A Structure Opera: A novel in five acts made of structures of many things

by Bruce Fleming

Everyday life isn't boring. We don't need to dream of being 007 or going to Bora Bora. If we are aware of the complexity of the everyday, we can be interested all the time. "A Structure Opera" is based on Gertrude Stein's perception that words can be she wrote free-associative poems she called "Operas." If we are aware of the structures of the world, we are interested all the time. The simplest structure is a lack-completion structure, based on we want something; we can afford it (or not); we get it. There are structures in watch hands (some positions are more beautiful than others), chess board patterns (we can choreograph chess moves as if they were dancers), number series--and words. Situations involving the standard novel's "plot" is nothing more or less than a particular type of structure, of which the most easily parodied is "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl." What if we are aware of the many other sorts of structures of which the world is composed? We can be interested all the time, and by the way, write a new kind of novel. "A Structure Opera," written when the author was 20 and later revised, shows us how we can interact with the world. People? Museums? A parking lot? All structure. And if we are aware of structure, we can be aware of how these structures, and how to manipulate them ourselves. "A Structure Opera" shows us how to interact with the world around us, and by the way, the direction the novel of the future should take. "A Structure Opera" is the most avant-garde of Bruce Fleming's works written during his early 20s. An earlier version appeared with Six Gallery Press. Fleming is the author of over a dozen books, both fiction and non-fiction. His Web site is www.brucefleming.net. He has taught since 1987 at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 2, 2018