Newsletter #5: Poe, Baldwin, Faulkner, Writing and Existence, Vietnam War
Edgar Allan Poe
Three Sentences to Imitate and Study
I.
No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, then I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! – by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman – a howl! – a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the damned in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.
- Edgar Allan Poe, “The Black Cat”
II.
The seven years’ difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm: I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge.
- James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”
III.
I slowed still more, my shadow pacing me, dragging its head through the weeds that hid the fence.
- William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Two Quotes on Writing and Existence
I.
“The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place. All I must do is find it, and copy it.”
- Jules Renard, Journal 1887-1910
II.
“Let everything run through us and grab as much as we can of it with a pen and paper. Let yourself live in something that is already rightfully yours - your own wild mind.”
- Natalie Goldberg, from Wild Mind: Living The Writer’s Life
This Week’s Writing Prompt/Tip
This week I’m sharing a clip from a TV series from the 1990s called Making Sense of the Sixties. In this clip, poet and educator Bill Ehrhart describes his experience as a Marine fighting in the Vietnam War.
What struck me about the interview is Mr. Ehrhart’s confessional style that felt like I was watching an actor perform a monologue. Of course Mr. Ehrhart’s experience is real, but as a writing exercise it might be interesting to transcribe Mr. Ehrhart’s description of his experiences in order to write your own first-person confessional style monologue. This could be used to develop a character or as a short story or monologue.
Post your thoughts or reactions about the video in the Comments section below.
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