February 2012 – Snopes

To Record or Not to Record: A Question

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In the past, one of the only ways you could only hear the words spilling out of your favorite author’s mouth was if you braved the masses and attended a reading. And even though you got to see said author in person, you only got the story once. No repeats. Now, because of the ever-growing world of the online literary journal, you can listen to a new or well-known author time and again, with the added bonus of being in your own home. Sure there are some earlier examples of author’s recordings such as ones of Yeats and those collected by Caedman, but none of these are so easily accessed as those on the internet. Shenandoah is featuring a couple of them in their newest edition. Both “Love, Creusa” by Amina Gautier and “Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail” by Kelly Luce have audio versions of the stories.

Audio recordings and readings affect me in different ways. The author can either completely ruin the story for me or make it entirely better. Either way, it always changes the way that I will read the story in the future. Sometimes, if the author has a bad reading voice, hearing one of your favorite stories being read aloud is like seeing your favorite book being made into a movie: shocking and somewhat disappointing, nothing as you had imagined it.

I usually find I am more receptive to an author’s own telling when it is one I have never read before. That way I have had no time to imagine the voices of the characters in my own particular way. I can more easily see them as the author sees them.

Typically, once I can get past the initial shock of another person’s voice grabbing hold of what I have come to think of as my characters, I can see the benefits. For example it is an extremely useful tool if you wish to have a greater understanding of the work as a whole. Good recordings allow you to get more of a glimpse into the author’s intentions. Hearing the story aloud, with the author’s own particular inflections and breath, adds an entirely new level of depth.

So what do you think of audio recordings of stories? Good or bad?

Now Accepting Entries for the Bevel Summers Prize for Short-Short Fiction

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From March 1 to March 31, 2012 Shenandoah will be accepting entries for the Bevel Summers Prize for Short-Short Fiction. This $500 prize is awarded to a story of 1,000 words or less, and will also be published in an upcoming issue of Shenandoah. There is no entry fee, and entrants may submit up to three previously unpublished story. Please mail 2 copies of each story (one with name and contact information, and one without) and a SASE to Shenandoah: Bevel Summers at 17 Courthouse Square, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450. The judge of this year’s prize will be Chris Gavaler, his colleagues and students are not eligible to enter. Please see this page for more information about the judge and past winners: http://shenandoahliterary.org/bevel-summers/

Contact shenandoah@wlu.edu with any questions.

Cold Weather Reads

Lauren Starnes

Last week it seemed like Spring was just around the corner in beautiful Lexington, Virginia, but on Sunday Mother Nature surprised us with some last minute Winter weather. As I sat inside sipping Mint tea, eating peanut butter M&M’s, and watching the snow fall, I got to thinking about novels that are best read when it’s below freezing.

I made a short list of criteria for these novels. A good cold weather book must be engrossing. The story must transport you from your present dreary “winter wonderland” to sometime or someplace that is extraordinary. In these books, it is not necessarily the physical landscape that matters, but the novel’s emotional landscape is definitely important. Some of my favorite winter reads are Persuasion by Jane Austen, Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre.

When reading during cold and dismal weather it is also essential to choose books that have happy endings. Nothing is worse than reading a depressing book when the outside conditions are equally disheartening. I once read Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic tale, The Road during a particularly gray, rainy week and I was miserable. So pick your cold weather books wisely! In short, curling up with a good book is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable activities imaginable!

What are your cold weather reads of choice? Do you have certain books that you read during other seasons?

Senior at Washington and Lee University. Originally from Chattanooga, TN. Majoring in English.

Gathering of Waters and Emmett Till

R.T. Smith

No one should ever forget the horrors suffered during the years when so many were denied their Civil Rights, but Black History Month is always a poignant time to renew our efforts for equality. Bernice L. McFadden’s novel Gathering of Waters (Akashic Books, 2012; 252 pages) revisits Money, Mississippi’s African American community and its white counterpart for several generations leading up to the murder of Emmett Till, and though the author reopens that file and brings the horrors back to life, this strange and splendid novel does much more.
You may be reluctant, at first, to engage with a novel whose narrator is the town of Money, but the conceit grows on you in this erotic and fast-moving story which bears many of the marks of magical realism. Lust, betrayal, flood, hypocrisy, viciousness, the spirit world and lyrical beauty all play their roles, while McFadden exercises her eloquence, terseness and precise instinct for conjuring characters who invite empathy, even when they are far from angels.
While rescuing memories of Emmett Till’s sorrowful story, the author refuses to let the light of hope go out and reminds you that, no matter how firmly you may grasp the facts of a story, there is a mystery as allusive of smoke surrounding all that transpires or is dreamed.
I found this book on Amazon and hope it’s readily available in stores, as well. I’m ready to read more of McFadden right away.

R. T. Smith has edited Shenandoah since 1995 and serves as Writer-in-Residence at Washington & Lee. His forthcoming books are Doves in Flight: 13 Fictions and Summoning Shades: New Poems, both due in 2017.

Food: A Vehicle for Personality

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Shenandoah’s new issue is featuring a piece of flash fiction by Nicholas Roerich Prize winner, Sharon Hasimito, entitled “Vindaloo.”The piece contains cancer, a subsequent death, and food. You would think that the first two would be the more attention worthy, but surprisingly it is food that takes center stage (or in this case center of the table). Hank Teroka remembers his wife through the meals that he has experienced with her. We are given very little description about her physical appearance and specific personality traits, but the types of food that she wants to eat and wants her husband to eat tell us everything we need to know. We find out that she is adventurous, caring and vivacious. Her husband, Hank, on the other hand, is more cautious and pragmatic. The fact that he is willing to try the things that she loved reinforces both the fact that he loved her and the fact that even after death his own decisions remain subject to hers.

I particularly liked this story because I’ve always said food can tell a lot about a person. I pay particular attention whenever eating is involved in a story and perhaps it is just my obsession with all things food related, but I like to think it helps me to develop a better understanding of the character. Like “Vindaloo” it can show whether a person is willing to try new things or not, but it can also tell a lot about a person’s background. For example, if a person only likes to eat McDonald’s perhaps they grew up with blue-collar parents who worked all of the time or if their comfort food is black-eyed peas and collard greens, you can bet on some type of Southern origin. Having the character eat something unusual is another tool that helps to create a more three-dimensional character and allows the author to segue into another aspect of their character’s personality.

A Somewhat Melodious Undertaking

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There have been countless studies showing that music improves intelligence. Recently, however, there has been some disagreement to as to whether or not it is beneficial to studying, especially when that studying involves memorization and numbers. Well, memorization is not my cup of tea. I got Calculus 101 out of the way my freshman year and I’m happy to say I’ll never take another math class again. Looking back, perhaps I shouldn’t have listened to the Rolling Stones so much when I was studying for exams- maybe it would have improved my performance, who knows?

Personally, I’ve always liked background noise when I’m writing. Complete silence makes me antsy. I find that it’s most helpful when I am writing because it helps me to block everything else out and let’s me focus solely on what I am doing. I have only one stipulation: there can be absolutely no lyrics. Slow tunes enable me to concentrate on my own words; if there is an alternate storyline going on in the song it invades my thoughts and permeates my work without my even realizing it. This definitely gets me into trouble when my iPod is on shuffle mode. The type of music depends on both my mood and the material that I am working on. I find that when I am working on creative writing, I tend to lean more towards jazz, mostly Chet Baker or John Coltrane. For critical essays, I stick with classical- there is something about it that just makes me feel smarter.

In my opinion, I think that music is an enormous help creatively. It can bring back specific memories you thought you had lost or help you imagine new places you never knew existed, it provides an escape that still allows you to remain grounded. What do you think, is music an aid or is it a distraction? And if you do listen to it, what do you listen to?

Poetry as Place

Lauren Starnes

One of the English classes I am taking this semester is Twenty-First Century Poetry: Here, Nowhere. The course is taught by the esteemed professor and poet, Lesley Wheeler who is a contributor to the current issue of Shenandoah. In Professor Wheeler’s class we are reading poetry and assessing how the poet describes a real or imagined space. We spent the first part of the term reading works focused on Hurricane Katrina. During the past few weeks I have become immersed in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region, studying poetry by Cynthia Hogue, Nicole Cooley, and Nathasha Trethewey. Although I have never visited New Orleans or its surrounding areas; their poetry transported me to this beautiful, tragic, and unique landscape.

This week, however, we shifted to reading poetry depicting an imagined space, The Hollow Log Lounge by Shenandoah’s very own R.T. Smith, to be exact. I expected that reading poetry about a fictional place would be a completely different experience than reading about an actual place. However, I was surprised by what I discovered. After finishing Smith’s book, The Hollow Log Lounge was just as real of a place to me as the Mississippi Gulf Coast or New Orleans’ French Quarter.

It is the author’s job to transmute a real or imagined space on to the page, so that the place becomes real for the reader. This is the beauty of an immersive reading experience. To me, there are few better experiences then becoming totally engrossed in a poem or work of fiction. What are your thoughts on immersive reading? Do you think it is a detrimental experience? Is it better for the reading to be constantly aware of the author’s artifice?

Senior at Washington and Lee University. Originally from Chattanooga, TN. Majoring in English.

Bravo

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Shenandoah’s very own editor, R. T. Smith, is a poet. But you probably already knew that. What you might not have heard is that his poem “Shades” is the poem of the week at reduxlitjournal.blogspot.com, and his poem “Within Shouting Distance of the Coosa” will be the poem of the day on Poetry Daily, www.poems.com, this Wednesday. Be sure to check them out!

Holy… what?

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Professor Smith wrote in an earlier blog about the utilization of “I swan” in order to avoid using a stronger oath. His blog left me thinking what phrases I use in order to avoid committing a social error. The only thing that I could come up with is the somewhat trite “holy cow!” Perhaps it is redeemed by the fact that it possibly stems from Hinduism, but it still produces snickers from my peers when I inadvertently say it in a moment of surprise. I am again surprised by their laughter. I always thought of it as a common expression. But it seems that as we grow older the swear words become more common and the polite cover-ups less so. Curse words don’t seem to be nearly as shocking as a simple “holy cow” or “oh my gosh!” in everyday language.

And yet, when we see the curse word written on a page, we are shocked by it. Why? Why is the transformation from spoken word to written such a jump? I admit that I’m guilty of it. I’m offended by it in a way that I would never be if someone said it in casual conversation. Perhaps it is because the spoken swear word is fleeting and transient and the written word is permanent, there for the entire world to see.

So what are your thoughts? Are you like me and feel that there is a difference between written swear words and spoken ones? Or do you think that there’s no difference at all?

Top Ten Reasons for Banning Books by Ethnic Minorities?

R.T. Smith

Whenever a community of any sort starts banning books, you know they’re afraid of something, usually themselves. But perhaps the Arizona illuminati deserve a little sympathy. After all, there could be reasons for forbidding the teaching of books whose authors do not come from the “preferred” ethnicity. In the spirit of understanding, we offer the following:

Top Ten Reasons for Not Reading or Teaching Literature by Ethnic Minorities

10. Readers might have to look up some words like corazon or coeur.

9. If you have all that much time on your hands, you could re-read Twilight and its sucklings, which are about things that really matter.

8. Exposure to books by Thomas Sanchez, Carlos Fuentes or Helena Maria Viramontes might break through the protective armor of solipsism. Then where would you be?

7. You might start to believe the words of the sonnet by Emma Lazarus on the bronze plaque under that big statue in New York Harbor.

6. With all these confusing counter-narratives going at once, how can we construct a cozy American myth?

5. Entertaining movies made from the books and internet summaries might be hard to find. And then where would you be?

4. Readers with ethnic heritage similar to the authors of the black-listed books might find encouragement and entitlement, which might make them stronger, more active members of the national community.

3. Newt might not get to send minorities to his proposed fifty-first state, the moon.

2. The forbidden books might explode and blind readers.

1. As John Milton wrote, “That which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary.” Doesn’t that just seem like a lot of hard work?