Author Archives: susan

LITERATURE: Ivan Denisovich – Story

This relates back perhaps to an earlier posting, but there’s a thread of story I’m following beneath the story of Ivan (Shukhov) and the routine of his day in this prison camp, regardless of the backstory information we get. People … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Ivan Denisovich – POV

While the story is told in third person pov, with the protagonist Ivan Denisovich a.k.a. Shukhov, there is what seems like narrator intrusion but which Solzhenitsyn uses as a tool to bring the reader into the cold world of Ivan’s … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: S/Z – Deep Reading

As opposed to my slowly waning inclination to tell Barthes to cut the crap, read for enjoyment and meaning instead of ruining a simple story through dissection. Haven’t quite felt comfortable yet with the theory to argue it one way … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Ivan Denisovich – Metaphor

The column passed the wood-processing factory, built by prison labor, the workers’ settlement (the huts had been assembled by prisoners too, but the inhabitants were civilians), the new club (convict-built in entirety, from the foundations to the mural decorations–but it … Continue reading Continue reading

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POETRY: Substance

Like the wind I’m only visible in what I’ve plucked from life. Thoughts that swirl like green leaves in a summer storm,winged seeds from mighty maples flitter down to catch a grain of earth and there to sprout Ah, but … Continue reading Continue reading

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POETRY: Life Act I

Man strains, pulls, cries out against the shackles of his chains, His sound drowned by laughing thunder of the gods who know but wouldn’t tell, like time that can’t be seen, a play rolls out in stages– merely entertainment– what … Continue reading Continue reading

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POETRY: Mass

What I think is not in sync with how the world is turning. Like an incohesive puff of cloud caught in wild rotation at the wrong pole of the globe. Jostled by the thunderstorm of life building in a path, … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Ivan Denisovich – Metaphor & Symbolism

Like I’ve said, rarely do I read the intro and foreword to a book until I’ve completed the reading, not wanting to be influenced by the kind accolades or author input that can seriously change a reader’s experience.  But with … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Ivan Denisovich – Character

Solzhenitsyn endows his protatgonist, Denisovich, with the instincts of everyman, pits this reality against the unreality of life in a Russian prison camp. Shukhov knew how to manage anything. Work was like a stick.  It had two ends.  When you … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Glimmertrain No. 52 – Another Goodie

Rafael’s father started to die in March.  By summer, it was nearly complete.  (p. 99) That’s the opening of Daniel Alarcon’s A Strong Dead Man, and the story that follows is very simple–a boy’s (Rafael’s) father is dying and his … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Ivan Denisovich – Pace

Within a very few pages, we are involved in the mind of Ivan Denisovich in the apathy he has towards his situation, and yet he still reveals the instincts to survive by learning about the guards and fellow prisoners and … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Ivan Denisovich – Metaphor

This is the first time I actually read the introduction to a book, possibly because I felt–and was right–that the backstory and setting that held the needed information would be here, rather than interwoven in the narrative.  Doing so immediately … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Glimmertrain No. 52 – A Winner

Finished Confrontations (a very good issue that was, too) and moved onto this Glimmertrain.  I’m a third of the way through and have come upon a real winner–of the Very Short Fiction Award.  Now I’m usually woefully lost as to … Continue reading Continue reading

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REALITY?: Appreciating Nature

What do you do when you rise up at three a.m. and then by six you’re done with all your morning chores but notice the bottom shelf of the refrigerator’s stuffed with yellow squash?  You make three chocolate squash breads … Continue reading Continue reading

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LITERATURE: Next Up – One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Couldn’t stay away from the pile. This will likely be a more meditative read, though it is short; it will take longer.  I won’t devour it to the exclusion of all else, and will be able, I hope, to still … Continue reading Continue reading

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