"I'm looking for your most offensive film. Several, actually. Let us say that I need copies of your four most upsetting films." "Are you, like, a cop or something?" "Oh, no. I assure that I simply wish to purchase some of your pornography."
How can that be taken seriously?
The listing of schools behind the characters' names. The jaded voice of the framing narrator.
Phrases like "soft hurrumphing" and "A well-regulated and fashionable saintliness was her only rebellion."
Humor's not something anybody can explain into being funny, but I think that Weld was intended as a black absurd comedy.
That doesn't mean every body will find it funny, but it suggests to me that the writer had fun with it.[ Parent ]
... I agree.
Even without a close reading of style (not that close I guess) it seems to me that the authors of Spike and The Alley had fun -- it seems they were having fun with the concept, the fictional worlds they established. Running with ideas (scissors?), expanding and developing.
With "Sylvia Endicott ..." I feel pretty confident that the types of things (text passages) you mentioned were meant to be a type of (slightly dark) humor, and the type of thing that pointed to the author having fun with it. But in this case I didn't want to read too much into 'intent' -- it's one of those things I feel 90% sure about, not 95% (arbitrary higher %), and so I feel less sure saying, "Yeah, this author BLAH BLAH BLAH" rather than "Wow, this really came across as BLAHIGGITY BLAH when I read it." The other thing about Sylvia Endicott ... is that with all the detail and details, about names and places and school, etc., I felt the need not to look things up but to ponder, "Hey, are these significant?" And for me that's actually part of the fun -- reading a text as a puzzle.
_"The german quoting guy is a little bit out there." (fleece)[ Parent ]
You just lost me for a second.[ Parent ]
I should have written something more like:
"The other thing about 'Sylvia Endicott ...' is that with all the detail and details (about names and places and school, etc.) I didn't feet the need to look things up but rather to ponder, 'Hey, are these significant?' And for me that's actually part of the fun -- reading a text as a puzzle."
That is to say, the names & details weren't confusing, but rather chewy Halloween surprises that enhanced my enjoyment. Other details -- or rather (I like the word 'rather') detailing (meant here as the act of providing details) -- felt a bit tacked on: not over-the-top/extreme enough to qualify as a satirical/humorous stylistic quirk, but enough to be almost ponderous. But in stories with a sense of humor I love the "A B, of the $TOWN Bs, married X Y Z of the $CITY -- and not $SHIRE -- Zs" stuff.
Then I ask myself, "Hey, is $LASTNAME relevant or just picked out of a hat?" The answer can be fun; more often it's finding the answer that is fun.
