Monday, November 1, 2010

what do you think of the title as effing short (accurate fiction) story?

"I started writing the one-sentence stories when I was translating Swann's Way," she recalls. "There were two reasons. I had almost no time to do my own writing, but didn't want to stop. And it was a reaction to Proust's very long sentences. The sheer length of a thought of his didn't make me recoil exactly – I loved working on it – but it made me want to see how short a piece of fiction could be that would still have a point to it, and not just be a throwaway joke."

- Lydia Davis



Some random attempts in this direction:


she’s been hanging around her a lot lately

the events of Wednesday night made her question whether she did in fact have an injury
all the boys and girls they abandoned that time in the heatwave

she fully questions her motive for following in its wake
no chairs were available which meant the lesbians had to stand
we have moved beyond a merely reactionary response to industry concerns with balls
in a small part of the country a rumour is substantiated by its small claim

marvelous inconsistencies that included a wolf and an irreverent glossy-red eye

bury me next to Cynthia, her shadow had dignity
we nap in preparation as others have done before us

blind anticipation and subsequent training
the athletic heart, a quarterly digest

the door is in her chest and someone has been knocking on it for several hours
the sea comes in all directions, sometimes a wind of miniature anchors drifting on her skin

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic last 2 posts Rachel.
    Given the context of Courtenay Place, I interested this idea of the title sounding like a rumour or a fragment of a story.

    Definitely need some time to mull - especially over your power-packed pink bullets revisiting Hito to address this subjective/audience/community thing. Wham bam darl'.

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