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  #1  
Unread 03-29-2019, 06:01 AM
Daniel Recktenwald's Avatar
Daniel Recktenwald Daniel Recktenwald is offline
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Default Short fiction in verse and rhyme

Mighty, pooled mind of Spherians:

In starting this thread, I'm imagining two "Moon-shots" :

1. A day when readers can regularly find-- in the pages of Vanity Fair, or Harper's, or The Atlantic, or The Economist or other wide-circ magazines-- short stories in verse, often but not always in rhyme. 200-400 lines or so.

2. The appearance on the NYT bestseller list of a 21st-century Dubliners, a collection of engaging, relevant, telling, entertaining short stories-- but in verse.

I believe poets can and should choose to attempt those two feats, "not because they are easy-- but because they are haaaad." And hell, even if those "moon-shots" fail, we could put some satellites in orbit, invent some velcro. . . .

I've played with some "model rockets" in my back yard. But with this thread, I'm looking to elicit:
  • Titles of any recently published attempts (from the last 20-30 years), and any recorded reviews/reception
  • Ideas, proposals, and commentary on matters of form, style, and technique in this area
  • Contacts for and among poets tinkering in this direction (the direction being up, up, and out of the lyric ghetto-- expanding poetry's range)

If you have been working in this direction, I hope you'll contribute your thoughts to this thread. As for your drafts . . . . I'm hoping this thread will reveal some affinities among practitioners, perhaps get an underground economy of beta-readers going. We'll see.

All ideas and feedback welcome. (Posts stating that this is a fool's errand and why it is so-- very welcome here, such posts: they would be good intel on the obstacles and resistance that must be overcome.)

Thanks, all!

Daniel
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Unread 03-29-2019, 06:26 AM
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Are you excluding published "stand-alone" novels? I can think of a few of those.
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Unread 03-29-2019, 06:38 AM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
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Yes, Daniel, you might for instance be interested in Aaron Poochigian's contributions, like Mr. Either/Or.

Cheers,
John
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Unread 03-29-2019, 06:50 AM
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Ann Drysdale Ann Drysdale is offline
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There's Ros Barber's The Marlowe Papers. And Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate. But if it's short you're after, then there's Beastly Tales (also by Vikram Seth).
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Unread 03-29-2019, 02:07 PM
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Daniel Recktenwald Daniel Recktenwald is offline
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Default Yep-- short stuff

Thanks Ann, and thanks, John!

John,
I loved Mr. Either/Or and I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel! To my way of thinking, Aaron P. has done poetry a great service, there (besides writing a novel I read in three sittings [I read very slowly] and laughed with the entire way through).

Ann,
I'm certainly interested in longer fiction/novels written in the verse mode. I have a copy of The Golden Gate and it's on deck as my next read. I also read Derek Walcott's Omeros.

But yeah, with this thread I'm looking to explore what Dana Gioia called the "mid-length poem," in the fiction sub-genre of the short-story.

Now, thanks to you, The Marlowe Papers and Seth's Beastly Tales go on my "To Hunt Down" list.

Would you share, Ann, your thoughts on those two works? I'm especially curious about how they . . . worked for you.

Perhaps this will clarify: with Walcott's Omeros, I enjoyed his writing, but the work disappointed me overall. (No need to belabor at great length why that was so. But it seemed to strain at "the epic" and yet not approach it. Perhaps I got the wrong impression from what I'd heard about it before reading it first-hand. Compared to what I was thirsty for, Omeros was too much poetry and not enough fiction-- which, naturally, it has a right to be. I don't dismiss the work entirely for not being what I was looking for.)

Also wondering, both of you: have you attempted any verse in this direction? (measured/metered lines; sonic and resonant subtlety of poetry; the whole functioning narratively to tell a tale-- be it genre piece or literary short story) Or do you intend to do so? Have you all considered it but then discarded the idea? Care to offer your ideas on the prospect itself?

Thanks again,
Daniel
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Unread 03-30-2019, 09:24 AM
Max Goodman Max Goodman is offline
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Thanks for raising this issue, Daniel. I've written comic narrative verse (probably lacking the "sonic and resonant subtlety of poetry"), and would like to more actively try to publish it. I don't know where to send it.

One comic short story (520 lines) was published in Light Quarterly when it was a print journal. Another was being serialized there when it stopped print publication. And I've written two verse novellas, one of them a fanciful completion of Byron's Don Juan, that remain unpublished, though excerpts of each has been in small journals (Light Quarterly, Slant).
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Unread 03-30-2019, 10:26 AM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
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Hi Daniel,

I was blown away by Omeros, but it's true, that was more the poetry than the narrative. I thought myself that he earned the Nobel. Brodsky has some longish comic narratives, which impress me less.
In answer to your question, I do have a 75-page unpublished narrative poem, but Sphereans were not big fans. I also have an 8-page verse drama (also unpublished) which people seemed to prefer.

Cheers,
John
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  #8  
Unread 03-30-2019, 11:44 AM
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Daniel Recktenwald Daniel Recktenwald is offline
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Hey, Max! Howdy, John!

Thanks to both of you for adding to this thread. I feel the thread starting to build some momentum.

One caution I'll pass along (from an Eratosphere official, given to me mostly because I'm such a newb-- and I'm being guided well) it's a No-No to post one's own poems in the GT forum. Good to know, cause I would have started asking for excerpts!

I find the news (to me) of your all's verse fiction efforts exciting and encouraging. Congratulations, Max, on your successes in landing fiction in Light Quarterly and Slant! And having a narrative run in serial: how Dickensian-ly cool! (Discontinued? Booooooo. . . .)

I'll do my due diligence to seek out your stuff in those two organs. Don't know how much of the full text will be available online (and my nearest university library, well . . . could be much better, and more cooperative; I'm an alum three damn times over, they could help a brother out.) All of which is to say, I'm not lazy; I will go hunting, and gladly. But . . . .

I'm going to PM both of you my email address. I'd be a grateful reader of any relevant work either of you would wish to share. And yes, John, that includes all or any portion of your 75-pager. And any new starts in this direction: hell yeah, I'd be interested, whether you think it's a go for posting in the Sphere or not.

In my PM, I'll tell you guys what I've done in this vein. (and briefly: just title, scope, number of pages/lines.) It doesn't feel right to talk about my own stuff here: I don't want to give the impression that I started this thread to shill for my own. My interest in the topic is genuine, and even mentioning my own attempts at narrative poetry-- out here in this thread-- feels like a conflict of interest.

I'd like this to be a useful and encouraging thread, open to all Sphereans; a potluck in my house. Bring your dishes and recipes! I'll clean up. Happy to host.

Thanks, y'all!
Daniel
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