How to Break Article Noun -- Background/Resources

[Marc]

This thread is for general background about the book and author. Let us know if you'll be joining in on this discussion and please share anything interesting you may have found out about the book, publisher, or author.

- Description of the book from the publisher (Journal of Experimental Fiction)
- A List of Chun's Publications
- Twin for Sale -- A Web Comic by Carolyn Chun

Physics & New Wave Cinema References of Possible Interest
- 15 Basic Physics Concepts to Help You Understand Our World
- What Exactly Is An Even Horizon (and What Happens There)?
- What Is the Higgs Boson?
- What is French New Wave?
- French New Wave Wikipedia Page

[Bretnie]

I'll be joining! I started the book but put it down for a bit, so I'll pick it back up again this week.

I'm pretty new to experimental fiction, so this feels like a "try new things" read for me.

[Hugh]

I plan to start reading tomorrow.

[Zeynep T.]

I've read first 20 pages and then accepted fact that the book was beyond my intellectual capacity, especially physics references. Thus I began searching. The first helpful explanation I could see was contest (Kenneth Patchen Innovative Fiction Award) judge Yuriy Tarnawsky's statement which can be found in the description section of the book's amazon page. Since then I am enjoying the book a bit better. I really appreciate this thread and all the sources provided as well. I also want to note that the writer majored in mathematics and physics. I suppose that explains lots of things. I don't think I could contribute to the discussions extensively, but I am looking forward to reading your reviews.

[Marc]

Glad to have you all on board!

I also found Tarnawsky's comments rather helpful as a sort of framing/context for the book, plainzt. I'll paste her text here in case it's of interest to others:

“You can break many things, especially the fragile ones, but also feelings and concepts. In her novel Carolyn Chun touches on the subject of breaking the former two—a bottle and a glass fish—but even though she doesn’t say it openly, the book is really about the latter—breaking a person’s heart and the traditional form of the novel. HOW TO BREAK ARTICLE NOUN is a carefully crafted work consisting of seven parts, with seven chapters each, which are intricately interwoven to make up for the absence of a plot. ‘I didn’t want to have a love story until I found life to be an abiding romance with the world. I didn’t want to write a love story until I found life to be an abiding romance with words,’ the author tells the reader in the two-sentence Introduction. It is the love of words—language and the forms it may take on—that shapes this elegantly presented story of the breakup of a relationship. The reader is told that this is what the book is about on the very first line with the words ‘Can you close the door and sit down? Something bad,’ which are repeated throughout the book many times like sequences in a Resnais movie. In addition to influences from film, Chun brings into her novel such diverse elements as pictures, terms and formulas from physics, botanical names, Latin words, poetry, and even an essay; all of this while documenting a touching and psychologically convincing case study of two people growing apart. HOW TO BREAK ARTICLE NOUN was chosen as the winner of the Kenneth Patchen Innovative Fiction Award over a number of worthy candidates for the exceptional craft and originality with which it is written as well as for an insightful and precisely rendered depiction of a crisis in the life of two human beings.”—Yuriy Tarnawsky

[Zeynep T.]

Marc wrote: "Glad to have you all on board!

I also found Tarnawsky's comments rather helpful as a sort of framing/context for the book, plainzt. I'll paste her text here in case it's of interest to others:

“..."

Thank you for posting the comment, Marc. I thought about sharing it as well, but I wasn't sure about thread rules. I hope it could be helpful to the other readers, too.

[Marc]

Our only "rules" per se are about respecting fellow members. If you find something helpful or anything spurs ideas/reactions/etc., please do share it.

[Bretnie]

plainzt, I do hope you join the discussion! I'm feeling like a dummy reading it, so I'm gonna guess our discussion won't feel overly intellectual. Or at least I plan on approaching it that way, ha.

[Marc]

Read the Twin for Sale link above and Chun will seem more approachable (not saying this book will be, but she'll seem less like some sort of science/math genius). :)

[Whitney]

This book looks great. As a last minute warrior, though, I only just ordered it, so who knows when it will arrive. If it's early enough, I hope to join in before everyone has dispersed.

[Stacia]

I just started it today.

[Bretnie]

Whitney, my copy came pretty quick!

[LindaJ^]

My copy came quickly as well.

[Whitney]

Hey, my book arrived! You haven't started the discussion yet, have you?

Anyway, I look forward to reading everyone's comments. Sorry I missed out on the main discussion, but still glad it inspired me to get this book. Since I was ordering from JEF, I also got Plague City by Genelle Chaconas, which also looks really interesting. It doesn't seem to be listed in GR yet, so I couldn't find a link.

[Marc]

We'll still be discussing till the end of July and I've got a ton of notes/topics I can still torture you with! :D

[Whitney]

I'll try to get to it this weekend, hate to miss out on literary torture!

[Marc]

:D
https://i.giphy.com/media/c7F108HNB3wr3cAJtT/giphy.webp