Week Ten: Let's Pretend This Never Happened Discussion
"Why, Yes, There Is a Method to My Madness." --Jenny Lawson
To provide the ultimate in content and style whiplash, we move from Annie Dillard to Jenny Lawson. Why? Well, as my two-year-old son would explain, "Because." I've taught creative nonfiction for fifteen years, give or take a year, and I have never, not once, taught a reading or a work that wasn't at best slightly sad, and at worst, paralyzing. Most great works of literary nonfiction, memoir, and narrative are a bit serious, to say the least. |
So, to wrap up our readings this term, I thought I would assign something funny, raunchy, and irreverent.
Great work of literature? No. New York Times Bestseller? Yes. Lawson began writing as The Bloggess, and like Allie Brosh and others, she has transformed mental illness, tragedy, and everyday insanity into laughs in both digital and print form. Lawson successfully transforms her everyday blunders and escapades and make them extraordinary. Like Dillard...but also very not like Dillard. |
As Lawson describes on her blog, Let's Pretend This Never Happened took 10 years to write. In other words, a book that, on the surface, appears to be a loosely collected series of stream-of-consciousness ramblings is, indeed, a decade of doing the same things we all do...putting down words, loving those words, then hating those words, then just being at peace with some of those words because you have a deadline. For our purposes, we will look at a selection of Lawson's writing to discuss what makes a work "funny" and how effortless ramblings can, actually, take many, many years to perfect. |
10.1 Discussion Board
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While you certainly can (and should) read Lawson's entire work, for the sake of this reading discussion, we will focus on the following ten chapters (listed in the order they appear):
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Once you have read these chapters in detail, analyze and discuss in this week's discussion board why they are funny. How do they work? AVOID the obvious (i.e., I can relate to them! My father also gave me a magical squirrel!) and dig into the text.
Consider both the content AND the writing. Think about introductions, transitions, and closings. Each of these chapters could be a small work on its own (like, say, a blog post...). How does Lawson make a short work capture all of the detail needed to be a complete, funny story (as well as a part of a more coherent whole)? Remember to include specific examples. Feel free to discuss other works as well, if you find examples outside of this range of readings that you would also like to discuss. For the sake of engagement, you'll only be responsible for discussing these selections. |