Fleshy Narratives!

Excess, elaborate descriptions of human feelings and all those gushy, lovey-dovey statements are the fleshy attribute to traditional fiction. In stripping away the inessentials and pealing off every useless word one by one, we will begin to see the bones of a work of literary art. This is precisely what postmodern fiction does. Instead of hiding the structure with the unnecessary extras, postmodern fiction "bares instead its structural bones, brings them to the surface, and retires" (page 34, Living by Fiction, Dillard). This can be far more difficult to do than traditional fiction. One must land upon a nearly perfect form and execute it immaculately for postmodern fiction to work. Traditional fiction can skip planning a form and structure and cover it up with beautifully written sentiments.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino is a perfect example of postmodern fiction. The structure, as I have mentioned in previous posts, is astounding. The mathematical pattern of the section numbers, the sine wave or cityscape that arises from these numbers, the well written, yet short, descriptions of cities placed in a well planned order. If he had written with any other form or chosen any other structure for the book, he very well would have failed and been forgotten over the years. To return to the bodily description of postmodern fiction, the bones would be his mathematical structure for the book which is shown so clearly. (What I find even more interesting is that, even if one should miss this structure while reading Invisible Cities for the first time, they will lose no respect for the writer. The style of writing is so easy to read, allowing one to simply flow through the pages with ease, shows his genius.) The poetic writing style is like the torso, the center of the structure or bones. Not to sound too cliche, but the beauty of his writing is in perfect contrast to the mathematical, more harsh structure of the book. This supports the structure and gives it more interest. The conversations between Kublai Kan and Marco Polo are the soft, light flesh making the book into a novel, creating a sense of time. This flesh isn't near thick enough to hide the bones. It is extremely thin, only thick enough to hold the bones together.

Invisible Cities has been my favorite reading and I am sad to watch it slowly pass over the horizon. I now, however, begin to dust off Othello and open the crisp pages to read it once again. I am sure many posts will come as I delve into the mind of Shakespeare!

Hannah Hoch (1889-1978)

Dada- Cordial

Hannah Hoch

(Collaboration with Hausmann)

1920

Hannah Hoch was one of the originators (or pioneers) of photomontage. She was born in 1889 in Germany. In 1912 she began studying at the College of Arts and Crafts in Berlin. To please her father, she studied glass design and graphic design instead of fine arts. At the end of her schooling in 1914, she worked for the red cross (at the start of WWI.) Hoch became friends with Raoul Hausmann, a member of the Berlin Dada movement (cultural movement in beginning in Switzerland that concentrated anti-war politics through a rejection of standards in art) in 1915. Hoch's involvement with the Berlin Dadists began in 1919. She later worked in the handicrafts department for Ullstein Verlang (and the influence from this job is seen in much of her later works in the form of dress patterns and textiles. ) From 1926 10 1929,k she lived and worked in the Netherlands.

Hannah Hoch's work with collage began more thoroughly during her relationship with Hausmann. The relationship took a toll on Hoch emotionally, but helped her grow artistically. The two worked together on the piece "Dada-Cordial" in 1920. This piece can be seen above. Even when this piece was released stating they worked on it collaboratively, Hoch was still seen as Hausmann's lover, not his equal.

The piece, "Dada-Cordial," in my opinion, was created in the Dadists movement as a way to fight the standards of art. This piece is far from classic, formal, fine art. It is far more scrapbook like. The images are abstract, and balance seems to be almost ignored in the piece, yet the format and style is still pleasing to the eye. This piece fits well into the Dadist movement and would suit the ideas it hopes to show rather well.

Hannah Hoch

Another of her pieces I found to be interesting is Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimer Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919. This is a collage of pasted papers totals at at 90x144 cm in size. It is currently at the Staatliche Museum, Berlin. Eacxh figure shown is either missing its face, has a serious face on a ridiculous body, or a silly face on a very serious body. The word "Dada" can be seen throughout the piece in newspaper text as well as "die" and "anti." This piece is very well balanced; the opposing corners have the same density. The top right and lower left are very dense with images while the top left and lower right are far less dense. The images are seemingly mocking the government and war just as the Dadist movement wants.

Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the

Last Weimer Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919

Le Città Invibili

Of course, I found the structure of the table of contents of Invisible Cities to be extremely creative. I loved the idea that it was a cityscape. So, after the question today about the table of contents in Italian, I started searching for a picture. What I managed to find made me a little disappointed. I found on wikipedia a summary of the book in Italian and it included the full table of contents in Italian. (Click here to see what I found.) I was disappointed because the text looks to be much less city-like. It is far more "flat" on the ends. The middle could still be considered a city-scape, but the first and last sections ruin it for me... The lengths of the names of the chapters are all far more similar than those in English.

Check it out and let me know what you think!!

Invisible Cities

(My analysis of the book is a true stream of conscienceness that may appear random at times. I jump from idea to idea in pure excitement over everything one can gather and interpret from Calvino's work and I will probably being adding more soon enough.)

Calvino uses interesting transitions in his novel Invisible Cities. The transition I found most obvious was actually one of the first. At the end of Cities & Memory 2, Calvino says "Desires are already memories." (page 8.) The section directly after that, curiously enough is Cities & Desire 1. It is quite obvious Calvino is trying to tie the two sections together here and he does so quite obviously. I feel this proves the idea that one cannot read the sections out of order. If you try to read all of the City & Memory sections without reading everything in between, you will be lost and unable to fully comprehend the point. To understand the idea of desire, you will in turn better understand the idea of memory, and so on.

Calvino also uses a very noticeable pattern. The numbers of the sections go as follows: (1), (2, 1), (3, 2, 1), (4, 3, 2, 1), (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)... The pattern is a constant rise and fall of numbers. When the book itself is turned sideways and opened to the table of contents, this pattern forms a visual cityscape. The changing lengths of the titles, rising and falling, act like the buildings of a city on the horizon. This number pattern therefore not only makes the novel more cohesive by allowing the sections to flow together better, but also allows the reader to find this visual phenomena of text.

Calvino, in describing the cities, at times appears to not be talking about a city at all. The names he chooses to use are all female names and in occasional passages, it truly appears that he is describing a person. The section of Anastasia was the one I first truly noticed this in. Although Calvino constantly mentions that he is discussing a city, the words he uses feel like descriptions of a woman or love. "... for while the description of Anastasia awakens desires one at a time only to force you to stifle them, when you are in the heart of Anastasia one morning your desires waken all at once and surround you" (page 12.) This passage could easily be a description of a person falling in love with another person. On either side of the passage is the word "city" which pulled me back down to reality and kept me in tune with the passage in its entirety. But while these words floated through my mind, I couldn't help but drift into a daydream of an alternative, more beautiful meaning.

As I stated in my previous post, I also enjoyed thinking about the idea of looking at things again and again from all different angles and seeing something new each time. I found it so very interesting when I learned all the descriptions were of a single city. As always, I drifted into another "mental rant." This one was about how I had experienced this idea of multiple views. New York is one of my favorite cities. I have been there so many times, stayed in different hotels, and been in different buildings. Each view and angle is always just ever so different. There is the bustling, loud, fun times square and then there is the quiet, solemn spot where the twin towers used to stand. When describing the two areas, it would sound as if I was describing different cities, but both descriptions are necessary to explain to someone who had never been to New York before what it is really like.

Looking at Cities...

After reading Invisible Cities, I began to think about how a person sees a city. I immediately thought of this video I had seen last year in one of my art classes. It may seem odd that I made a connection between the two seemingly very different things, but I found a strange and maybe useless conclusion in my mind. Both the novel and the video show how people can see a city with perfect accuracy only when they look at it from different angles. In the video, we see a man with a very unique ability to recreate a city exactly how it is, with every detail shown perfectly. To do so, he needed to take a helicopter ride, seeing each building and street from many different angles and heights. In the novel, we see this when Marco Polo describes the cities with the exact count of chimneys or miniscule details such as that. He shows us how looking from different angles, we can see things we would have never noticed before. We realize this when he tells us all the"cities" he described are all really one city. I found both of these to be very intriguing and enjoyed finding a connection between the two!!

Peace; Now, Now, Now

The documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell was everything the front cover said it was; uplifting, disheartening, inspiring, enraging.

I was uplifted by the three women and their strength as they fought for what they believed in; peace.

I was disheartened to see the children who were forced to fight and kill their families as well as when I heard how one out of three people were displaced from their homes in Liberia.

I was inspired when the women forced the men in charge to go to the peace conference and refused to let them leave until an agreement was reached.

I was enraged to see the young men taking pride in every life they took as they fought for power.

Leaving the small theatre today, I was full of confusing thoughts. Everything I felt in that short hour and a half bubbled up inside me and became nearly overwhelming. In the first scene, we see an image of children, anywhere from 8-13 years old, holding guns. A short set of white words slowly fade onto the screen. The intensity set in after a moment; they said that these children, forced to join a war they didn't understand, were also forced to kill their mothers and fathers. I couldn't even imagine what horrific things these children saw or did but that alone was enough to send chills up my spine.

Only moments later they stated the fact that one out of three people were displaced. After a long conversation today about displacement and the negative connotations tied to the word, I realized the severity of the situation. In the conversation, events such as WWII with concentration camps and the Native American reservations in the early days of North American civilization were discussed. These are two events I know something about and when I recognized the connection, I was once again horrified.

However, for everything that disturbed me, there was something to once again rise my hopes. Every moment like that was brought on by the group of women fighting for peace. They showed strength, courage, and love while fighting the rising war groups. They never needed to use any means of violence. They held their signs, chanted, and sang. It was a true expression of power in numbers. While the men deliberated in the peace meeting, the women positioned themselves to block every exit. They refused to move until an agreement was made. It was actions like these that were brought on in a moments notice with support from many different people with different beliefs that brought peace to Liberia.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

(Check this out if you didn't get a chance to watch the documentary!)

I'm OK, You're OK

My first attempt with Adobe Photoshop Premier Pro CS4!! These are two videos Itook at a Coldplay concert in 2008.

(This is one is extremely simple because I spent most of my time working with Rose on a project! To see it check out her blog!)

I am NOT a feminist, but...

Today I heard Professor Susan Douglas' talk "Fantasies of Girl Power: How the Media Make Feminism Seem Unnecessary, and Sexism Fun?" My favorite of her many sentiments was her early description of how the media portrays feminists; a group of raging lesbians or insane woman who find sexism in every possible thing. Not to mention they have hairy legs and are hideously ugly. So therefore no woman in her right mind would EVER want to admit to be a f-word!! That explains why women today must always begin their feminist-sounding sentiments with "I am NOT a feminist, but..." It seems silly that the media has taken a very powerful movement and turned into a terrible idea held only by social outcasts. It seems everyone just wants to pretend we have reached full equality and will go on living without a care. The media certainly is giving us that idea! Professor Douglas touched on how television today portrays women in powerful, high-paying positions in rather important businesses. She also mentioned how this makes the media "ahead of its time" because we are not quite there yet seeing as women are still being paid around 50% less than men.

My favorite group Professor Douglas mentioned to be "feminist" was the Spice Girls. They promoted "Girl Power!" which was a toned down, secretive way of promoting further equality and feminist beliefs. The Spice Girls could teach young women that they should always be treated fairly by men and that they should not except inequality without being looked down upon. It was a rather ingenious plan that stretched over a few generations!!

As Professor Douglas continued, she showed us the downfalls in our society. She said that she wonders how Hooters is still in business or how all of those Spring Break shows are on television still if women have been making further leaps towards equality. I found this interesting, seeing the downfall in my own life in a way. I know I am one to watch trashy tv. I understand it is bad to portray women in this light, but come on, it is still entertaining! Especially after a long day of classes when your brain feels fried and you really just need a good pick-me-up. I am most definitely one of the girls she described, the ones who gather in groups to watch shows like My Super Sweet Sixteen simply to laugh and judge the girls who try to jump into the limelight, if even for an instant. So my question is... does this make me a bad person? Or a bad "female" per se? Am I not helping the feminist movement by watching these shows?

The reach for equality between men and women is something not very difficult to mentally grasp but so very difficult to physically grasp. Why? I have no clue. Seems simple enough, it isn't like women haven't proven themselves to be equal in almost every sense. So why are women paid less and why do women have lesser jobs? Will this ever change? It is pretty difficult to fathom a world different than the one we live in now, but I hope whole-heartedly that someday equality for all is reached so that we can all live "happily ever after"...

Girl, Interrupted Movie Clip

This has to be my favorite scene!!! It really was the first time I liked Lisa. I thought it was great the way they all stick up for Susanna!

(warning, a little explicit...)

Girl, Interrupted

"Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is... Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever. They were not perfect, but they were my friends and by the '70s most of them were out living lives. Some I've seen, some never again, but there isn't a day my heart doesn't find them." Susanna; Girl, Interrupted (1999)

This line struck me as I watched Susanna sit in the back of the same cab she had ridden in before. I realized how true and honest it was. "It's you or me amplified." We all know we have told lies for enjoyment, how could you not? When someone asks you if you like the clothes they have on, and you honestly hate them, do you say it to their face? Some people do, but I know I will almost always answer with a simple white lie. So couldn't it be said that if you amplified that part of me, the part that doesn't want to state the truth, that I would be no different than Georgina? It is really quite simple. Everyone has "crazy" tendencies, they are just lesser known than the characters in the movie or the people in hospitals.

It is difficult for some to admit to these tendencies. Some people are so caught up in their own worlds that they don't want to admit they could have a little insanity inside them. This makes Susanna even more unique. Watching the movie, we all know she is (almost) perfectly normal. We see her daydream and lose herself, but who doesn't at some point? Especially when being lectured at by people who think they know her better than she knows herself. She realizes and admits to having, though, this tendency and this touch of insanity everyone has. She is told this makes her different in a strange, corky sort of way. And she accepts it. She signs herself into the hospital only because everyone else tells her it's wrong.

I will admit that this experience was good for her in a sense, allowing her to learn about herself through others, and it was possibly necessary for her to make he life choices she did. She admits that seeing death made it just that much less appealing. So maybe she needed to meet Daisy, maybe she needed to see her hanging there after being driven further into insanity by Lisa, maybe this saved her from doing something terrible to herself later on. We will never know. It still seems awfully harsh, someone so young seeing so much evil.

Overall, I enjoyed Girl, Interrupted. I thought it was a wonderful movie and I enjoyed searching for little things like color and pattern like we did while watching Jaws just a few days back. Some scenes bothered me, like whenever Susanna went off on any of my other favorite characters like Polly and Valerie, but I got over them soon enough. I look forward to watching the movie again sometime soon to see if I can find anything I missed the first time!

I'll let you all know if I do! =D


IMDB; Girl, Interrupted (1999)

A Room of One's Own

Reading this book has been a rather difficult, and at times unbearable, task. I have fought with myself to keep reading. Every few minutes I find myself tracing the lines with my eyes while retaining none of what they saw. I have forced myself to turn off the computer only to turn it back on moments later. Out of pure frustration, I decided to take a break. My first thought, of course, was to go to youtube. I wanted to watch my usual favorites, but searched Virginia Woolf instead, just to make myself feel ever so slightly more productive. The first result was a BBC interview with her. I clicked and began to listen. I suddenly realized something. This book had been written based on the speeches she had given. Listening to her speak had a much greater impact on me, like the words made more sense. So with this new found respect for Woolf, I went back to reading.

"... to have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound-proof room, was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich..." (page 52)

Woolf begins to paint us a picture in this paragraph better describing how difficult it was for women writers in this time. She goes on a rant about how she is left without a place to go. At this time, women have been ever so slightly more accepted into the writing world but without money or a place to go, they cannot produce the ingenious work they are capable of. Of course, they are still criticized, as she states, "The world did not say to her as it said to them, Write if you choose; it makes no difference to me. The world said with a guffaw, Write? What's the good of your writing?" She even adds "the best woman was intellectually the inferior of the worst man." She seems to use these words in a mocking way, showing obvious disgust towards anyone who thinks such things. But how is a woman supposed to prove herself a worthy writer if she must deal with only a third of what a man is given?! She needs her own place and space to grow as a writer and live the fulfilling life she so dreams of.

Just before the previous mentioned rant, she went on a two page tyrade about how a female Shakespeare born in the same time period as the actual Shakespeare would have been criticized and held back to the point that all she had left was death (which now having a better understanding of Woolf's life has left me wondering if that was similar to what happened to her...) I found this to be a rather interesting depiction of Victorian England, showing the side that remains unspoken. I am sure at least one woman was born with such genius only to be pushed aside. This had then reminded me of Shakespeare in Love (1998) which is a fabulous movie that is completely based around this exact thought. A young woman wanted to prove her genius as an actress so she disguises herself as a man to participate in one of Shakespeare's plays. I laughed at the comparison and had a sudden to urge to watch that movie again!

Writerly Identity

When it comes to writing, it is difficult to say what my strengths or weaknesses are.

I have a fairly good vocabulary, but sometimes using elaborate sentences can sound like a ploy... A simple and failing attempt to get by with only a limited knowledge of a subject. I'm not saying I'd EVER use it for that, but I guess I can see how you may think it is all just baloney.

Expressing my honest opinions is usually not very difficult for me to do. I greatly enjoy writing analyses of books or historical events or politics... Pretty much anything really... But my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE kind of writing is, strangely enough, research papers.... While most kids enjoyed their lovely summer afternoons in middle school, I sat at home writing a 3+ page research paper on humming birds. Why? I have no clue. But I still remember some of the crazy facts I learned. I know, I must be insane or something, I am not denying it.

There are many ways I can improve my writing. I need to get better at reading my writing with a critical eye so that I don't always hand them in at least 200 words over the limit. I also need to get better at correcting errors. I am usually so excited to be done when I finally finish writing that I print and call it complete. The whole "editing" thing never really crosses my mind until I find someone to read it for me... I am hoping to work on both of these this semester in my writing class...

For me, writing is like a box of chocolates. Just kidding. Really though, for me writing is like a mini battle against myself. I have to force myself to stop contemplating what to write and just start! I tend to spend WAY too much time analyzing the question and looking at it from a million perspectives to try and find what I like best. Then I sit retyping the first sentence over and over again. Once that's down though, I am literally ready to go and I keep typing until my fingers are numb... Things come easily for a while. When I finish typing and need to read it over, the battle starts right back up. I hate reading my papers over like I said earlier because it is so gosh darn frustrating. I mean really, I just finished writing, why the heck do I need to read it? That's usually when I pass it on for peer(or parental)-editing... The next day I will force myself to try and sit down and read it again, usually finding various silly spelling or grammar mistakes... Handing it in is like the final signing of the peace treaty with myself. Sounds fun, doesn't it?