Defenestrationism.net

Winners now announced.

To comment, please Sign-in, screen left,

or simply email PNRENTERPRIZES@gmail.com

that’s PNRenterpriZesATgmailDOTcom

Opening Questions

Billy Luck:

-How do nuanced depictions of unorthodox lifestyles and/or marginalized body-types, (Carnival workers, Side-show workers, Little People) broaden all readers’ of this story understandings of such life-styles and body types?

-In what ways does Daisy’s gender, femaleness and womanhood effect the story?

-Does a story with such confrontational Otherness (or minority status) necessitate that the author be of such a minority?  In other words, should it matter if/ that the author is or is not a little person, and should this or should this not effect our reading of the story?

By the River:

-How does humor and the most light-hearted voice of this contest effect our reading?  This story demands to be taken seriously, how does humor force us to think twice about Capitalism, human kindness, pregnancy, human intelligence (“too valuable to lay off”), and the disastrous effects of lottery jackpots?

-This author is published twice on defenestrationism.net .  In what ways does Post-modernism demand readers take this author seriously, when the material is so light-hearted, humorous, and seemingly flippant?

-Did the speaker of the story actually win?  Does this matter to the story, to the character, to the author, or to the reader?

I’ve Got You:

-Is this story a work of fiction, or creative non-fiction?— in other words, did it happen in history?  Do such distinctions matter?  Why or why not?

-Early 20th century air-combat may be the most dynamic, picturesque, difficult, deadly… and awe-inspiring form of warfare in human history.  What could this specific form of warfare symbolize in the story, and how so?

-How do multiple cultural references (songs, to name but two) effect the story?  These references are so important to the author that it features in the very title, WHY THAT SONG, so specifically?

Circe’s Bicycle:

-What an incredible title— sorry to devote so much time to it, but we’re a bit obsessed with titles, here at defenestrationism.net.  What the foosball does this title mean?  Who was Circe?  Why doesn’t she appear in the story (at least, if read in this way, why does the Homeric Circe character not appear in the story)?  If the bicycle of the title is read as nothing more than a circular object that spins and takes you somewhere, what does that mean?

-Unicorns, insects that grow large, islands of the dead: is this a realistic story or a dreamy story?  Put differently, does the mother character die to achieve these unending visions?  Or a dream that never ends?  If either, then prove it with quotations from this text.  There is a difference between dreams and death, what is it?

-Importance of gender and gender roles in this story: discuss.  How does gender tie into motherly roles, daughterly roles, back to that dang Circe of the title, and bodies (or lack-there-of) in the story?

Surveillance:

-Is the speaker being spied upon?  What difference does that make to the story and characters in the story (the fiction), the political statement of the story (the authorial meta-narrative, if you allow us to still use the term), and to the historical reality of the present?

-The internet is crucial to this story.  In what ways do the give and take of internet publication (on facebook, but also comments on defenestrationism.net) effect the story, the message, and historical reality?

-How is internet publication a dynamic movement away from the literature of the CODEX (or book with pages) and how does this tie to the change from the literature of the MANUSCRIPT (or pre-modern scrolls with no pages)?

by
by

This entry was posted on Monday, September 5th, 2016 at 1:53 pm and is filed under !Short Story Contest!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.