David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day (read this!)
David Huddle, Men at Night
This is a take on order and disorder in the military. An aborted training mission leads to discontent in the ranks, until it's corrected through discipline and cadence. It's hyper-real and reads like an understated action movie, eschewing sensory description and challenging prose for stunted clarity, in much the same way that military life is stripped down compared to civilian life. There's some ambiguity; the reader doesn't learn why the mission was canceled. It's a bit like those paintings that are nothing but curves, but your mind fills in space based on experience, and you see a flushed-out, complete work of art.
I read this one too and I didn't right about it because frankly I was confused but I suppose that is the point? That you follow orders, don't as questions and just keep on keeping on. I like how you compare that confusion with a work of art-- I could visualize it.
ReplyDeleteI feel that commenting on this before I read it is pointless (sorry Dave!), but it sounds interesting. I will comment again after I have read it later this week.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Mary about the confusion, by the way. I've seen a couple posts taking on Sedaris and didn't want to promote monotony.
ReplyDeleteI will comment on this before reading the essay to prove Tristan wrong. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe essay review is very strong, and I love the way you're pointing out a specific feature of the prose, Matt. The only thing missing is a relevant section from the text to show us what you're talking about. a 16 word quote suddenly teaches us how to write with "stunted clarity" ourselves.
Could also hear more about the art comparison, word limit be damned.
DW
Ouch, my ego is in shambles now!
DeleteI think it's the sentence structure that produces the element you're talking about. So many subject-verb sentences in a row. Rat-tat-tat, just-the-facts-please-maam sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteI often call this sort of thing "traumatized voice" because the writer is trying to suggest, either consciously or not, that the events were so intense that they can only be reported in a straightforward, reporting manner, without any affectation.
DW
"The c-130 landed back at the air base. It was the first time any of us trainees had landed in one of those c-130s [note the repetition; it has the same effect]. The landing was rough and frightening, the plane bouncing and fishtailing on the runway. The rear ramps were let down for us. They did not tell us why the night jump did not take place."
Repetition and sentence structure contributes to a droning feeling. A scared, but businesslike voice.