What is a novel?

As an undergrad, when I heard the novel was a European export--in other words, a form of colonization--it gave me a new context to look at my own reading experiences. I was never taught the longevity of reading a novel, nor the joy of what a good story can bring, so I hated stories. I never understood narrative, how it worked, what a story was really "about," when others could critically look at a story as a whole and not its parts. My love was for comic books, just as many other poets I know.

So as I am sitting down with my outline for a novel about Bleeding Kansas, it hit me--the parts I have enjoyed writing are the small moments, not in trying to mimic what a novel "is," how it is "written."

Why am I trying to employ the same colonizing methods in telling a story about the violence and horror of colonization?

Then I pick up the book I am in love with: Family Resemblance: An Anthology and Exploration of Eight Hybrid Literary Genres, edited by Marcela Sulak and Jacqueline Kolosov. It is basically the things I have loved reading this past decade, all in one, never putting together why I love flash fiction, prose poetry, etc. Well, the hybridity of these things--I am in love with how hybrid writing becomes metaphor, becomes meta-, and why did I not think of this sooner?

In the novel, I wanted the works of literature of 1856 to be a part of the story. I wanted the protagonist to think of his story, with him as a narrator as he is narrating.

Now I have my method of how I will finish. I was too busy concerned with what "chapters" would be, and trying to force the story in these compartments: that something should begin and end in a chapter that propels the story forward.

That's not my style. That is the box those teachers tried to show me, but couldn't, as they hadn't discovered the value of comic books, and I hadn't discovered the real poetry being written--not the interpretations.

It comes down to what I love about Deb Olin Unferth's Vacation. I loved that "novel." When I show parts of it to students, they hate it.

We've been trained to box up our genres. We've been trapped in a continuing colonizing culture. Post-colonization is the myth that colonization has ended. It is White privilege.

The main reason I wanted this novel is to provide my voice in the Black Lives Matter Movement. I do not want to re-enact the power of novels, like those White settlers saying, "Look at this high literature."

Maybe that is why Moby-Dick, circa 1856, is powerful. His hybrid writing not only challenges the model of the novel, but his subversion includes abolitionist viewpoints. Yes!

David Bowie

passed away today. I spent my time in the Eighties listening to his music from the Sixties, then my Nineties relistening through the Eighties. Ziggy Stardust became my anthem, just as for a lot of people. I remember renting the VHS tape of The Man Who Fell To Earth from The Butler Did It, as they had a variety of Sci-Fi classics I was happy to view.

The most awe-inspiring, heartbreaking thing for me is his latest Blackstar. I want to spend some time with this music. It's sold out on amazon, so I went to BN.com.

Reading Moby-Dick Pt I

I owe a lot to comic books for my reading and spelling skills, as books were difficult for me to get through when I was younger. In the Eighties, as both heroes and villains could be intelligent, the writers chose to use complicated vocabularies to demonstrate their "genius," so off to the dictionary I went.

Comic book artists like Bill Sienkiewicz also changed my perceptions about art--that art can be directly accessible and inexpensive. One title that proved this was a Classics Illustrated book (put out by Marvel) of Moby-Dick.

http://www.amazon.com/Moby-Classics-Illustrated-Herman-Melville/dp/0425120236
http://www.billsienkiewiczart.com/gallery.asp?sc=BSMOB

I loved how Bill Sienkiewicz, given only a certain number of pages, applied his unique style he had developed over the years 1984 through 1990 (when the book came out).

Right now, you can buy a copy for $4 on amazon. I am going to revisit mine as I begin the reading of the classic.

I found this copy to be interesting, and I am waiting for it to arrive:

http://books.wwnorton.com/books/webad.aspx?id=11008

Books Read in 2016

My friend Melanie always reports on the books she has read every year. I would like to do that as a tradition, so I thought I would begin tonight, on NYE of 2015.

Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick: It's a quick but rich read, wonderful in its analysis and in putting together the context of the story with Melville and 1850. I appreciate this as a writer, too, as Philbrick breaks things down in themes and analysis. 

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr: How could I not pick this one up?! Her frankness, humor, and ease are wonderful and inspirational. Really, she lays out the truth as she knows it, one of the things she says about memoir writing.

Postmarked: Bleeding Kansas, Letters from the Birthplace of the Civil War, Pioneer Dispatches from Edward and Sarah Fitch: Living in Lawrence during 1855-63, ending with Quantrill's raid of Lawrence. This is a wonderful book of letters--full of hope, struggle, and heartbreak. 

Map: Exploring the World by Phaidon Press: Cartography Lovers Unite! This is the one to get, as it shows so many wonderful maps throughout time, the stories behind them, and how maps say more in what is omitted in them.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates: As Toni Morrison says, "This is required reading." Memoir meets history meets you need to read this. Race is a fabrication by white supremacy built on slavery, redlining, police brutality, and incarceration. Also, very heartfelt, vulnerable, and NEEDED!

Moby-Dick (Norton Critical Editions, Second Edition) by Herman Melville: A classic, rediscovered while researching Bleeding Kansas and the books released around that time.

Family Resemblance: An Anthology and Exploration of Eight Hybrid Literary Genres, edited by Marcela Sulak and Jacqueline Kolosov. It is basically the things I have loved reading this past decade all in one. This serves as an explanation I hadn't thought of: why I love flash fiction, prose poetry, etc. Well, the hybridity of these things--I am in love with how hybrid writing becomes metaphor, becomes meta-, and why did I not think of this sooner? Each writer includes an essay about her or his work, then a part of the work. In fact, many of my favorite writers are here. 43 authors is a good number, but I am looking forward to Volume Two.

Like Water for Chocolate

Oscar Wao

Food, Inc. Reading Supplement

A Book Review of My Secret Wars of 1984 by Melissa Fite Johnson

I am deeply moved by this book review, as it touches on the things I hoped to accomplish with the book.

[

Dennis Etzel, Jr.’s deeply inspired My Secret Wars of 1984 is a wholly original collection. Each page contains an untitled prose poem, which add up to 366 alphabetized sentences, one for each day in 1984. That year is emphasized on every page, as song and film titles from that time take on new meaning. For Etzel, it was a “cruel summer,” and the way he and his family were treated was a “neverending story.”

Each poem feels like a jumble, a burst of thought—perhaps a representation of how a sensitive young boy’s mind might work. As I worked my way through the book, the significance of Etzel’s form became clear: “By drawing a panel for my story, a box surrounds me” (29). Indeed, comic books and superheroes play a huge part in this book, starting with the title, a reference to the 1984 comic book series Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. Etzel, “a scholar of origin stories” (26), finds comfort in “the walls of comic books” (42), where he feels safe from wars both global and personal.

Etzel contrasts huge political events—“Reagan says” is a refrain that appears in more than twenty poems—with seemingly smaller personal events. However, the message this book conveys so beautifully is that no war is more or less important than another. The ache of transitioning “from middle to high school, from thirteen to fourteen” (19), of being bullied, of not being able to protect one’s mother, is as palpable as any Armageddon. Rather than dwell in painful moments, Etzel reveals flashes. His gym teacher tells him, “I hope you fall in life” after he falls from the chin-up bar. The Topeka ice storm, “the most damaging…in the city’s history” (50), is both literal and figurative; after Etzel’s mother comes out, “the neighborhood pushes us to the far side of the block, out of bounds” (72).

Another theme of this book is language as a lifeline. For writers, language is all we’ve got to make ourselves heard, but it’s so imperfect: “If language induces a yearning for comprehension, for perfect and complete expression, it also guards against it” (46). However, Etzel shouldn’t worry. His experiment with form—his 366 alphabetized sentences—is in no way gimmicky. Rather, it adds a layer to an already profound collection. In My Secret Wars of 1984, Etzel has found order in the chaos.

Part of my winter reading list: Bleeding Kansas

 Peacekeeping on the Plains : Army operations in bleeding Kansas
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 Postmarked, bleeding Kansas : letters from the birthplace of the Civil War
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 John Brown's holy war
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 War to the knife : bleeding Kansas, 1854-1861
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 Underground Railroad
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 The abolitionists
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 Capital dames : the Civil War and the women of Washington, 1848-1868
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Fleeing for freedom : stories of the Underground Railroad
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Give me liberty : speakers and speeches that have shaped America
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How to be a heroine, or, What I've learned from reading too much
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Indian Wars : the campaign for the American West
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Okay

Hello anyone who is reading this.

I have to say, I am starting a project that is completely new to me, but not new to many.

It sounds ambiguous and I hate to be that one, but, really, it is something I want to wait to announce. More to come.

For now, check this out: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Cattlepunk