Blog #2 Kincaid and Lott
Upon reading Kincaid's "Biography of a Dress", I was able to gather some thoughts about creative nonfiction. In this specific writing, Kincaid looks at an old photo of her wearing a yellow dress. She then reflects on her memories of the events and people she met upon having her dress made for her. Kincaid manages to make sense out of the experiences and thoughts she had as a child. She reflects on her past thoughts and compares it to her current point of view. She writes in a manner that allows her readers to know she has grown up, learned and was able to evaluate her childhood beliefs.This is exemplified throughout the entire piece, as Kincaid uses parenthesis to enclose her current beliefs in relationship to her past memories. For example she said "I was powerless then (though not so now to like or dislike this story; it was beyond me then (though not so now) to understand the span of my lifetime then, two years old and it was beyond me then(though not so now)...."(210).
Not only does Kincaid write in a way to show the reader that she has matured since her childhood days, but Kincaid writes so vividly and descriptively that she is able to describe what it felt like to be a child witnessing all the events that led up to the making of her dress. She describes the scent and warmth of her mother’s skin. She describes the confusion she felt as child who was getting her ears pierced, she described the weather-local townspeople, foods and emotions she felt as a child. All these she described from a child’s point of view. Therefore, a reader can feel as if he or she is there with the Kincaid, witnessing the events unravel first hand. She attempts to make sense out of her childhood thoughts. For example, she describes the importance of certain things such as the color yellow. As a two year old she associated the color yellow with her dress and cornmeal (which was valued her mother as nutritious and necessary for a healthy body).
I believe that Kincaid is different from the other writers we have encountered in our assigned readings, because Kincaid was the only writer who constantly reflected on her childhood experiences and compared it to the knowledge and ideas that she currently has. She is able to distinguish the differences in her ideas and allows a reader to know that she has matured not only physically but mentally as well. She’s also different from the other writers, because she writes very long sentences that are usually broken up with commas and semicolons. This type of writing allows me to believe that she is just taking her thoughts and running with it; like how an excited child tells a story about his or her favorite toy in “Show and tell”, only pausing to breathe after they are almost out of breath. Kincaid is also diffrent because her story is more literary.
The other authors were more clear about what they were writing about. She is not quite clear. This essay was based on scenes and memories that don't really fit together. It’s more on how images are put next to each other. Her writing was based on a snapshop image.
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Lott was able to help me define the term creative nonfiction. In "Toward a Definition of Creative Nonfiction", he broke down each component of his overall definition. In the beginning of the essay he described that creative fiction is more than just writing about an event that happened. It is "writing about oneself in relation to the subject at hand"(271). He then adds on to his ideas by supporting each component with a reasonable explanation.
He tries to tells a reader that he or she needs to understand and highlight the reasons why they write creative nonfiction. He believes that a definition must be "proactive" and "reactive". He ends his essay by telling a reader that he or she must write in order to "understand" his or her lives. He claims that it is his or her "responsibility" in life. I guess what struck me the most was when Lott compared writers to explorers who were discovering the continents of themselves. (277). I thought that this was a great way of describing the duties of a creative non fiction writer.
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With reading all these essays and stories, I believe that creative nonfiction is writing about a subject, such as a person or specific event that took place and writing about in a way that demonstrates the relationship of the writer to the subject. I believe that creative nonfiction needs to demonstrate how the writer feels connected to what they are writing about. Creative nonfiction should also demonstrate how the writer is understanding the subject they are talking about, and how he or she is making sense of the subject.
Posted in: on Sunday, September 14, 2008 at at 9:57 PM
