tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9878002.post7945684647538400071..comments2024-03-23T06:50:28.304-05:00Comments on PERPETUAL FOLLY: The New Yorker: "Rat Beach" by William StyronUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9878002.post-29110956590545285652009-08-26T10:03:27.911-05:002009-08-26T10:03:27.911-05:00Pure war kitch. How realist conventions go wrong. ...Pure war kitch. How realist conventions go wrong. Will post a riview later today on Barking DogJacob Russellhttp://www.jacobrussellsbarkingdog.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9878002.post-23486512784357769872009-07-18T08:37:39.345-05:002009-07-18T08:37:39.345-05:00Paul, let me first say I completely agree with Lau...Paul, let me first say I completely agree with Laura Furman's advice about dreams. They are often manipulative and filled with over-wrought symbolism. Here, though, I didn't feel that the dream got in the way of the story, and in fact was a manifestation of the narrator's waking fear, rather than being symbolic. But I think it's good instinct to be wary of dreams.<br /><br />And you may be right about the subject being too familiar. For me, though, the precise situation was fresh, and the narrator's fear so palpable, that I didn't feel like we were covering old ground. Of course everyone has a different reading history . . .Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05886890881221225553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9878002.post-36609414680419508452009-07-18T06:39:16.917-05:002009-07-18T06:39:16.917-05:00This is not one of the better New Yorker stories, ...This is not one of the better New Yorker stories, in my opinion. There is simply too little to distinguish it from the myriad other stories written on the same topic. The literary soldier who isolates himself by immersing himself in literature is a very standard trope in such fiction (perhaps because this type of fiction is usually autobiographical, and when writers were in the armed services, they presumably read as much as they could.)<br /><br />I was a student of Laura Furman, and she said to be wary of describing dreams in short stories, as it is often a rather cheap and easy way of introducing thoughts and imagery. (This is my best recollection of what she said -- I'm sure I garbled it somewhat but the gist is that, in general, she doesn't like dream descriptions in short fiction.) <br /><br />I do not think that the dream description "works" in this story, either.<br /><br />Paul EpsteinPaul Epsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14875799188044948632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9878002.post-57971273364193924682009-07-17T11:31:58.653-05:002009-07-17T11:31:58.653-05:00Yes, I agree, one of the year's best. I can...Yes, I agree, one of the year's best. I can't stop thinking about the main character, the time period, and the amazing way Stegner wrote the story itself.<br />PamAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com