Jack Kerouac, �Atop an Underwood�
Four more Kerouac books to go.
Not even four, really; one book is a biography, and another is a collection of �beat� writing, and so Kerouac is only a sample of what is involved. Then I never have to read Kerouac again. Calloo Callay! Man, if I weren�t so anal about finishing everything I have on my shelf, I would have written him off a long time ago.
But I�m starting on a bad note. Sorry. I�m still reeling from the sheer awfulness that is Visions of Cody and Desolation Angels. Fortunately, this isn�t on par with those nightmares of linguisticy. Atop an Underwood, in fact, deals with short fiction and excerpts from early writings, and the editor had the sense to put in what worked and ditch the writings when Kerouac began to ramble.
This is probably why most of these pieces only consist of two pages.
Then again, while I liked the prose utilized with most of this work, these short excerpts presented a new problem, one I noticed from my Fiction class. I�m not convinced that short pieces are enough to flesh out a character, and hence, most of these stories feel hollow. Very hollow in fact.
At the last week of classes, our instructor decided we should all try our hand at a �flash fiction� piece, meaning we were constrained to under a thousand words. The pieces I read from my classmates were for the most part, stock characters in clich�d situations. Of course I suppose that should be expected, as these were simple students trying to hone their craft. But, as I was fortunate enough to be ill when the assignment was first placed, I had the luxury of reading every other student�s piece before having to write my own.
And I couldn�t believe how dark their stories were. Nearly every story dealt with come-uppance, or failure, or just deserts, or longing, etc. What the hell was going on? I�m supposed to be the one full of unhappy endings!
And so of course, given my non-conformist nature, I rebelled. I wrote an unbearably cute story in the Am�lie vein, complete with a girl clutching flowers and skipping happily away. I know there is no way I would have written this kind of story if I hadn�t seen the dark tone of the rest of the class beforehand. And when I got the comments back from the rest of the class, the majority said they wished I had left out the happy ending.
What the hell? Is this some sort of reverse bizarro world? People, I�m supposed to be the bitter one!
