The Weekly Atticus (10/06/2018)

The Answer Is I Don't Know | The Weekly Atticus

October 06, 2018

A recap of the week at Atticus Review, along with some extras.

Dear ,

I’ve been thinking a lot about memoir lately. I read three this past summer, in fact, which is a greater frequency of memoir reading than my usual rate. It’s not that I have an aversion to memoir, but there is a part of me that always approaches the genre with one eyebrow raised, reading attentively but always asking in the back of my mind, how is it that the writer is just so sure of these events which are so far in the past?Anytime I read memoir, I feel like I should be seeing in faint watermark behind the typeset the repeated phrase I DONT KNOW I DONT KNOW I DONT KNOW. A little bit of humility goes a long way, and when I don’t see it in how people speak of themselves, I get a little skeptical.Writers think, mostly. Even more than we’re smashing away at the keyboard, we’re thinking. Often about our own lives, our pasts. We take walks in the gardens of our memories, sniff the buds, whether blooming or dead, vibrant or washed out. Whenever I do this, I’m often following tangential paths, losing myself in hedge mazes, and often asking more questions without ever getting to an answer.How do we, as writers, form a narrative from the jagged, torn pieces of memory? It’s sometimes hard to draw a straight line between all the dots. In the real world, we don’t have epiphanies where the angels sing and a spotlight shines over our head. Most of the time it happens quietly and it takes a bit to register, and by then we’ve already left the room, gone back to chopping those vegetables for dinner, started listening to that podcast.I notice something a lot with my students when they write memoir: they are so driven and ready to make a big statement about their life or a particular issue, that the narrative can quickly get lost in a lot of rhetoric. When I see this happen, I encourage them to just tell the story as it happened, with as much detail and truth as they can muster. Sometimes it’s too much to try and draw the lines between each moment to uncover the how or the why.My interest in memoir often has a lot more to do with the writers themselves, than their stories. I'm seeking to invest myself in their experiences, not necessarily the "myth" that they establish. There’s a simple power and truth in the I Don’t Have An Answer, I Just Have My Story. Memories stick with us because they are unresolved. Sometimes all we can do is let the reader insert themselves into those memories and draw their own lines between the dots we provide.There are a lot of dots below. Have at it. And don't forget to send us some Flash for our fall contest! Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.Aditya DesaiBook Reviews Editor 

ATTICUS NEWS

JUST A FEW MORE WEEKS LEFT TO SUBMIT!

First Prize: $500. Deadline: 10.29.2018

Atticus Review

 is happy to announce our first annual Videopoem Contest judged by Marie Craven.

First Prize: $300

Deadline: December 3rd, 2018

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWN by Adam Gustavson

BOOK REVIEW: BITE-SIZED PIECES OF MADNESSA Review of ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE STEALING LOOSE CHANGE FROM MY POCKETS WHILE I SLEEP by David S. Atkinson from Literary Wanderlust Review by Michael Barron"Roses are Red is essentially a literary equivalent to a Far Side collection."READ ON

FICTION: THREE STORIES by Claire Polders"Saskia Meijers nagged me all winter. 'Why does your father fear God so much?'"READ ON

POETRY: ENDINGS by Jason Primm"None of these carsrolled to a stop.No one was left holdinga useless steering wheelwondering what comes next."READ ON

CNF: A RURAL WEEK IN JUNEby Chila Woychik"I should be something more by now, more than a gentleman farmer’s wife who writes monthly checks and churns out supper ideas while washing a pan."READ ON

FILM REVIEW: THE NEW MIDNIGHTSBrad Avery on three new midnight movies that could become classics of the genre"But unlike the original wave of the midnight movie which featured wanton male aggression and/or sexual anxiety at the expense of women, these new films belong to our modern zeitgeist around gender and film. ."READ ON

pscychoanaLITical: YOUR QUESTION MARKBoo Trundle spends some time with DFW and has some takeaways. Topics: not thinking too hard, jumping out of burning buildings, and following your question mark."You could easily follow one quandary all the way to insanity. I would definitely say that David Foster Wallace was somebody who followed his question mark to the grave. He was extremly dedicated to his craft. He was also just dedicated to his question mark."READ ON

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