Experimental Writing Essay

TECHNIQUES AND PURPOSE OF EXPERIMENTAL WRITING IN MY STORIES AND IN THE PENAL COLONY



The intention of this essay is to describe the characteristics of experimental writing, their purpose and how they are manifested in In the Penal Colony and my collection of short stories. I will be using references from novels, such as Naked Lunch and Gravity’s Rainbow to describe and give illustrations of the characteristics of experimental writing. I will also be using the book, Postmodern Narrative Theory, sites such as, Textetc, and readings from Topic Six and One, including Modjeska and Cardinal in the book of readings, to support my arguments. The main argument of this essay is that experimental writing uses techniques such as, word salad, contradiction, irony, expansive writing, and surrealism. The purpose of experimental writing is to progress writing, open up new ways of enjoying our reading, and to write in a way that is not overdone or stale.

Experimental writers’ play with form, structure, language, point of view, and discourse (Keep, McLaughlin & Parmar, 2000). This play with form and structure is seen in one of the key characteristics of experimental writing, which is the use of word salad writing (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 21-23). Other techniques, which are used, include puns, word games, and shifts in the rules of location and time (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 21-23). An example of word salad like writing is from Naked Lunch is: ‘I can feel the heat closing in, feel them out there making their moves, setting up the devil doll stool pigeons’ (Burroughs, 1992, p. 9). The use of expansive and ardent writing is also characteristic of experimental writing. This is seen in the collage-like writing, which can be used just like in painting in adding impressionistic detail to art (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 21-23). An example of this collage from Gravity’s Rainbow is: ‘truffles of truth created, as ancients surmised, during storm, in the instant of lightning blast’ (Daw & Ruch, 2003). Experimental writing makes use of a myriad of different viewpoints and discourse and foregrounds alienated members of society (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 23-25). It makes use of ambiguity and creates hybrid genres. An example of this kind of hybrid writing is in Flaubert’s Parrot, which is a biography of Gustave Flaubert written from the point of view of a writer writing about Flaubert and mixes both fiction with nonfiction (Brooks, 1985).

There are many other strategies of innovative writing, including the use of playfulness or infantilism (Daniel & Modjeska, 1994). New experimental writing alters concepts such as space and the knowledge we have inherited (Daniel & Modjeska, 1994). This kind of writing goes against conventional form, aesthetics and the structure of writing and challenges the motivations for writing in established forms (Cardinal, 2004). Experimental writing manipulates the basis of our factual knowledge and the form of writing. Rather than being part of a genre, like science fiction or crime, it creates new categories, which are currently without names. Outsider art in particular does not adapt to existent trends in civilization and instead displays clear and characteristic qualities and has a denominator, which is not seen by the current literary subset as belonging to any tradition (Cardinal, 2004). Other techniques used by experimental writers include, alienating consciousness, use of duality, and contrasting integrity/disintegration, which are all seen in outsider art (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 21-23). Experimental and outsider artists celebrate their eccentricity, which may include being homeless, mentally ill, or schizotypal, and may write completely spontaneously in stream of consciousness or automatic writing, which is displayed in my collection of stories.

By writing experimentally we are altering our method of viewing the world and our culture and the relationship between abstract ideas and reality. Writing experimentally has the effect of fragmenting meaning, which controverts conventional narrative (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 23-25). Fragmenting meaning serves the purpose of opening up new ways of presenting ideas, experiences, and thoughts in language (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 23-25). An experimental writer cannot cause a revolution alone, they need a myriad of influences to become what they are, which includes mentors, publishers, readers, and lecturers. Through this link with established avenues of publishing and the use of fragmentation of meaning, experimental writers progress the art and change the rules of writing for future generations.

Modernist stories similar to In the Penal Colony are characterised by tapping into the minds, thoughts, and experiences of ordinary people, stream of consciousness, experimentation, and individualism (Holcombe, 2007). Reality is intersected by the action of writing, rather than what is manifested (Holcombe, 2007). It is made up of the action of writing and our motivations and is not constituted of abstract thoughts (Holcombe, 2007). Experimental writers write they way they do because they reject typical molds. Writers, like Woolf, Hamsun, and Joyce rejected the past of writing in favour of dream-like writing, surrealism, and iconoclasm, which were revolutionary forms of writing and are features that defined experimental writing in the early 20th century (Holcombe, 2007). These avant-garde writers wrote with the use of these methods to expand the horizon of writing and to perform self-expression, which results in writing, which is interesting, eccentric, and enjoyable for both readers and writers.

In Postmodern Narrative Theory it is claimed that personal selfhood is not within our bodies, but is a nexus which is influenced and surrounded by the people we love and those we briefly meet in everyday life (Currie, 1998, p. 17). Our identity is constructed by the differential between the other and ourselves and exists in our verbal thoughts as a narrative (Currie, 1998, p. 17). Currie (1998, p. 17) posits that when we read a book we make assumptions about the characters, just like in real life and fill in the gaps and construct mental images of ourselves and the other. In the early part of the 20th century writers tried to prize open our minds by writing in first person and interior monologue. Currie (1998, p. 18) posits that by writing about internal point of view writers were creating visual metaphors for personal thoughts. By writing using experimental techniques we use metaphors to serve the purpose of engaging the reader in fantastical descriptions of peoples inner lives (Currie, 1998). Through doing this writers are progressing the art of writing and making important insights into the human condition.

In the Penal Colony is modernistic, utilizes individual voices, and deals with bureaucracy in a pertinent manner (Holcombe, 2007). In the Penal Colony plays on what we expect in writing and its discourse is based upon our belief that previous writing is stereotypical (Holcombe, 2007). In the Penal Colony explores the contrast between the freedom that comes with being in a position of power and criminality or persecution, which leads to incarceration (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 95-97). Kafka’s writing is innovative because it appears mysterious and leaves out important details, such as the name of locales. Through the use of these literary concepts Kafka’s story is an important modernist work.

In the Penal Colony exploits modernist writing techniques and aspects of avant-garde writing in use of texture and detail, which is displayed by the following line: ’breathed with mouth wide open’ (Kafka, 1983, p. 140). This makes the imprisoned man seem vulnerable and conjures up images of him being violently attacked. The story uses surrealist description and metaphor to evoke mysticism. e.g. ’the glare of the sun in the shadeless valley was altogether too strong’ (Kafka, 1983, p. 142). The following line is used as a metaphor for the nakedness and shieldless position of the sentenced man: ’he sheltered his eyes from the sun with one hand’ (Kafka, 1983, p. 143). The long-winded dialogue of the commandant demonstrates that he is trying to lure the explorer into a mistake and suspects the explorer of treachery. The commandant’s dialogue displays the cruelty and incredulous nature of the European justice system in the early 20th century, where those who are corrupt see their foes everywhere, particularly in the structure of the bureaucracy. Although the condemned man ultimately escapes, the explorer is also cruel and unkind, which displays the systemic nature of violence in our society.

The words ‘Honor thy superiors!’ (Kafka, 1983, p. 144), are inscribed on the condemned man’s back in In the Penal Colony and are used to create a sense of irony and to satire the corruption inherent in government in Europe in the period in which Kafka was writing (Kafka, 1983). Through changes between generations new ideas are fabricated, which present incarceration in alternate ways. The use of penitentiaries is part of western civilization and is like a virus in our society, which cannot be severed from civilization (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 95-97). At the end of the narrative the explorer lifts up the rope and doesn’t allow the men who helped him, except for the imprisoned man, displays that even the people who come to our rescue are still defined by the mechanical nature of our society (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 95-97). There is a sense of justice towards the end of In the Penal Colony as the commandant is immolated because of his malpractice. The Kafka story is a critique of bureaucratic corruption, but still portrays the redeeming factions our society has as imbedded in ideology and bureaucracy as well, which is everywhere and inescapable (Conway & Costello, 2010, pp. 95-97).

Many techniques and strategies of experimental writing are used in my collection of stories. These include the use of historical writing and the flow of internal monologue in A Peasant Girl. The word 'and' is cut out of many of the sentences in all five stories to create a sense of the flow of the character's thoughts. The sentences run on in a loose association of ideas, with the prose jumping between different ideas. An example of this flowing writing is: 'bestirring with knights peasants noblemen women children and men’ (Dunne, 2011). The short story Tundra uses outlandish metaphors and is dactylic, which is evidenced by the following example: ‘hot rod roasting the back side of a pig’ (Dunne, 2011). There are odd juxtapositions used in Tundra, such as the contrast of the stench of a dead elk with a bathroom the narrator has been in California. The experimental technique of the mundane is used as the character is wadding through a swamp and smokes a cigarette. Comedy is used which is used to lighten the mood. e.g. ‘musician shaking a lemon’ (Dunne, 2011). Towards the end of the narrative in Tundra the story shifts rapidly between sleep and awake and contrasts the two states. Nature is used as a metaphor for the protagonist’s introspection, which is an experimental writing technique: 'stretched on like the scenic view which mirrors my emotions through time’ (Dunne, 2011).

The story The Reflected Ego uses experimental techniques, such as blending dialogue with prose narration, the use of psychoanalytic theory, and odd word choices, such as 'morphed' in relation to changes in skin colour. The use of psychoanalytic theory is evidenced by the following phrase: ‘felt her antipathy towards her husband Dimitry mirrored and reflected in his deep blue eyes’ (Dunne, 2011). Through the exploitation of these techniques, the use of experimental writing is evident in my stories.

Both my writings and the Kafka reading make use experimental techniques, including employing odd language, stream of consciousness, contradiction, exertion of psychoanalytic theory, playing with the expectations of the reader in the use of odd kernel events in the plot, and surrealism. The purpose of experimental writing is to progress the art of writing and to refuse to repeat the writing of previous generations. Each successive generation experiments with writing in different ways, which is important as this experimentation changes what we can represent in writing and our very culture. Through the use of genres such as futurism, modernism, and postmodernism in writing, the western literary tradition is made fun of and structural innovations, such as representing characters thoughts and the utilization of surrealist situations are used to entertain the reader to represent changes in culture in the form of writing.
















REFERENCES

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