KatMullen

This week I read The Unamable and What the Moon Brings by H. P. Lovecraft and both Jack and portions of Three Moments of an Explosion by China Miéville. I also watched Freaks (1932). The reading that I was most captivated by and engaged with was the writing in Three moments of an Explosion . A couple of the stories, especially the short titled “The Condition of New Death”, inspired a true sense of unease. It was the first time while I was reading for this course that I felt truly disturbed. While I was reading it, I was anticipating what was going to come next. I halfway mockingly thought “I bet even if there are multiple people everyone still sees the dead’s feet facing them.” Yet it was still unsettling when it was actually described. I’m not sure how it managed to still catch me off guard. In the short, the fine line between normal and “weird” is danced on. Miéville often plays with this by building such a normalcy into every element of the story but one. And then he simpl...

I’m envious of the way Murakami writes. Based on assignment restrictions for college, I’ve had to cut down multiple stories to their bare minimums. I long for writing with the same ease as Murakami. He lingers on each detail. There’s development of character through narratives that don’t necessarily support the main storyline or the main goal. It unfolds at a leisurely pace that seems motivated by expanding rather than focused developing that will get to the end objective in the most efficient way possible.  His writing inspires me to write more stories and longer ones.  Art by: Tony Huynh             I started reading Haruki Murakami’s work “A Wild Sheep Chase” with expectations based on some of his other works that I have read. However, his work varies greatly in style. I did not expect what I read. I am continually impressed by his stories and look forward to reading more of his work in the future. Murakami's constant is cre...

After the in-class discussion, I found clarity in regards the motivation for the narrative of “Interview with the Vampire”. The conversation was especially helpful to my understanding of the relationships of the core characters.  Much of the novel is clearly lead by Anne Rice’s grief from the loss of her daughter. This is seen most acutely through Louis’s relationship with his brother and Claudia. There is a theme of preserving youthful purity. A frozen image of childhood that is reflected not only in Claudia but also in the dolls that Madeleine creates. There’s also a preserved image of Louis’s brother that haunts him. “ my brother, blond and young and sweet as he had been in life, as real and warm to me now as he'd been. . .” (p. 116) His brother’s death shapes the way that Louis interacts with all other character’s throughout the novel. Louis fears becoming close with Armand, “ I could not conceivably satisfy him. I could not satisfy Claudia. I'd never been able to sa...