| | I was writing a paper for my Modern Dance class, and Liz looked over my shoulder
and laughed. "I love that your Modern Dance paper has dialogue."
It
had not occurred to me that it might not. That is how papers work,
right? You write what happened, what people said, how things looked and felt, what they made you think of ...
Wait. Crap. That's a nonfiction essay, not a paper.
I have just done an assignment that doesn't exist. I mean, it
isn't completely off topic. Maybe it will work. Time to reread the syllabus:
Attend one performance of professional, modern dance. Articulate your observation of the company's use of key concepts in a 3-page paper. Select one dance and include
your personal thoughts on the piece's theme and the choreographer's
ability or inability to communicate successfully with you. However, this is NOT a production critique; you are to focus on the key concepts. Degree of conceptual understanding and of original thought will be especially looked for. 30%
Whew. I remembered to include key concepts from the course - how the dancers use their abs, how they use space, etc.
Then I reread my essay more closely and realized that some of the stuff I'd written
never actually happened. It isn't false exactly; I can picture what it would have been like and how it would have looked and sounded if those things had happened. They might as well have happened, which makes them perfectly appropriate for a creative nonfiction essay. Not only is that approach to nonfiction appropriate, it's expected. The idea must be conveyed, and if the most efficient way to do that is to invent a conversation, that's ok.
Annie Dillard said once:
After you've written, you can no longer remember anything but the
writing. However true you make that writing, you've created a monster.
This has happened to me many, many times, because I'm willing to turn
events into pieces of paper. ...
Memory is insubstantial. Things keep replacing it. Your patch of
snapshots will both fix and ruin your memory of your travels, or your
childhood, or your children's childhood. You can't remember anything
from your trip except this wretched collection of snapshots. ... If you
describe a dream you'll notice that at the end of the verbal
description you've lost the dream but gained a verbal description. You
have to like verbal descriptions a lot to keep up this sort of thing. I
like verbal descriptions a lot.
Wait. Crap. This isn't supposed to be creative nonfiction. Look back at that essay assignment. This is an observation paper. I do not know the formal structure for an observation paper, but I sure bet that it doesn't include things that never actually happened. In fact, if there is one thing you are absolutely NOT supposed to do in an observation paper is make things up
However, it is after 2:00 AM, so, you know what? A creative sort-of-nonfiction essay is just going to have to work. So there, good night.
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| | Posted 3/6/2008 2:27 AM - 262 Views - 15 eProps - 14 comments
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Here's a bowl of virtual chicken soup.