Kyle Kopta DTC 354

   Jorge Luis Borges’ short story The Aleph is an attempt at the impossible – to describe what can’t be explained with language. In a sense, this story achieves the unachievable by illustrating the shortcomings of language in describing the illusive “Aleph”. As I read, I found myself highlighting the many oxymorons I came across, and it was only until I finished the story that I connected these to the oxymoronic nature of the story itself; The Aleph cannot be recounted with language because of its ineffable nature. This failure to articulate infinity and non-sequential time ultimately ties back to the human experience of mourning as described in the introduction of the story, and largely lends itself to ideas similar to metaphysical solipsism.    I thoroughly enjoyed this reading, and I plan on looking into Jorge Luis Borges' other work. I find the way in which he was able to intertwine large philosophical concepts and notional ideas to the human experience ver...

   Ann Beattie's Jacklighting has one of my favorite qualities in a story, whether it be in writing, film, or otherwise - it makes me want to immediately go down a rabbit hole of outside research and online digging. While the story itself was fairly straightforward in terms of understanding, the title and closing words of this story left me with questions that I wanted the answers to. In my mind, a good story is enjoyable in its initial read through, but a great story is one that makes me want to learn and interact with it afterwards.    Before this reading, I was unaware of the term "jacklighting". After doing my own research on what this term means and its implications, the way it relates to the story's ideas made me enjoy it even more. Jacklighting is the practice of shining a powerful light into an area at night in order to stun animals for hunting, and I couldn't help but relate it to the way in which Nicholas dies in the story, but also in the way that ...

   After reading Russell Banks' The Child Screams and Looks Back at You , I am impressed by the seemingly unconventional way in which the pace of the story is executed. Namely, the length of sentences immediately stands out. You certainly have to understand the rules before you break them, and I think Banks breaks a few common rules of writing here for the benefit of his story.     The main themes I pulled from this story, forgiveness and trauma, are cleverly planted in the beginning of the story, and later reveal their significance as the story closes. On top of this, what I find more interesting is the way in which Banks is able to infuse his themes into his writing through unconventional prose, sentence structure, and sentence length; this story is filled with long-winded sentences that bombard the reader with anxious thoughts and hectic scenes. However, you can discern that this is intentional, because the author knows when it is most useful in their stor...

   After reading Margaret Atwood's short story Hair Jewelry , I was left being reminded of the qualities of some of my favorite screenwriters (namely Charlie Kaufman). In this story, Atwood is able to describe a narrative in an unconventional way through poetic language and descriptive metaphor while still being able to tell a grounded and relatable story; through the catalyst of a wardrobe full of clothes, we are delivered a very human story from inanimate objects. Movies that Kaufman has worked on like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , Anomalisa , and Synecdoche, New York are also reminiscent of this style of writing that perfectly encapsulates the human experience in a way that is simultaneously somber and humorous, idiosyncratic and universal, and romantic but dreary.  I believe the effective storytelling by Atwood and other writers like Kaufman demonstrated here lies in the limbo between these conflicting ideas.