Saturday, June 9, 2012

On "Three or So Uses of the Crab Apple" by Caren Beilin (1198 words) ****

Beilin's story is like a poem, a set of refrains that repeat with different meanings. It's a structure I have flirted with often in my own writing and rarely ended up using. But I love refrains. I love them because of the way they add levels to our language while reminding us of things past (things perhaps just pages past). And that's what Beilin does here--she reminds us. Memory becomes a weapon here, preventing the conclusion of a story, preventing romance, but creating both as well. Read the story here at Failbetter.

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