Discussion of "The Feast of Love"

First: Hello to all whom I haven't heard from in some time. I'm excited to be able to reconnect through this thing. How is everyone?

Second: Hi, Joe! (The circle of people I know is now complete [by my own admission, it's a small circle.]) For those of you who don't know Joe, Joe and I completed our MFAs at Oregon State last June. Now he lives in the Louisville/Boulder area. He's a great reader and a terrific writer, so if he can be persuaded to share some of his fiction, I'm sure we'll all enjoy it.

Third: "The Feast of Love" by Charles Baxter, the man who brought us "Burning Down the House" and "defamiliarization."

So maybe I've cheated with this book. I am only halfway through the novel, but I went to see the film last night. The book is a compilation of first-person narratives held together by the "narrator" Charles Baxter (his "character" name in the novel). I read an excerpt of a review of the book, and apparently, this fragmented style grew out of Baxter's self-proclaimed flaw, an inability to structure a "conventional" and linear work. This--which is similar to Tim O'Brien's "July, July"--must be the easiest way to write a novel, it seems. Perhaps that's only my naivete talking. Still, you write a few stories, string them together with little interstitials...voila! Thoughts? Anyone tried this?

Not surprisingly, the film eliminated the narrator character and combined some of his introspective, wise traits with that of another character. Too literary, I guess. Also, the characters felt a bit thin to me. Because the novel devotes 300+ pages to shaping and crafting these folks, there are some things that a few well-placed images and lines of dialogue just can't quite accomplish.

It's been said/written that the book is about "love in all of its miraculous, transforming manifestations." Or something like that. But what a bunch of shortchanging bullshit, really. The novel delves much deeper into uncertain psychological ground. Love as terror. Love as a form of myopia. Love as self-loathing, among all other things. Because--and only because--these characters are so specific and finely shaded, the book takes on larger significance and earns a worthiness of the use of "love."

I guess I should provide a bit of a concrete plot summary. Baxter, as the narrator and author, encounters several people (in his town of Ann Arbor, Michigan--relocated to Portland, Oregon, in the movie connected to his friend Bradley W. Smith. There's Bradley's first wife, Kathryn, who falls in love with another woman and his second wife, Diana, who's been in love with another man since before she met Bradley. Then there's Bradley, Jr., Bradley's dog; Bradley's neighbors Harry and Ethel, whose grown son calls to spew curses and demand money; Bradley's coffee shop employees, Chloe and Oscar; and a slew of what might be termed more minor characters, all of whom are, by turns, changed, slayed, elated, denied, created by love.

Long live the short story, even if this is the only way to preserve it.

The Discussion of Lydia's Poem

Okay, it looks like I'm going to start this one off.

Lydia, as you know, I adore your poetry, and this poem is no exception. I love that it feels like a photograph or painting of the event. The power of the horses juxtaposes nicely with the weakness of a man about to commit suicide. And I adore the phrase "apricot skied;" it's the perfect description!

I am, however, left questioning why grandpa would choose to commit suicide in the horse pen. At this point, I can see why the horses might kill him, but I'm not seeing the love, that comfort level, that would make a person feel that dying with the horses is the right thing.

Also, the section (3rd stanza, I think) that says "Brushed but saddled/Patted but spurred, grazed but corralled" feels a little off. The idea of love and control/freedom/slavery at odds with each other starts to come across, but is not as strong as it could be. Perhaps its the use of the word "but"? I'm not sure, but I know that this idea is probably the most important of the poem, because it really explains the rest of it--why the horses kill him and why he feels this is the place he should die.

(One further note, just a trifle--horses have hooves, not paws.)

A Note on Intellectual Property

Sorry I'm so spastic about setting up this blog. I was just thinking some of you may be worried about your writing being out on the web. Once we have our blog going we can make it so that this blog is only viewable by the people we choose. However, publishing the Google pages does put your intellectual property on the www. I guess we can put some kind of copyright note on those pages, but there's never any guarantee online. Suggestions?

Google is God..

...Or the Devil
I found a sort of stopgap solution to my ealier roadblock (screw work, right?) and it cometh from Google. I guess they have this free webhosting service in beta and I'm going to use that. I guess there are two ways we can do this. You guys can either send me the text of your writing and I can publish it on the Google site. You'll each have a page on the Google site with your writing and you can just drop the link to your site into your blog post. Or maybe I can do something fancy and get the links permanently on the page. I'll look into it and give it a test run. This is getting interesting, huh?

Minor Roadblock

I just realized there's not really a way to upload attachments here, is there. Is there?! That's fine for us poets, but not so fine for you fiction writers. I don't mind longer sized posts, but it would be nice to be able to share documents some how. I've already seen some encouraging things in my preliminary Google sweep. I'm at work right now, but I will use my sleuthing skills to see what I can find out about getting around this. Rule to live by #3: Don't panic.

Some Updates

Here's what's new on campus:
Juan - who's getting settled in nicely.
Dr. Sheidley's going to retire at the end of spring semester, and Katherine will be replacing him as chair.

Here's what's new with me:
I'm set to finish my MA in spring, and I'll be doing a creative thesis (which is definitely intimidating).

We Need a Space

Hi,

I know we've all been saying forever how we needed a space (virtually or in reality) to share our writing and keep the momentum going from our old Keppy-run workshops. So, here's a space. It's not that great, but I think it will work for now and we can change it and do whatever in the future. For now, I just want to be able to read what you geniuses have been writing and talk to you about it.