Required Reading: Absurdity Before you go any farther, you need to read an essay by Shirley Jackson. Also, an essay by E. B. White. Neither will be difficult to find, and you might want a copy of each to read and reread for the rest of your life. Both are short, no more than five pages, closer to three or four pages depending on the typeface. And both are stunning examples of fast pacing, entering a world mid-stream and leaving just as quickly. The Jackson essay is, “My Life with R.H. Macy.” The E.B. White story is “Dusk in These Fierce Pajamas.” Then, let’s look at why these pieces work so well. Their instant authority, their specific details, plus their pacing and brevity. In the first piece, notice how the entire story is built from specific moments and tasks. Jackson’s authority comes from her constant flow of new details and her lack of explanation, while her humor comes from taking mundane tasks too seriously and taking serious tasks to blithely. For example, bowing and worshipping the time clock, yet pocketing the money that a customer gives her. The senseless slang, the abbreviations and the numbers all pummel the reader into accepting each action, leaving you with the same kind of learned helplessness the narrator develops. In terms of pacing, notice how the essay begins with “And,” implying that something has gone before. “And” also suggests those endless, dry lists from the Old Testament, who begat whom, and the creation of everything important, but trivialized by the Bible’s very cursory recitation of generation after generation, king after king, until it all sounds like so much blah, blah, blah. Not to slam the Bible, but Steinbeck also knew the trick of using “and” for an Old Testament effect. Check out how Jackson uses the Biblical tone for humor, and Steinbeck uses the tone – especially in “The Grapes of Wrath” – to sound serious and profound. That said, never hesitate to start sentences with “and” to create instant immediacy.
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