entries, no acknowledgment of a discussion written and shaped entirely for your benefit.

The question now, is whether you have read "CRY AND HUE" and are there things you think are effective in the narrative? How does Appel approach plot? Is this simply a narrative, or is the author trying to make a point? I will hold back my specific thoughts on the merits and features of this story until you read and post about it.

I hope you bothered to go the link provided for examining the issue of the difference between stories and essays, to read that article.

By the way, if you wish to focus on essays, then that's fine. But try to read some really excellent essays. Anything by David Foster Wallace is exemplary and fun to read. His collection of essays Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is a masterpiece of narrative essays teeming with literary devices and tricks. 

I would also suggest that another feature of Wallace's work is satire. Satire can transform our perspective of reality and dig deep beneath the surface. I find Wallace's literary skill astonishing. He should be better known, more widely read.

From what I have observed in our various exchanges is that you might have a gift for satire.

By the way, an annoying shortcoming of this Blogging App is that you must select your Font style and Font Size each time. I have been setting the Font as Verdana and the font size is Medium. There should be a way to make that part of the Blog's default, but for now, try using those settings.

Please give titles to your entries that characterize the content of your entries. It's good practice.

 

Reply

 Hello,

I'm sorry for not understanding the purpose of this blog.

I understand that you are annoyed.

Why don't we discuss the book's first story, Hue And Cry?

If not, why don't we chalk this up as a bad idea?

Fire Man

START YOUR OWN BLOG

Your take on NYC in decline is well-noted. 

I had a similar conclusion when while sitting outside at a restaurant on LaGuardia Street, a car came down the street with someone inside firing a gun randomly at the sidewalk... or was it when I was coming out of Chow House on Bleecker, the street was crowded with homeless young men, and when I had a conversation with one near the entrance, I could see he in his eyes he was not where he wanted to be. 

But I have to say that I am disappointed you ignored my question and everything I had understood might be a mutual quest, and a dialogue about writing. You apparently care nothing about discussing Appel and seeing what we might discover about writing as we measure his successes and mistakes. 

I did address our exchange about what constitutes an essay and a short story. Apparently that is not worthy material for your comment, although it was an attempt to contextualize our past brief exchange of messages.

So your goal of a paragraph a day or whatever is laudatory, but if you are refusing a dialogue and taking into account all of the prose we are generating, then my advice to you is to start your own Blog and send me the link, and I'll try to visit once in a while.

Otherwise, let's end this conversation, because so far you have not related to one thing that I've written.