Last week, I mentioned that seeing the questions prior to the readings may lead you to have certain assumptions and expectations. This week, I decided to engage the readings first. I wanted to read without having to “look out” for specific things. For question 1, we were asked to read and approach “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England” in 4 different ways (“silently, read it out loud, read it to a friend, and have a friend read it to you”).
When I read the the text silently, I immediately noticed the distinct structure of the story. The structure of the sentences and paragraphs had resemblance to free verse poetry. The length of the sentences and the paragraphs influenced sound and speed at how I silently read to myself. The constant use of short sentences made it extremely hard to read silently / in your head (Personally, I read a lot faster when in silence as opposed to reading things aloud). The unique broken English made it hard to visualize and comprehend the story in my mind. I realized I had to slow it down and tell the story to myself silently but as if I were reading it out aloud. Personally, I found the oral syntax of the story discourages and makes it difficult readers to read it in silence. I also found myself asking “Why is he constantly repeating himself !?”.
Robinson’s use of rhetorical questions in his story suggests that this story should be read aloud to others. He also pre-emptively answers some of the questions for his readers in parts where there is no dialogue between the Coyote and the King. For example, he directly addresses the readers on page 66 several times:
“But when they can’t see him, what they gonna do?
…
Do you know what the angel was?
Do you know?
The Angel, God’s angel, you know.”
I also noticed that the choice of diction was somewhat colloquial. The use of “gonna” and “you know” are phrases we find in everyday dialogue. As the story continues, the diction follows this trend as Robinson constantly uses “And” and “So” to join his sentences and thoughts. The use of these language tools reminded me of the narrator from the “The Hobbit”, which I vividly remember as being very engaging and somewhat intrusive (perfect in recreating the storytelling performance).
When I read the story aloud to a family member, the story felt more a bit more “natural”. My family actually asked why I was talking in such a funny way. I just said “This story just … wants me to read it this way?”. Some stories are meant to be read out loud (similar to bed time stories), and I found this story to be no different. The sentences and words heavily influence the format of a story.
References
Robinson, Harry. “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England.” Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. 64-85.
Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 2:3.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia Blogs, 2013. Web. 29 June. 2014.
Hey Leo,
I enjoyed reading your post because I’m kind of the opposite when I read. When I silently read, it goes by much slower and I find that I get lost often. The way Robinson’s text is written is definitely discouraging to read in silence, but I think that’s what made it such a unique text for me. I’m so used to academic readings being un-engaging that this was quite refreshing to go through (not to mention a fun experiment). I’m wondering how comprehension worked for you since you prefer to read in silence often? I know you mentioned it was more “natural” reading out loud, did you experience any change in moving past the colloquial and rhetoric nature of this story? I’d love to hear your experience!
Haha oops, I meant to say in my blog post that I read really fast when im reading fiction in silence. On the other hand, when I’m reading academic stuff, I tend to find myself re-reading the paragraphs multiple times!
Reading this text in silent definitely felt out of my element. It was a unique form of fiction… and it didn’t feel like an academic text (like a research article). Overall, I really enjoyed analyzing the language techniques used by the author to help recreate the feel of storytelling.
Hi Leo! I like how you pointed out Robinson’s use of rhetorical questions. I think this element really reflects the interactive nature of storytelling, wouldn’t you agree? Even though those questions aren’t really meant to have an articulated answer, they’re kind of a way for the storyteller to do checks, to see that the listener is following and understanding.
This doesn’t seem to have the quite same effect when one reads silently alone, as there is a disconnect between the one telling the story and the one hearing/reading the story by the medium of writing. But when both the storyteller and the listener are present together, these elements (rhetorical questions, repetition for reinforcement) are really quite effective in making a story more engaging and interactive. As you say, when you read it aloud to a family member, it felt more natural. I think it may be because the disconnection was bridged by the physical presence of both teller and listener, which is otherwise lost (or at least subdued) in the medium of a book.
I agree, rhetorical questions are definitely key in storytelling. When I was reading the story in silence, it felt like I was talking to myself (asking myself all these strange questions). I’d like to mention that the sentence and paragraph structure helps pace the reader’s storytelling. These techniques are pretty effective in recreating the atmosphere of storytelling and performance.
A good description of your reading experience, thank you. Lian makes a good comment about your post that reflects my thinking as well:
” I like how you pointed out Robinson’s use of rhetorical questions. I think this element really reflects the interactive nature of storytelling, wouldn’t you agree? Even though those questions aren’t really meant to have an articulated answer, they’re kind of a way for the storyteller to do checks, to see that the listener is following and understanding.”
Yes, to see that the listener is listening! One thought I have though, is I wish you had included some thoughts on your reading of King’s “Godzilla vs Post-colonial” – he says some things in that article which help to explain his perspective on writing Robinson’s story telling in context with academic theories about post-colonial literature which are quite relevant to your blog and would add that extra layer of insight.
Hey Leo,
I think it’s interesting that you noticed that Robinson directly addressed his readers, because that was kind of the moment I realized that this piece was meant for an oral audience. It fits really well for him, I think. I think though, that I may disagree with you when it comes to Robinson’s colloquial language. To me, whenever I read language like that it comes across as a bit forced. After I read your blog post, I went back to Robinson’s piece and read it aloud to myself, and I still couldn’t stick the language. What do you think it was about telling it to someone else that made the language more “real” for you? You say they thought you sounded funny. Do you think you sounded as natural as the language suggested?