THE SHORT STORY INTENTION

Chabon (left), Diaz (right)

Everyone's facebook status reads "Inception blows my mind! Crazy!" and on, and on. So even a nonfilm watcher like myself is suddenly interested in writer/director/producer Christopher Nolan and the discussions that are going on about the plot and actors, as well as the more theoretical dialogue about the auteur theory, which -- briefly-- states that the director's personal vision is presented/explored in his movies. Critics say that a) auteur theory undervalues the collaborative efforts of film sets and the external influence of studio wishes and b) there's a fallacy of interpreting movies based on what you think the auteur meant to say.

I'm mentioning this because I recently finished "Manhood for Amateurs" (Chabon) and "Drown" (Diaz), both short story collections, and auteur theory has me wondering about my interpretation of the collections as a whole, and each author's larger canon. "Manhood" is nonfiction (filed INCORRECTLY as fiction at the Saratoga Library!) and "Drown" is the first fiction short story collection from Dominican American author Junot Diaz. I've never read Chabon before, and this was not, I'm guessing, his finest hour. The thing that really strikes me about auteur theory is the sense of cohesion: you're supposed to be able to identify it with its director (the auteur theory assumes the director, more than anyone else, is responsible for a film). I feel like story collections should work this way as well, or they shouldn't really be gathered in one place. Chabon is all over the map. True, "Manhood" is about being a man from various aspects: as a father, a son, a husband, and friend. So it sounds like it should work, but it doesn't. The main reason is that these aren't really stories, but essays, and they don't link up well enough to be part of the same collection. I didn't feel compelled to read one essay after another and in the end, if you asked me what the collection was about, my best summary, as I'm going to give now, is that it's about Chabon's ability to indulge himself. The topics are progressive but predictable as a writer living in Berkeley (he exalts women at lennngth) and there's just no there, there. I wonder if this is because if this is non-fiction. Can auteur theory reflect non-fiction, realistic sensibilities? Or does it break down because you can't as easily interpret from the first person? True, we don't need to remove ourselves in order to examine issues of identity, memory, etc, but does a medium make it more tangible to express?

"Drown" is a different beast entirely, and reading it before "Manhood" made "Manhood" all the more disappointing. I'm just even more in love with Diaz's ability to write from diverse perspectives. I'm also a little shocked at how necessary it is for each of the stories to be in the collection. I've never felt the urgency of a collection so clearly before -- as if missing one story was going to negatively effect the collection's integrity. One of the main reasons I decided to read "Drown" was because I heard his reading of the short story, "How to date a browngirl, blackgirl, or halfie" on NPR and found it hysterical. Diaz is a great reader: he's got that VOICE, you know? It captures your attention, and it's got attitude. And his interpretation of the story was that it was at once irreverent, funny, smart, and evocative of the pangs of different types of love and poverty. All this in what, twenty minutes of reading? I've listened to the podcast so many times, and I decided that I had to read the collection.

Surprisingly, the story takes on an entirely different life from what I had imagined it to be. I haven't been to too many author readings because I simply don't learn or process information very well, but I do usually think that I'm able to pick out the potential ways a story can be interpreted. My reading of "How to date..." changed drastically after seeing it in print: I feel like every sentence is more intense, and has more layered, nuanced meaning than before. Is this because there's context more specific context? Does having physical proof of the words make me slow down and concentrate more? I don't know. But "Drown" makes me want to read more short story collections and pay closer attention to the links each story has. With both "Drown" and "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" there is a sense that these books belong to Diaz, in thematic expressions of the immigrant experience and its effects on love, work ethics, family... there's stylistic and emotional growth and there's language that's identifiable to a community. I think the heart of auteur theory is that there's distinction of vision, and here with Diaz, that's definitely true. I can't really see anyone else writing about life the way Diaz does.

I'm so excited not to have to buy things off illegal book carts in China that I've just been crazy reading whatever I see lately, so excuse the long-winded entries.... you can't imagine how good it feels not to have to put down a deposit to borrow "western" books. Ahh! It's like a free for all in good old capitalistic America :)

xx t