Week 3

 

Alicia Keyes singing "Girl on Fire" Jan.21, 2017

     Thinking about the short stories we read last week–"Desiree's Baby" and "Simon's Papa"–and the ongoing historic struggles of minorities, people of color, and women everywhere to gain social and political legitimacy and equality and their fair share at the table, I was very glad to see multitudes of women march in solidarity for a more just and compassionate society in D.C., New York, and cities around the world on Saturday, January 21, 2017.   Bigotry and hatred, fear and greed are a scourge today as of old and the stories will be told.  The individual "outsider,"  the protagonist beset by a hostile or contrary power, reputation or name sometimes undermined by talk,  is the heart of a great many stories.  In the Hero's Journey the many trials, temptations, and wanderings of the quest lead at last to a great confrontation with "whatever holds the ultimate power" (see handout, "Atonement") and hold the promise of transformation to a new order, one that may reconcile or get beyond warring opposites.  The journey is inward, a psychic aspect of every human life, and outward, traversing the plane of social life.  And the stakes are high for all.

 The eminent American writer James Baldwin wrote, 

We’ve got to be as clear-headed about human beings as possible, because we are still each other’s only hope.”

Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues," on race, addiction, and jazz music, is a wonderful read, by the way, and perhaps we should read it.

    We want to be recognized, validated, legitimated.  The quest may ultimately lead back to ourselves, in discovery that we must be the source and power of salvation we seek.  Edward Snowden makes the point in a recent interview, and he is not the first, that we cannot put too much faith in our elected leaders or inherited authority that does not deal with us in just, transparent ways.  The quest is a literal, material world one and a spiritual one that connects us to everything on the planet, past, present, and future, and if successful (see handout "Return)  we achieve wisdom, and freedom, reconciled to the past and open to the future, firmly planted in the present moment.

  So we move to "Joy," a revealing slice of life story set in late 19th century Russia, written by Anton Chekhov, and the several others presented in handout last week: "Popular Mechanics," by American Raymond Carver, "Continuity of Parks," by Argentina's Julio Cortazar, and "Up in the Tree," by Japanese author Kawabata Yasunari.

Homework:  Read "Girl," a very short story by Jamaica Kincaid, "Son of Satan," Charles Bukowski (handout).  Begin short fiction writing of 400-500 words, titled and double-spaced, and due week 5 in class.