NEW MEDIA & LITERATURE: And, a connection in reality

Before I go any further, please allow me this: I smoked in class today—NYAH-NYAH-NYAH-NYAH-NYASH! (No that’s not a typo, it’s a Polish nyah.

Between classes I pulled out my copy of Ploughshares (Fall, 2004, Vol. 30, Nos. 2 & 3) and started reading the first short story in the book (Inter Media note: Although all bets are off with anthologies, I maintained rules of textual readerly {passive}style and started at the front of the book, following cultural code {learned behavior, in this case, recognizing the letters as something decipherable that will “tell” a story} to attempt to begin a narrative of reading (part of the story space) the story in a writerly {freely interpretative} fashion.)

The story is by Thomas Beller, and it is called, “Sally the Slut.” Right here I am bringing in my own experience to the reading, as my sainted mother’s name was Sally, so I may be beginning with an attitude.

The diagetic space of the narrative, that of the words of the author begins in a timeline sometime in the past, and gives us an added sense of deja vu, with this very first sentence: “The taxi pulled to a stop in front of a brownstone whose wrought-iron gate looked oddly familiar.” Within a few more sentences, we learn that the narrator is giving us some information that relates to the protagonist, Jason. So here we have the central focus on Jason, and as he approaches this brownstone, he is bringing a story (experience) into the narrative we are following in this event that brings the memory into what we find are his thoughts. Meanwhile, we’re bringing in our own images of wrought iron gates and brownstones.

Okay for now, enough of the highly technical stuff. This next part is as well, but not so detail-oriented.

As I read, I felt that I was following a story about a young man I know. His life plots followed in a very similar direction that which the textual Jason was following. Even the feelings, ( as described by the 3rd person narrator) of what Jason was going through as he grew up on one page, fell deeply into his first love, the ending of the relationship, and his subsequent meeting with her were just so familiar to me, based on my friend’s story.

I stopped at this point for two reasons. First, I had to go into my next class, and second—it hit me that as Jason’s path started to veer from what I knew to be “true” of my friend’s, I started wondering about it again. The big “What if…?”

Haven’t finished reading it yet, but just needed to get these thoughts down before I forgot them. Like the way I forgot my Statistics formulas earlier.