On fragmentation

I was really surprised to read in Sullivan about fragmentation in writing being a particularly feminist notion, but it also made a great deal of sense in keeping with everything I experienced in the creative writing sphere, and while working for literary magazines and observing trends there and in workshops. There is so much resistance for and against particular types of narratives, and while I’m not sure we’re still within the breakdowns Sullivan offers us, there is still a lot of tension between the stripped-down narrative (often masculine) and more structurally experimental narratives. Before I start listing and categorizing writers, because I can think of dozens of exceptions as I type that, let me instead consider my experiences in teaching narrative of multiple types to students. Right now, my students are writing memoir, and one student in particular, a young man, is struggling to braid two narratives and it’s so hard for him to see how that looks on the page because he wants to write one unified piece… but his story isn’t unified. It’s not the first time I’ve seen this, but as I look back, particularly in thinking about my creative writing classes, I have observed more willingness to move around in a narrative from female writers than from male, who stick more closely to the linear progression (regardless of who is making the “better” choice for their work). Thinking about where that comes from is particularly useful for me now, as a number of my students dabble in code and similarly structured hobbies and pursuits. Relating a moving, shifting narrative to web browsing or something similar, or even the creation of web content (next time!) offers some very interesting ways of thinking about how to break that down in relatable ways for students. I wonder if I can have them track their own web behaviors and what we might learn if we do. Off topic, I think, but today’s readings definitely have me thinking.

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