Kurt's Discussion of Imitations

The selections in Brevity Issue 28 are creative nonfiction essays ranging approximately from 300 to 750 words long. The topics in the Brevity issues deal with a range of emotions from joy to sadness. The purpose of these essays is to tell an interesting story that can be read in one setting. Some of them though take several readings, because there is usually a message in the essays that is not always obvious.

Many of them reflect on relationships between the narrator and a member of his or her family. Devices such as imagery, metaphors, and analogies are prevalent in all of the essays. For example, in John Griswold’s “Three Graces,” he uses the following simile: “In the Sunflower Café the waitresses sat down in booths with elderly customers and watched them shuffle photos of grandkids like decks of cards, as if looking for a good hand” (1).

My goal is to imitate the style and form of the essays that I read in this issue. Although my imitations do not convey the same tone as many of the essays, they do share a similar reflexive mood. In my essay “How Art Impresses People,” I focus on how Impressionist artists captivate the attention of the viewers. Just like Rita Rubin is inspired by the music she was surrounded by as a child in her essay, “Music Lessons,” I become engrossed in the images that are caught on the canvases.

The essays are always accompanied by a photograph which helps to set the mood. Choosing the right photograph for my essays was an integral part of each imitation. Each essay is told in the first tense and I use standard punctuation, sentence length and grammar. These all help to set the pace of the pieces in which I usually keep the paragraph length to four to five sentences. This is similar to most of the essays that I imitated which are composed of paragraphs using a conventional format. One essay that differs is entitled “Virus 1” which is written as one long paragraph.

Another device that I borrowed is the use of subtitles in my essay on “Solitude.” Changing the pacing and dividing this essay into three parts helps the reader focus on the three main subjects – running, relaxing, and reality that comprise this essay. I do not use the subtitles as a function of chronology like many authors do, but I think that it is an effective device to use when you are trying to focus on more than one subject that is related to the main topic.

All three narratives are responses to specific situations that I have experienced. They may or may not be situations that the reader has personally encountered, but my goal is to paint a visual picture that the reader can relate to in some way. Most of the Brevity essays and/or the imitations are probably not going to lead to social action, but I think they will be a form of entertainment to the reader.