Cliff Garstang's recent posts

Recent public discussion board posts (showing 1-20 of 29).

Jennifer,
I enjoyed the interview, and already have Andrew's book!

At first when I read your comment I thought maybe you were from the T.C. Boyle fan forum, a group of readers who always take issue with my opinion of the Boyle stories; some of them visit concerning other stories also. But when I checked the sitemeter on my blog I saw that traffic was coming from Goodreads . . .

Hi, all, and Barbara thank you for leaving a comment on my blog. I'm also a Goodreads member so I thought I'd stop by. (I comment on the week's New Yorker story every week, by the way, if people ever want to stop by and chat about it there.)

I don't disagree with anything you all have said, but I've got a couple of questions. What do you make of the one son's virtual disappearance from the story? That bothered me. And what about those tense shifts? I still can't explain them.

As for the hyphen, I think we're meant to understand that the mother is an observant woman. Some people commenting on my blog didn't give her much credit--didn't think she'd get the Blanche reference, for example--but I think the fact that she wonders about the hyphen means that she's pretty sharp. Maybe it means more, but for me that's enough.

Steven, I agree with all your comments. I took a workshop with Hal last year and also read this book. I feel like I now have the tools to do a screenplay . . .

Content? Hmm. I think it's a question of density. Flash is to Short Story as Short Story is to Novel. Butler's differentiation suggests that a flash could be the first two pages of a short story that goes on for another 8 pages, so long as there is the "epiphany of yearning" in those two pages. In other words, the flash forms around that moment, as opposed to the greater moment of realization on which a story usually turns, and that, I think, contributes to its density.

I heard Robert Olen Butler discuss flash at AWP and I am drawn to his definition. Flash is distinguished from a prose-poem by a narrative that moves through time which is, it seems to me, one way of characterizing "plot." I think this bare minimum of plot is vital. He also talked about how the double-epiphany of short fiction (the Joycean epiphany in its various forms at the end of the story, but also the earlier epiphany where the character's "yearning" is revealed) can be condensed in flash to just the latter. And I found these concepts liberating because until then I had been floundering in a sea of contradictory definitions of flash. For now, this is mine!

I agree with what you say about this book - I was in a writing group with the author for a while - but have to correct one thing: he is not the son of the former Disney head.

I went through a long Kosinski phase, reading everything I could get. In grad school, in the late '70s, I had a particularly graphic quotation from The Painted Bird taped to the door of my dorm room. I'm not sure what impression I was trying to give, but it was some of the most powerful writing I'd ever seen.

Hey, Jim, how coincidental that we're both reading this! I wonder why?

Short attention span here, so I probably won't move right on to the next story in a collection or a literary magazine. But I do like to keep making progress, measured in pages or number of stories, so I won't let much time pass -- a meal, an errand -- before I read the next one.

Unless I think the ending is killer, in which case I'll take some time to study it, and save it for a file of endings I keep (because endings are the hardest part).

I agree with snarky, but not with the lack of reasoned argument. There's plenty here, but I can see how someone would have trouble getting past the snarkiness.

But tell us how you really feel! I'm with you, but I feel so strongly about damage that has been done in the name of religion that I'm willing to go along for the ride just this once.

Well, I already like it and I know I agree completely with the basic premise. But I just saw a great review in a Buddhist magazine that complained about Hitchens lumping Buddhism in with other religions, and basically not understanding what Buddhist teachings are all about (i.e., it's not a religion), so I'm anxious to see that part for myself and make my own judgment.

I've listened to this a couple of times and enjoyed it very much, mostly for what it taught me about Matthiessen than about the writing life in general, but I do think about metaphors differently as a result of this "book."

Shh, don't tell anyone but I haven't read The Hours yet.

I'm glad you reminded me of this, Mary. I also thought it was wonderful and can't wait for her next book.

Ooh, I just got that. Looking forward to your thoughts on it.

All of Cathy's work is *****!

This reminds me that I've been wanting to re-read all the Hesse (I've got everything that's been translated into English) to see why I was so enthralled by him in high school and college. This was one of my favorites.

Not so much, no. But it's partly a function of Bloom's work getting repetitive after a while and partly a function of having studied with her (an experience I don't recommend).