Infinite crystal butterflies

[Lingua]

I asked webmaster to delete thread since I do not know how to or if I actually can technically do it myself. I thank the host for having me and smile my way out.

[Jack of Hearts]

This isn't really a story. At first this reader thought he liked it. Then he read a few more times and he decided he doesn't really. It's rather imprecise with language, even the 'punchline.' The speaker doesn't really have infinite butterflies in his/her bag. More specifically, he/she has the perpetual reflection of the same ones that are in there.

Imprecision masquerading as poetry is something that turns this reader off, personally. The problem isn't just the 'punchline' itself, but that the entire execution seems to start from the same first principle. Can't identify it conceptually/analytically? Must be poetry/meaningful! it seems to say while sneering at us in an insidious/malicious humor.






J

[AuntShecky]

The story about the "ex" would be infinitely more entertaining than a pretentious one about a bunch of crystal butterflies.

[sam221766]

Maybe it wants to be a joke or a riddle? The hall of mirrors effect is a neat thing to write about...I remember a museum that had a dome that had lots of mirrors for the infinite effect, is this loosely based on exposure to 2 mirrors?

[stlukesguild]

Actually, I quite like Monterroso's short stories which fall within the same sort of genre as J.L. Borges, Italo Calvino, Kafka, Julio Cortazar, etc...

[Jack of Hearts]

Actually, I quite like Monterroso's short stories which fall within the same sort of genre as J.L. Borges, Italo Calvino, Kafka, Julio Cortazar, etc...

It may be the deux gibsons talking, but thisreads like non-sequitur. Or are you implying that this posted piece has anything of comparable value in it considered against something Calvino wrote? Because he was a genius, and not just in the ideas or conceptual execution, but in the very prose itself.




J

[Lingua]

Xxxxx

[Lingua]

Must be poetry/meaningful!
Jack of Hearts
Thanks for commenting.
I'm rescuing this. You've got a point there, I guess. As for the rest, I'm always open for a tete a tete. ;)







J[/QUOTE]

[Lingua]

Actually, I quite like Monterroso's short stories which fall within the same sort of genre as J.L. Borges, Italo Calvino, Kafka, Julio Cortazar, etc...

Thank you, I'd love to discuss anytime.

[Lingua]

xxxxxx

[108 fountains]

I had the opposite reaction from Jack of Hearts. At first I didn't like it, but then I grew to like it. I like the idea of a short story in two sentences, I like the image of "crystal butterflies," and I like the idea that the crystal butterflies could symbolize just about anything (infinite possibilities, you could say). Jack of Hearts is correct when he says the speaker doesn't really have infinite butterflies in the bag, but has instead the perpetual reflection of the same ones that are in there - the author can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that is the whole point of the story. I would however, suggest a correction in the grammar and a slight revision as follows:

"I have all kinds of crystal butterflies in my bag. And since I hung mirrors on all sides, and on top and at the bottom of my bag, I have an infinite number of crystal butterflies inside my infinite bag."

[Lingua]

xxxxxx

[Jack of Hearts]

Hahahahaha, I'm sorry to intrude, but Jack of Hearts, are you really making this question to stlukesguild?
When this person obviously made a kind remark about the person who posted this thread's personal reading taste? Not about the qualities of the short story or whatsoever?
I mean? Really? Is this what this Forum is about?
About denigration? Or shall I take it more personal and go xenophobia?
I'm a little sad.
Really.

There's that excited, empty rhetoric again. Jack of Hearts wouldn't presume to tell you how to interpret these messages, not that you were seriously asking anyways. It's obvious you wanted to run wide left in the reading of it.

But we can talk about intention, for what it's worth. stlukesguild's message starts with 'Actually,...' as though somebody had presented an opposing statement about Monterroso's short stories. It read as nonsequitur because nobody had. Believing that stlukesguild is not randomly spewing bits of tangentially related statements into cyberspace, it left several awkward implications.

So hopefully you really are sorry to intrude, accusing this poster of 'xenophobia' and 'denigration' with incendiary interpretation. Jack of Hearts doesn't know what this forum is about, only that it clearly makes room for pieces that he sometimes does not see the genuine element in-- they get to exist and are protected by the rules and the moderators all the same.

You make it about you. Jack of Hearts keeps it about your work.










J

[108 fountains]

I appreciate the explanation, and it's very helpful. I enjoy stories/poetry with symbolism that gives the reader a chance to interpret what the author is saying, and I especially like stories/poetry that purposely provide the potential for multiple interpretation, but it is insightful to hear directly from the author. It reads as prose, for sure, but I would think that any 40-word story would necessarily be akin to poetry because it needs to convey more in a short space than a story of longer length.

[Lingua]

xxxxx

[108 fountains]

We're on the same wavelength. I've written several stories over the years, but never tried to get any of them published. I wrote them really just for myself as a sort of creative outlet. This past year, something got into me and I wrote 20 stories (and have three more in the works), all between 2000 and 12,000 words. I'm thinking now of trying to get them published and have entered several writing competitions, but the best I have done so far is to make the long-list, a sort of "honorable mention," I guess. I think the idea of this forum is great - to get constructive criticism from people who love to read. I've never shared my work outside a small group of friends, but I just posted excerpts from my latest work-in-progress for comments and found it a humbling and terrifying experience. The forum gives a great opportunity for writers to learn if what they wrote that they think is funny is actually funny, if what they think is suspenseful is actually suspenseful, if the reader "gets" what they are trying to say, or (most terrifying of all), if what they think is good writing is actually good writing (at least in the opinions of others). I agree that a lot of stuff that sells in bookstores leaves me cold. I suppose it is inevitable that if you are writing to sell the greatest number of books, then these days you will often write to please the public's lowest common denominators. I prefer to read the classics - Hardy, Dickens, Austen, Cather, Poe, O Henry, Bradbury, etc.

[stlukesguild]

It may be the deux gibsons talking, but thisreads like non-sequitur. Or are you implying that this posted piece has anything of comparable value in it considered against something Calvino wrote? Because he was a genius, and not just in the ideas or conceptual execution, but in the very prose itself.

Have you read anything by Monterroso beyond these atypical one-liners? I agree that Calvino was a brilliant prose stylist... as was Borges in his own way. They are both among my favorite writers as anyone who has read my posts on LitNet over the years well knows. I wouldn't place Monterroso on the same level as Borges or Calvino... but then there are few writers anywhere that I feel are quite that strong. Monterroso (a Guatemalan writer, not Honduran) was one of the strongest followers of Borges and the Latin American literary boom. Along with writers such as Julio Cortazar, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, etc... he is often categorized as a "Magic Realist"... a genre owing much to Borges. Like Borges, and unlike Cortazar, Marquez, Fuentes, and many others, his work was primarily in the genre of the short story. Even a quick perusal of the Wikipedia entry on Monterroso will give you some idea as to just how well-respected the author was.

[Lingua]

Monterroso (a Guatemalan writer, not Honduran) was one of the strongest followers of Borges and the Latin American literary boom. Along with writers such as Julio Cortazar, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, etc... he is often categorized as a "Magic Realist"... a genre owing much to Borges. Like Borges, and unlike Cortazar, Marquez, Fuentes, and many others, his work was primarily in the genre of the short story. Even a quick perusal of the Wikipedia entry on Monterroso will give you some idea as to just how well-respected the author was.

Teresa, Monterroso's mother was actually from Honduras and his father was from Guatemala. The writer was born in Tegus, as their citizens dearly call the capital of Honduras. Hence, the mention to both his place of birth and his nationality, not only on the Wikipedia -which I do frequently consult for myriads of petite and big reasons- but in many documents both online and offline.
In my country, there is an online annual contest for brief stories, Monterroso is subject of interesting debates and conversations, and most agree he will always be remembered as "el hombre del dinosaurio".
He was indeed a great exponent of magic realism. However, I wouldn't agree to so closely compare his works to both Borges/Garcia Marquez. Just last night, I was chatting with a friend writer from Argentina and we were comparing and contrasting, very briefly of course, Borges and Garcia Marquez and how similar and so different at the same time their discourses are, just precisely because of the idiosyncrasies of the societies they speak to. The nuances are so interesting and they are contrasting, but I'm sure many scholars have written more eloquently about this topic than I could ever do in just a few lines on an online forum, in a language which is not my native, and taking into account that I have never studied literature, I just love to read and write, just like the next person.

[JCamilo]

One of the unfinished projects of Calvino was a anthology of short stories inspired by Monterroso's dino. This made me remember of a short one that Borges/Bioy added in anthology of Fantasy stories :

"The last man on earth sat alone in the room. There was a knock at the door."

The story has some variations, I think it is atributed to Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

[Lingua]

I think the idea of this forum is great - to get constructive criticism from people who love to read. I've never shared my work outside a small group of friends, but I just posted excerpts from my latest work-in-progress for comments and found it a humbling and terrifying experience.

Yes, the idea of the forum is great.
A humbling and terrifying experience, you say.
Maybe that's the point I don't get. I guess I've seen a little too much drama when it comes to giving feedback.
But well, in the end they're taking time form their lives to read works from total strangers so I guess you have to be patient and even learn to enjoy their performance. I guess, everything falls into place eventually.
I'll try and read your stories, if your kindness and rapport show in your texts I'm sure you're skillful at conveying and negotiating meaning.


I prefer to read the classics - Hardy, Dickens, Austen, Cather, Poe, O Henry, Bradbury, etc.
The classics, in any field. Literature, music, clothing... I have a different background but I have enjoyed Dickens, Austen of course, and Poe and Bradbury from that list.

[Calidore]

One of the unfinished projects of Calvino was a anthology of short stories inspired by Monterroso's dino. This made me remember of a short one that Borges/Bioy added in anthology of Fantasy stories :

"The last man on earth sat alone in the room. There was a knock at the door."

The story has some variations, I think it is atributed to Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

That was the first one I thought of when I saw this thread. I think it was Fredric Brown who expanded that one into an actual short story.