A Guide to Poetics Journal by Hejinian Lyn Watten Barrett

Author:Hejinian, Lyn, Watten, Barrett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Published: 2013-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

What Is the Status of Narrative in Your Work?

Oh, the boats are large, are they not?

Whatever gave you that idea?

From looking at myself.

You are introspective?

I am an indication of what occurs around me. For instance, some snakes occur in forests; whereas, others occur at the zoo. This is something zoos will not confess, for when you read the labels, snakes occur someplace other than in their cages.

Your argument doesn’t follow. You are a false philosopher.

I am showing you around behind the scenes and you call me a false philosopher. You don’t have to call me anything. Look at those large boats, dream of the ports they have come from. Think of the miscellany they carry, the weapons that can drive anyone into a frenzy of fear and conjure a story. From out of the blue, the boats descended upon us. We were dwarfed by their size. What were they doing here and why so many? The German and the Mongolian were nearly touching hulls. It was as if they were human and we were ants. The children playing behind us had not yet noticed this ominous display. But as you can see, I can only make fun of the possibility of your tale.

My tale?

Isn’t that what you wanted?

You have no tact, no skill, no frame of, frame of …

You mean no plan.

Nor do you produce resemblance or have a serious purpose or struggle with truth.

Or dally in genre literature.

There are no sentiments. It seems we are beginning to find some points of agreement. A resemblance to death and destruction is death and destruction, etc.

Like beans on the same shelf.

Yes, a bond.

The reality principle is continuous with our relationship so we don’t have to trace things.

The facts we have come up against are in need of processing.

I don’t have to tell a story to make a point.

The story is an example of your point. An ugly howling face comes out of nowhere. It is artfully executed.

You mean a bad boat.

No, you have provided that information. But don’t get upset by the disparity. An harmonious relationship produces a tedious vanity and a single repetitive conversation …

(Then the boats sank, leaving behind them pieces of purple debris floating out of the harbor.)

The question of the status of narrative presupposes a hierarchy of literary values I do not entertain in my work. Narrative is neither an oppressor to be obliterated nor the validating force of all literary impulse.

“You get to the world through the person. Anyway, it’s true. And yet, I keep wondering what does this mean in some larger sense? And then I wonder what larger sense I am getting at. There is something on the other side of what I can articulate that grabs the writing to it.”2

Extension is inside and outside of the writer. But I could also say that the thing pulling the writing toward it is chaos: the words fall in place in anticipation of a jumble. Or equally it could be an as yet unarticulated theory, which if ever made articulate will comprise a number of fragmented histories.

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