LITERARY NONFICTION
English 5760
Dr. Richard Nordquist
Armstrong Atlantic State University

IN-CLASS RESPONSES TO READINGS (POSTSCRIPT: 27 October 1999)

As you prepare for the midterm exam, consider these various responses from you and your classmates--and be prepared to support these observations (some of which may be more perceptive than others) with specific examples from appropriate works studied during the term. 

1.  According to Philip Lopate in his introduction to The Art of the Personal Essay, what are some of the chief distinguishing characteristics of the personal (or "familiar") essay?

The writer tends to appear as if he or she is involved with the reader in a search for answers. . . . Thus, the organization of the essay may appear to be casual, almost accidental or incidental--and yet usually underneath there is a tight structure. . . .  Though one or more narratives may operate in an essay, the personal essay more commonly takes the form of a meditation than a story. . . .  The persona has generally been crafted to appear reliable and believable (and often self-deprecating); thus the personal essay is usually characterized by a distinctive personal voice that can be recognized from one piece to the next. . . . Finally, the personal essay is often distinguished by humor or irony, a strategy that serves to establish a bond between the persona and the reader.

2.  Identify some of the distinctive writing strategies employed by Susan Orlean in her profile "The American Boy at Age Ten"--strategies that we may try to emulate in our writing.

Orlean provides a strong sense of place (e.g., the pizzeria, the boy's bedroom, his backyard) throughout the profile, thus defining who he is through the details of his familiar environment. . . . She also shifts perspective throughout the essay, at times putting herself in the place of a ten-year-old (the strategy of identification, as seen in the essays of E. B. White): this strategy allows the reader, in turn, to view the boy's world from the boy's point of view as well as from an adult's perspective.   This is far more than simply a case study.  . . . Orlean's selective use of direct quotations from the boy lets us hear from him without letting his voice dominate and distort the profile: in other words, Orlean has crafted a profile, not just slapped together quotations from an interview or two. . . .  She also introduces direct commentary from others (including the boy's close friend), so that we receive multiple perspectives. . . .  At the same time, Orlean also introduces factual information and commentary from experts as a way of interpreting this particular boy's experience in the larger context of American culture and human behavior.  The interplay between the experts (including the adult voice of the narrator or persona) and the voice of the boy creates a more complete picture.  . . . The small technique of separating blocks of texts with white space serves as a handy way of signaling a transition without wasting words.  Though the essay appears to follow a loose chronological order, thematic elements (including key items listed in the opening paragraph) provide a deeper and more satisfying sense of organization. . . Orlean associates the boy with specific items from popular culture (e.g., Nintendo) as another way of evoking his environment. . . . Orlean has a habit of using lists of details to create particular cumulative effects; her most effective list in this essay is the catalog of brief quotations near the end of the profile, where the boy itemizes his loves and hates, desires and dreams.  . . .  These various strategies combine in the profile to give us a sense both of the boy's uniqueness and of his ordinariness as a ten-year-old white, middle-class American boy. 

3.   What do you perceive to be the dominant metaphor in Dillard's essay on "The Stunt Pilot"?

The line.  Like E. B. White describing the circus rider's trot around the circle, Dillard portrays Rahm as an artist, working with the line just as a writer, painter, or musician uses lines. . . . Dillard focuses on Rahm's intimate relationship with the airplane: when he flew it was like something magical that could not be compared to anything else. . . . All the while he was flying in circles and loops in the air "experiencing" life doing what he loved to do the threat of death was always there.  . . . .  The dominant metaphor may be the ring of smoke that the stunt pilot makes.  Dillard sees it as the embodiment of the beauty she has been searching for.

LITERARY NONFICTION
English 5760
Dr. Richard Nordquist
Armstrong Atlantic State University