coffee with DT

So I went to the coffee meeting with DT Max at 2pm. I normally don't ever drink coffee but I needed something to do with my hands because I was just sitting there like:

The coffee was really hot and I got incredibly hyper towards the end of the talk with him. He doesn't drink coffee, he had brought his own tea. 

Anyway, so we were all sitting around in the Mandresa Den and we started off just talking about the work that he had been doing lately.. which was some piece on this cool place in Italy called Matera that is this city that was basically dug out of the side of a mountain and these people lived there since forever but sometime in the 1900s they were kicked out and then a few decades ago some hipsters (his word, not mine) took over the place and started living there. Here's a picture of that place:

And then we talked about publishing and things of that sort and then the evolution of his career from Harvard newspaper to working on the "slicks" magazines like Vogue and such to being an editor for the New Yorker and then being a writer for the New Yorker because he didn't want to be an editor anymore. Because that's just something you do because you feel like it. 

We talked about other things that he did and he tried to tie it in with whatever we were interested in. So he talked about some of his fiction that he writes and then we talked about what the hell "Creative Non-ficiton" is and then how advertisements affect how things are read and what are read and all things like that. We were theorizing what the New Yorker would be like in 10 years or so and how different it would be and how no one could possibly know what any of our jobs would be like in that amount of time, but we were pretty sure that what he did wouldn't be a thing that could still exist. 

Actually toward the middle of the hour and a half meeting, he told us that specifics of the chat shouldn't go anywhere. I think he was worried that we were taping him or something and that he had said silly things.. but he hadn't said silly things but none of us were taping him either but I will refrain  from putting in quotes here that I had written down. Just incase he sees this somehow.

DT Max

This talk was very different from all the other ones I’ve been to. Because this man was a biographer, his presentation was mostly on the subject of his biography. Therefore, instead of talking about his personal, like most guest speakers end up doing, the talk was mostly on David Foster Wallace.

To be completely honest the conversation actually inspired me to go read some David Foster Wallace. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by him, and if I did I don’t particularly recall. However, his life is pretty fascinating and I would love to see how that reflects in his writing.

I loved the fact that he was so smart, often smarter than everybody in the room even in graduate school. Also the fact that he was a competitor, David would not settle by getting his degree in whatever university; he needed to go to Harvard.

David Foster Wallace said, “I just don’t have enough gas right now to do things so well or so fast. And I’m trying to be okay with that.” Of all the talk, this line caught my attention and I needed to write it down because it is so real. As a perfectionist myself, I really understand where this sentiment is coming from.

Even though he was so smart, and had so many talents and abilities, David was not happy. He hated himself. It made me think about how in reality really intelligent people are often miserable, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Albert Einstein. I guess they see the world differently, perhaps even more realistically, and the cold hard truth makes them sad. I guess this is why some people say that ignorance is bliss.  

Writing Techniques

In the short story "Emergency" by Denis Johnson, I greatly enjoyed the tone. It helped the story flow and made the context easier to read and relate to. The tone of the story also blends well with the dialogue of the characters. Johnson's use of a sarcastic, humorous, and casual tone allowed for the reader to find the characters to be more relatable and create a setting that was interesting to imagine. The dialogue between the characters was also attention-grabbing because the content was unusual, weird and fun. Georgie, the orderly at the hospital, would talk about random or unusual things and because the two main characters were also pill-poppers, their conversations were still interesting. Tone is an important element in a short story or any piece of work because it helps to set up the mood for the reader to better understand how to interpret the setting and actions that are taking place. In regards to dialogue, Johnson did a wonderful job adding a significant amount of dialogue so that the story was continuously moving in a sense. The dialogue made the story more lively and it helps to ground the reader in what is happening in the story. Although the dialogue was a large portion of the story, the descriptions in between the dialogue were very thorough. "I saw bits of snow resembling an abundance of blossoms on the stems of the drive-in speakers - no, revealing the blossoms that were always there. A bull elk stood still in the pasture beyond the fence giving off an air of authority and stupidity" (Johnson 283). The metaphors and comparisons that Johnson uses to describe surroundings is interesting and keeps the wording and tone fun.

Short Story Techniques

I think that the use of dialogue in Emergency is extremely powerful and makes the story much more believable, even if it may not be realistic. Dialogue takes up so much of the story leaving a lot of the characterization and plot development to the characters to relay to the reader. Having a character that works in a hospital that is freaked out by blood is a great character trait that makes this character three-dimensional. Creating a character like that I think makes dialogue both surprising and interesting to write and read because the character seems to talk completely from his own head, you seem to forget that this is a constructed narrative, and the character feels realistic. Other people's dialogue toward him also shape how we understand and know Georgie. When asking if he should prep the patient, the doctor asks "Is this a hospital? Is this the emergency room? Is that a patient? Are you the orderly?" (277) and the sarcasm here shows how people at the hospital view him. Instead of writing outrightly that people at the hospital see him as a joke and that they think he's not the brightest, this piece of dialogue conveys it perfectly. We also understand how much Georgie cares about living beings through his dialogue because instead of saying "he cared a lot about animals" we see him questioning the narrator repeatedly about the bunnies and trying to figure out ways to help them out even though they were already dead. Through dialogue we understand Georgie, a guy who works in a hospital, is freaked out by blood and death, but really wants to save lives.

Short Story Techniques-Emergency

I really enjoyed the story Emergency by Denis Johnson. It was interesting to me how the author chose to tell the story. He uses separate scenes that have honestly not much to do with each other in order to convey to the reader Georgie's character. I found this very realistic. When I'm describing someone to someone else, I often use anecdotes to give someone a full picture. The story is about Georgie and the main character’s relationship, and in that way doesn’t have an arc or this big climactic ending, it’s just a re-telling. I also enjoyed how the author used dialogue to tell his story as well. When we meet people, we form our opinions about them by listening to what they say and watching what they do. We aren’t given spreadsheets of a person’s likes and dislikes or characteristics-which can often be seen in writing. In reality, we have to be shown these things, and Johnson does a great job of showing Georgie and the main character’s personalities through their conversations together.  

Short Story Writing Techniques

            When I read Train by Joy Williams, I really enjoyed her writing style and how minimalist it is. She writes about a mundane situation, letting the readers take a glimpse of two young girls on a train ride and, while there isn’t any particular plot, I enjoyed the well-developed characters and I like how she uses dialogue to reveal character. Effectively using dialogue to reveal a character’s personality and motives, gives readers a sense of freedom because the writer does not spoon feed them what they need to know.

            I also like how there was not much of a substantial plot in Train. This short story is about ten-year-old Danica who is traveling to Florida with her best friend, Jane Muirhead and her parents. In a short duration, readers see the strained relationship between Jane’s parents as well as the relationship between Danica and Jane. While they consider themselves both best friends, both of them have the ability to make the other person mad. In addition, they act older for their age. 

            I like how the story was set during a train ride because it does reveal little about the time that passes between the characters as well as giving the characters a chance to have an outlet to reveal who they are without any day-to-day worries or interruptions.

            Overall, I really liked the writing style of Williams because my favorite part as a reader, is reading about flawed and well-developed characters and I think she accomplishes that by effectively using dialogue.

Short Story Techniques

The first thing I noticed when reading "Emergency" was how similar the writing style was to "Cathedral."  Both used styles of writing that were informal which reflected the characters in the stories.  For example, in "Emergency," the narrator is telling the story in a conversational style; when he calls for the eye man  he says, "The eye man is on vacation or something." Very informal.  "Cathedral" was similar in that the husband narrated the story in a tone that reflected his worldview which was kind of narrow.  This casual style isn't my favorite to read, but I do like how it reflects the characters' personalities.  The style says so much about the character without having to actually write "So and so is a working class blue collar kind of guy."
Jayne Ann Phillips did something kind of similar in her story, by not using much punctuation, especially in dialogue.  While reading dialogue without quotations, to me, it makes the conversation a little more flat and less significant.  I think that's also another reflection of the characters point of view; in "Home" it conveys to me that the narrator is kind of done with her mom's BS.