Soft Maniacs (stories)

(Simon & Schuster, 1999)

I may be cheating a bit here, or "back-blogging"...but I thought it was important to talk about the first collection of "short literature" I ever fell in love with...or can remember falling in love with...

The year was 1999 and as a wayward student at a university, when someone says, "Hey do you want to go to a reading?"...you go. It doesn't matter whether or not you know the author/spoken word mistress. You just GO! So I did.

Maggie Estep read to us from her current (at the time) collection of stories--and I was hooked... Maybe it was the "style," maybe it was the "concept," maybe it was Maggie herself.

When I found my own copy (at a used bookstore less than a month later) I was quite excited. I brought the book back to my dorm room and the next thing I remember is my group of friends and I sitting in a circle reading from it...aloud.

(We also took turns reading each other's sexual astrology from a different book, but that's another story altogether)

There are nine semi-related stories in Soft Maniacs where we get to follow two different women (Katie and Jody) as seen by the men they love/ruin...it's actually narrated by them (the men).

It's a gritty, dirty romp--a very quick read. The story I remember the most (and tell people about when I talk about the book) is "The Patient:"

"The bullet traversed my prefrontal cortex and went out my right temple, but I'm fine. I've better than I ever was, actually. They tell me I've, in effect, lobotomized myself. And I understand perfectly that this should be disastrous. I should be upset. But I'm at peace.

...Because I know, better than most, girls are trouble."

In Addition To:

(or I have to change this thing up or my head might explode)

It was a great idea: read everything ever written by a single author.

It may be the best idea ever, really (right up there with Nutella or White Chocolate Peanut Butter) BUT it takes a greater person to accomplish such a feat.

Maybe one day I will be able to say I've read all F. Scott has written, but not this year (or next year or the year after that)...

Instead I'm going to continue this blog but with a twist--I am going to include other authors. More short stories written by said authors...it will be more about the short story as a literary form.

Yay Short Stories!

This way I can include classics and "new ones" and all the stuff in between...like the sandwich I want to consume right now....I don't have the two delicious spreads mentioned above--but I'm sure I can find SOMETHING to nom nom nom.

~~J

"Outside the Cabinet-Maker's"

FROM: The Fitzgerald Reader: A Collection of His Finest Work
[1963 Scribners] Edited by Arthur Mizener, pgs. 297-301

(room in an antique dollhouse)

Originally published in The Century Magazine (1928), this one is just under 1,500 words and is the shortest "short" story by F. Scott I have read thus far. It might be his shortest even, I'd have to do research to find out if that is true.

Either way, it is charming and has nothing to do with love-lost, but instead the imagination of a little girl and the relationship between father and daughter take center stage. None of the characters are named even, so it's enchanting.

An automobile stops and out pops a lady, who disappears into a Cabinet-Maker's shop to conduct business. Revealed through the story is the reason she is there--and F. Scott even puts the key sentences in French.

(I had to look these up, and it didn't bother me one bit)

A gift for the little girl is being bargained for--and it can't cost more than "Twenty dollars." Father and daughter stay outside and construct a magical story together, while watching the people moving about the neighborhood:

“Who is the lady?”

“She’s a Witch, a friend of the Ogre’s.”

The shutter blew closed with a bang and then slowly opened again.

“That’s done by the good and bad fairies,” the man explained. “They’re invisible, but the bad fairies want to close the shutter so nobody can see in and the good ones want to open it.”

“The good fairies are winning now.”

“Yes.” He looked at the little girl. “You’re my good fairy.”

Finally the lady comes out and the Father finds out that the gift costs more than they hoped, at twenty-five dollars--but apparently it will be made anyway.

As quickly as it began, it is over. Short and very sweet. Refreshing.

~~J

"A New Leaf"

from: Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense

edited by Arp and Johnson (8th Edition, 2002)Pages 439-453

Welcome to 1931. Or at least that's when this particular story was first published in the Saturday Evening Post. I found the text in one of the used literature anthologies I seem to grab whenever they are within reach.

"A New Leaf" is in a chapter dedicated to "Evaluating Fiction." The student is instructed to pay close attention to things like plot, structure, characterization, theme, point of view, symbols, allegories, fantasy, humor, and irony (did you catch all that?).

There are even eight questions that follow to direct thoughts. Good stuff. Nevertheless, I shall ignore all the rules and opine on the story as I normally do.

By far, my favorite section of the story occurred first--opening scene as Julia spies Dick Ragland, as he briefly stops to speak to the man she is having dinner with:

She sat there, a well-behaved women of twenty-one, and discreetly trembled....

"He's without doubt the handsomest man I ever saw in my life."

"Yes, he's handsome," he agreed without enthusiasm.

"Handsome! He's an archangel, he's a mountain lion, he's something to eat. Just why didn't you introduce him?"

If I had a dollar for every time...okay. I don't think those words have ever left my mouth, but I am dying to use the line as soon as possible.

But, of course, Dick is trouble. He's not well-received. He's a drunk. Which is all the more reason for Julia to fall madly and deeply, despite the fact that he shows up both drunk and hungover for the first planned meeting.

The rest is predictable. Well, maybe not exactly--but there will be disappoint and it is rather anti-climactic, even though F. Scott throws in a bit of mystery when we hear of the final action through another character.

"Better let it all alone in the depths of her heart and the depths of the sea." Aye, aye captain.

~~J

"Bernice Bobs Her Hair"

from: The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli (Scribners, 1989)Pages 25-47

(original artwork from the Saturday Evening Post)

Originally published in 1920, I wasn't sure what to expect from this story--I knew it was one of F. Scott's most read/discussed and just the title alone makes me think of flappers, short hair, and prohibition.

You too?

Well, it turned out to be fantastically accurate in the "game" of womanhood. (unfortunately) Think Mean Girls (or Heathers or any other coming-of-age story where the girls carve each other up).

I can't reveal the end, but it's good--and I didn't see it coming...

Marjorie made no answer but gazed pensively at her own image in the mirror.

"You're a peach to help me," continued Bernice.

Still Marjorie did not answer, and Bernice thought she had seemed too grateful.

"I know you don't like sentiment," she said timidly.

Marjorie turned to her quickly.

"Oh, I wasn't thinking about that. I was considering whether we hadn't better bob your hair."

Bernice collapsed backward upon the bed.

Oh yes, there will be scissors...especially since a boy is involved (Warren), but I am very curious about the 3,000 words F. Scott reportedly removed from the story in order to get it published.

Which makes me think of my own work and what I submitted to several creative writing programs in hopes of being accepted. This line of thinking is not related to story specifically, except for the art of editing.

I guess you just "know" what to cut and not to cut? (pun intended).

~~J

"Absolution"

FROM: The Fitzgerald Reader: A Collection of His Finest Work

[1963 Scribners] Edited by Arthur Mizener, pgs. 76-90

Forgive me F. Scott, for I have sinned. It's been....(you can check the log) since I last read you. I've been busy (not a lie) but I'm sure I couldn't squeezed a page or two in somewhere.

So they say "Absolution" (June 1924) is the false-start of The Great Gatsby. Okay. I'll go with that. I guess. I think it's a bit strange and the flashback section/repetition is maybe overdone. But what do I know, really?

I had to "look up" my Commandments because I didn't know them in proper order (because our dear boy, Rudolph Miller mentions them by number)--as in, he says he has violated the Sixth and Ninth.

Rudolph had now exhausted the minor offenses, and was approaching the sins it was agony to tell. He held his fingers against his face like bars as if to press out between them the shame in his heart.

"Of dirty words and immodest thoughts and desires," he whispered very low.

"How often?"

"I don't know."

"Once a week? Twice a week?"

"Twice a week."

"Did you yield to these desires?"

"No, Father."

While I was reading, all I could think about was a story a classmate wrote for my Fiction Writing class...involving confession and a priest. We got to hear the priest's inner-most thoughts as he say through a round with his parishioners.

Want to know the truth? I came up with the entire idea for the story.

I didn't write it, mind you--and he knocked it out of the park.

Okay. Back to F. Scott.

I don't want to give away the sin, but I will tell you that Rudolph has the best imagination and has a "character" or alter-ago with the most wonderful name: Blatchford Sarnemington.

Now I shall do my best to read you more often, my dear author.

~~J

"Head and Shoulders"

from: The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald
edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli (Scribners, 1989)
Pages 3-24

(University of South Carolina)

Since it was the first story in my "collection" you'd think I would've started there, right? No. I'm an odd girl that way. But finally I went with the first story...so presented first probably because it was his first piece to appear in the Saturday Evening Post (February 1920).

It is obvious that F. Scott was only 24 when this was written. There is a sense of hopefulness and big dreams. It all crashes, of course--in the typical Fitzgerald way. But I love that way.

We are introduced to the "infant prodigy," Horace Tarbox and his extreme brain and deep thoughts. He has entered college at the tender age of 13 and cares more about his academic pursuits than the world around him. (HEY! What's wrong with that??)

As a joke, his cousin sends an actress to his room one night. Oh no! The trouble begins! He hears the rapping at his door "--three seconds leaked by--the rap sounded."

(The Raven anyone? THE RAVEN? All I could think about was Poe here.)

Horace is almost 18 while the very mature Marcia Meadow is 19. She is bold and just sits right down in one of his reading chairs: "Horace stared at her dazedly. The momentary suspicion came to him that she existed there only as a phantom of his imagination."

She grabs his attention, by her boldness and ability to spout off dramatic lines from plays. Eventually he agrees to attend one of her plays--after my favorite exchange in the story:

"No," interrupted Marcia emphatically. "And you're a sweet boy. Come here and kiss me."

Horace stopped quickly in front of her.

"Why do you want me to kiss you?" he asked intently. "Do you just go round kissing people?"

"Why, yes," admitted Marcia, unruffled. "'At's all life is. Just going round kissing people."

Wisdom, again, in just a snippet of dialogue. F. Scott gets me every time, with every single moment he captures. Of course--there will be kissing, there will even be a marriage between the unlikely couple and a complete role reversal by the end. And even one of my favorite words--syncopated--makes its appearance.

"Poor gauzy souls trying to express ourselves in something tangible. Marcia with her written book; I with my unwritten ones. Trying to choose our mediums and then taking what we get--and being glad."

Never answer the door when someone knocks--you never know who it might be...you never know what they may take from you.

~~J