Monday, October 22, 2012
The Romantic Tough's school of Writing
During the excerpt of short story ideas in the Yellow notebook, one of the stories breaks the naming convention of the other but also appears to break the thematic pattern of the other stories: "19 The Romantic Tough School of Writing" (page 539 in my weird edition).
I say it "appears" to break away from the themes of the other story ideas because it is one of the only stories in which the central speaking voice is male. In fact the narrator of this little story is Mike-the-lone-walker. While the gender of the main speaker has changed, it is worth noting that in at least one of the other short story ideas, one of the female characters is referred to as Anna, and another is an artist. With that in mind, it might not be too great a stretch to place Anna in the central role in all these short story ideas. Thus, we might even say that the nick name "the loan walker" might be linked to the idea of a free woman which Anna represents (or possibly her isolation).
The story also features a mixing of brutal physical violence with professions of love In that the boys, Buddy and Dave, say "I love you man" before pounding the other into unconsciousness. Considering that all the other story summaries involve people "in love" who proceed to emotionally wound each other, one might argue that the "romantic tough school of writing" is a parody of the other stories' cycle of love and emotional pain played out with physical violence.
With that context in mind, Buddy's declaration of love for the girl Rosie, implies that this cycle is played out in the adult world, though in a manner more akin to the other stories.
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For those curious, the story in question is on page 516 of the Harper Perennial edition.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you drew my attention to this, because it helped me draw a connection I hadn't quite made before: the numbers with the asterisk. "Romantic Tough's School of Writing" is the 19th story, and the corresponding mark is on page 579 of my edition, which is shortly after Anna buys the golden notebook and in the course of her relationship with Saul.
Considering Saul's spontaneous changes from loving to spiteful, and Anna's responses in her feelings toward Saul, I do think that she is implying the continuation of the cycle throughout adulthood, whether the hurt is physical or emotional.
Several of the other numbered short stories in this section also follow this thematic pattern of a declaration of love, a surrender, and then a rejection, in an "ironical rhythm" according to *17 (p. 515). I'd like to add to the conversation by asking how *19, as the longest and summative short story, is special, especially as it is the most outrageously parodic with in its style, as in "the intimation-bird of tragedy had touched our pearly souls." Is it supposed to be funny? Because it certainly is. Also, in many ways I find it the most childish of the stories, the implication being that an overtly masculinized style and theme comes out sounding like a story told by children: "Laughing Buddy, Buddy sat laughing, waiting in his turn. Man, what a maniac."
ReplyDeleteBut also curiously faux-sophisticated, right? This is the kind of repetition, swirling meaning, and free-indirect discourse we have come to expect from experimental novels. Why is the overtly experimental and the overtly masculine also unbearably stupid, in this short joke?
I like that you pointed out that this is one of the only times we actually get a story told from a male point of view, even though we still have to keep in mind that Anna is ultimately the one controlling the notebooks. This short story seems to characterize every negative stereotype of maleness: vulgarity, crudity, brazenness, loudness. I mean, come on, "He scratched his crotch"? (516). I guess with this comment I'm trying to figure out why we're getting now, with a little over 100 pages left in the novel, a seemingly concrete characterization of how Anna sees men? Or should we take this story as nothing more than that, a fictitious account? I'm going to say it's most likely the former, though I can't quite say why we're seeing this so late into the novel.
ReplyDeleteStupid, reductive: these are indeed good ways to characterize this particular story. Not to be too crude/vulgar/brazen etc: are men just a pain in the ass in this book, or what?
ReplyDelete