Reading Response: “The Aleph” by Jorge Luis Borges

Admittedly, this is my first exposure to Borges. I think I've found a favorite new author. I was quickly aware of the magical realism in this story, although I'm really just passingly aware of its existence. So, it turns out Borges is essentially a pioneer of the genre.

While looking up other references to the Aleph (the phenomenon, not the short story or letter), I found myself drawn into Borges' Wikipedia article.  I found the Aleph fascinating, not only because of the surreal/mystical potentialities, but also because of the era in which it was written.

Structurally, I'm fascinated by the tension Borges creates in the story. While the author focuses at first on Beatriz Viterbo, wistfully remembering her, he seems drawn to her pompous cousin Carlos in a conflicted manner. His amazement at the Aleph is similarly conflicted; despite the revelations it presents; he calls it a 'false Aleph,' and then presents of us with 'proof' of similar objects from literature and history, which he seems to prefer.

Clearly, I'll need to revisit this story again to see what else it reveals. Also, this.

Zine - People Are People

My zine: People Are People* (Autumn 2019).

Reading Response: "Jacklighting" by Ann Beattie

I appreciate the opening of Jacklighting: "It is Nicholas's birthday. Last year he was alive..." (p. 77). Beattie might as well have written "Something bad happened, and everything is different now," much as Banks might've written "something bad will happen, and it will change everything" in "The Child Screams and Looks Back at You." Of course Beattie uses this wording on purpose, and we are led through a description of somewhat mundane activities before learning that Nicholas had brain damage and died after being hit by a drunk driver.

Nicholas appears to have been the eccentric or a visionary, definitely the one who noticed things no one else notices. It may be that trait of his that has become his brother and friend's biggest loss. He is the man, Beattie writes, in what I assume to be Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Brussels, Belgium" (1932), who is looking to the side, rather than at the wall.

Beattie's style reminds me a bit of Kerouac, in the way she describes the details of everyday life. In the end, what else is there?

Reading Response: “The Child Screams Back at You” by Russel Banks

The breathless opening reminded me immediately of Luke O’Neil https://luke.substack.com/, where the hurried stream of consciousness implies an overwhelmed sensibility. I read Luke’s blog when I want to feel shittier about the world, and it usually works. I think he would approve. 

There was a nearly constant sense of tension, a foreboding, a waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop that kept me reading Banks straight through. The dream passage that includes the title (p. 68) really illustrates this sentiment. This sense of impending doom was rewarded, as expected.

Here is the main reason I go to the doctor: “Information is useful only insofar as it provides peace of mind, release from the horrifying visions of dead children, an end to this dream” (p. 67). I love how the doctor starts with mild possible sicknesses and then ratchets up the severity as more proof emerges. I had a discussion of this nature when my son broke his arm. (A Spiderman costume was involved.) The doctor said he didn’t think it was broken, and I said, “I heard it snap” and insisted on an x-ray, revealing a badly broken forearm. 

Thanks, Leslie, for the Robyn Hitchcock

My cousin Leslie turned me onto Robyn Hitchcock with a mix-tape she made for me in the lates 80s or early 90s. Robyn still performs regularly on KEXP. Here is his latest performance from 2017.
His songs that I initially fell in love with include Globe of Frogs and Sleeping With Your Devil Mask. Make sure you also listen to his Swedish version of Alright, Yeah. (after listening to the original English version, of course).

If you are in Seattle on a weekday, swing by KEXP, you might get a chance to see Robyn, or a number of other great bands live and for free! Until then, check out the amazing archive of live performances, and discover something new!

Miss you, cousin!

Reading Response: "Hair Jewellery" by Margaret Atwood

Atwood's "Hair Jewellery" has come unstuck in time. Despite obvious clues like airports and parking lots, I wasn't sure if it was an American Gothic tale with fears of consumption or a bleak future. The narrator makes repeated references to herself or others being scholars or writers in the vein of Poe, Hawthorne or Tennyson. Atwood's writing style also leaves us with impressions of grey clothes and dismal air; she is constantly clutching at historical references that lend uncertainty as to when we are.

The narrator says "I resurrect myself through clothes," but being poor, like the rest of us, she gets her clothes from Filene's Basement, a squalid, second-hand store where nothing fits. She notes that "No one went there who did not aspire to a shape-change, a transformation, a new life" (p. 29) and her despair about the future is palpable: "Our problem, I thought, was that neither the world around us nor the future stretching before us contained any image of what we might conceivably become" (p. 31). The sense of melancholy continues: "alone I could wallow uninterrupted in romantic doom" (p. 34). Even as she notes that 'banality is after all the magic antidote for unrequited love" (p. 38), this doesn't seem to cure her of her melancholy, even after she has a new career, a husband, and children.