October 23rd, 2009 / 9:54 am
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Adam Robinson
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Jesse Tangen-Mills, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!
[Oops, this feature is a little late this week because I forgot that it exists.]
I really like this odd piece of fiction in elimae, called “Anywhere,” by Jesse Tangen-Mills. It will take you 7 seconds or less to read, so go check it out.
Here are some things I noticed about “Anywhere”:
It’s twelve words long.
It’s kind of sci-fi?
It has round characters.
It’s vague.
It came into my brain and stayed there and made me think about it after I read it.
But wtf is it? Jesse Tangen-Mills, EXPLAIN YOURSELF! (applause.)
Tags: ELIMAE, jesse tangen-mills
elimae is great
elimae is great
evocative piece that is, clipped sentences (all you can do with just a subject and a verb, no?). thanks for pointing to it. oops, by ‘it,’ i mean, of course, the piece.
also like the banner for this feature. i like it.
evocative piece that is, clipped sentences (all you can do with just a subject and a verb, no?). thanks for pointing to it. oops, by ‘it,’ i mean, of course, the piece.
also like the banner for this feature. i like it.
Slow work day. I’ll take a shot.
There is the literal and the metaphorical.
“They left. They came back. Everyone had changed again. They were Martians.”
I think on one level the author is talking about how in life you’ll leave a place of comfort, go out into the world and then come back to this safe place, but everything is different. It LOOKS the same, or most of it does, but it isn’t. Like when you go away to college. Or move to another city after you graduate. Coming home. Martians, to me, implies something “alien” or strange, so it could just be that. But it also could imply something more, as in, the literally are Martians, creatures from another planet. But that probably isn’t it. A key word here is AGAIN. “Everything had changed AGAIN.” It implies that it has happened before. So there is a layer of discord, strife. Also, the workd “they”. It could imply to the people that LEFT or the people they came back TO. So the adventurers, the vagabonds, THEY had changed. There’s a lot to chew on. We’ll each make it our own, through our histories and experiences.
Slow work day. I’ll take a shot.
There is the literal and the metaphorical.
“They left. They came back. Everyone had changed again. They were Martians.”
I think on one level the author is talking about how in life you’ll leave a place of comfort, go out into the world and then come back to this safe place, but everything is different. It LOOKS the same, or most of it does, but it isn’t. Like when you go away to college. Or move to another city after you graduate. Coming home. Martians, to me, implies something “alien” or strange, so it could just be that. But it also could imply something more, as in, the literally are Martians, creatures from another planet. But that probably isn’t it. A key word here is AGAIN. “Everything had changed AGAIN.” It implies that it has happened before. So there is a layer of discord, strife. Also, the workd “they”. It could imply to the people that LEFT or the people they came back TO. So the adventurers, the vagabonds, THEY had changed. There’s a lot to chew on. We’ll each make it our own, through our histories and experiences.
This story has incited heated argument at my work
This story has incited heated argument at my work
I feel like this story changes based upon how you read the antecedent for the final paragraph’s “they.” Could be the “everyone” of the previous sentence, or the “they” of the first two. Also, there could be two groups of folks — folks who stay, and folks who leave and come back (that’s sort of how I initially read it), or all four sentences could refer to the same group who leave, come back and are changed.
I feel like this story changes based upon how you read the antecedent for the final paragraph’s “they.” Could be the “everyone” of the previous sentence, or the “they” of the first two. Also, there could be two groups of folks — folks who stay, and folks who leave and come back (that’s sort of how I initially read it), or all four sentences could refer to the same group who leave, come back and are changed.
The screw here is the word “had” in the third sentence. It has already happened. It has happened before. It’s going to happen again. It almost doesn’t matter who “they” are, or who “everyone” is–eventually everyone (or they) will be the same (or maybe different forever?)
The screw here is the word “had” in the third sentence. It has already happened. It has happened before. It’s going to happen again. It almost doesn’t matter who “they” are, or who “everyone” is–eventually everyone (or they) will be the same (or maybe different forever?)
The again is where that hits me
The again is where that hits me
Mr. Renner will ask that you revise a piece to inexplicable succinctness.
Mr. Renner will ask that you revise a piece to inexplicable succinctness.
So say we all
So say we all
that rules
that rules
it changes every time I read it
it changes every time I read it