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Post by reluedders on Jul 13, 2024 14:27:02 GMT
I'm sorry, but I will be at the bottom of the Grand Canyon when this is all due, so I'm posting early.
In "Play it as it Lays," Didion has a lot of very short chapters, lasting maybe 1/2 a page. What is the purpose of that? Is there some deeper meaning? I've been trying not to google things, but instead figure them out or ask for help in doing so. Does anyone know? I thought maybe it had something to do with the characters attention spans and their narcissistic qualities? Or maybe going towards the idea that Maria looses interest in people and things so quickly? Thoughts?
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 19, 2024 2:16:35 GMT
A couple of thoughts to get the discussion started here:
Technically the literary term here is "vignette": a brief evocative description, account, or episode. Given that definition, what it seems is that we're only getting the most choice elements and episodes of what happened. That means there's a lot being left out!
Another thought is that we're getting the story told out of order and from different vantages--- this shows how fragmented and discombobulated everything is.
Other ideas about the format of the storytelling here?
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Post by mjunious on Jul 22, 2024 15:10:47 GMT
I found the structure to be interesting as well. I initially thought of the chapters as scenes, but, for a book, vignette works better. I felt like it was commenting on the chaotic nature of a film set: shooting one setup, breaking, getting a quick pickup shot, etc. The quick dialog also felt reflective of a screenplay than an actual novel with the short back to back statements that allowed the reader to interpret the dialog since adverbs and similar descriptors were scarce in the novel. Some of the discussion on metafiction that we had earlier in the course could be applicable to this novel as well.
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Post by gnicholson3 on Jul 23, 2024 19:22:17 GMT
When doing my annotation, I immediately connected this idea to Michelle Loris' article. She writes, "The short, disconnected episodes indicate the stark and chaotic quality of her experience; an abundance of white space proclaims the meaningless void which engulfs her life" (284). She also quotes Rodney Simard in explanation that these chapters are meant to express the lack of "integrity, depth, and substance" in the culture (284). I think that the structure of the novel is a tool used by Didion just like the setting of false-presenting Hollywood and the unforgiving desert.
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Post by garrison on Jul 23, 2024 21:15:45 GMT
I think this vignette helps to show how quickly and unpridictibly Maria's life is moving. Whenever I feel myself getting stressed and anxious, life feels like it is moving 1000 miles per hour. I think the shorter paragraphs goes to show how Maria's life has been almost nothing but stress and anxiety.
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