fiction files redux discussion

I think that we've gotten to the point where we have a few good stories under our belt.

This is the thread to discuss the stories comparatively - against one another, against other stories written by that author if we feel like it or didn't cover it in the thread about that story...

For example. The Lady with the Dog and Garden of Forking Paths. Gurov and the labyrinth. How humans relate and connect, then disconnect.

Or A Poor Aunt Story and The Fly. Again, how humans relate to one another, but also how we cope with pain, grief, suffering and conflict in our lives. The boss tortures and slowly kills the fly; the narrator in the Murakami story shoulders an abstraction...

Chekhov is one of the most absent names in Borges. He even talk more about Dostoievisky, even saying he didnt like to read long books. Oddly enough, since the precision of language and elegancy is a trait of both writers. But Chekhov liking for the folk was probally boring for Borges... Anyways, in Garden of Forking Paths there is a idea that the absent word is also present...

I would probably would like to compare Poor Aunt Story and Garden of Forking Paths because of the absent word and both are surreal even though the themes in both are extraordinarily different. To parapahse Mr. Lumbergh from Office Space, "Yeah um...Why don't we can just go ahead and compare these two stories that would be great."

Patrick: I had the same feeling about those two but I didn't know how to even begin the comparison...

I need to use my thinker on this some more but I agree that those two invite comparison...

I don't know how you will compare these two. Too much importance placed on something otherwise insignificant.

Yeah, I got nothin' on this one today. But I'm going to keep the thread, because you never know when something worthwhile will pop up.

So, The Fly and The School.

Both are in media res. We are dropped in to figure out what is happening.

Both use setting almost entirely to drive every aspect of story... characters seem... I don't know. I find the boss in The Fly more memorable than Edgar, but perhaps the point is flat narration to describe a horrifying situation.

Edgar - seems to have no feelings about all of this death. The Boss tries to deny his.

between stories

cryptic

much?

less

MORE

enough