Some Thoughts on Authors' Perceptions of Their Roles and Their Work

We've talked about some of the ways that "the collapse of the 4th wall" shows a persona of an author engaging in the process of writing.

Taking about postmodernism in an interview, Dave Eggers has said:

"I've always been interested in the form itself, so I always feel like I've never been good at going ahead with the artifice and not acknowledging the self in the artistic process, and not acknowledging the absurdity of pretending that's required in fiction. I always had a hard time with fiction. It does feel like driving a car in a clown suit. You're going somewhere, but you're in costume, and you're not really fooling anybody. You're the guy in costume, and everybody's supposed to forget that and go along with you. Obviously, it can work, it works all the time—well, it doesn't always work. Still, no matter what, I'm always looking at the form and addressing it, not ignoring it."

Where do we see similar types of comments from Kurt Vonnegut about his work in the preface to Breakfast of Champions?

Check out what one of Vonnegut's daughters, Edie, wrote about him on Vonnegut's official website after he died:

"I never expected Kurt to actually die. He was supposed to break the code and live forever. I’m pretty disillusioned right now. When I was very young, like 12, I went to his study to ask him for answers to this world. He said he didn’t know any more than I did and that he was experiencing everything I was at the very same time. I think it was during the Cuban missile crisis and I was scared. He said he didn’t have a clue. From there on out I regarded him as a fellow clueless comrade who had no extra advantage or wisdom above me. He pulled no rank as ‘Father’ and for that I am eternally grateful.

Though he was the smartest man I ever met and I am rather limited.

Even so he made me feel equal at a very early age and taught me to question authority where ever I found it."

How does this anecdote about the Cuban missile crisis match up with the persona that Vonnegut constructs of himself in his writing? How do you think some of the other details from Vonnegut's life (read the Rolling Stone article in your course pack) influenced his outlook or his writing style?

Assignment #42

List five events from 1994

As I was not born yet in 1984, I had to slightly modify the assignment. Instead of listing five events from 1984, I chose five things that happened during the year of 1994. I was about 5 years old back then.

1.I saw the movie Jurassic Park for the first time.
2.I started kindergarten at Ecole Les Moussaillons de Saint-Honore de Temiscouata.
3.I got my first video game console for Christmas (SNES or Super Nintendo).
4.I got my first video game for my birthday (Donkey Kong Country).
5.I read my first newspaper.

In order to make sure that all these events really happened during the year of 1994 I had to consult several sources. First of all, the movie Jurassic Park came out in 1993. The VHS version of the movie came out the next year. I got this information off the internet. For the second element, it was a bit harder, since I was having a hard time finding my kindergarten grades report. When I finally found it (the pages were yellow from a long shelf-life and smelt) I looked at the date at the top left corner and concluded that it was in 1994. The third element was the easiest to conclude, because the SNES came out around the same year as Jurassic Park (a bit earlier I think). According to Wikipedia, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System came out in America in 1992. I did not get it that year, because it was a bit expensive upon the initial release and I was too young (3 years old). Not only did I get my first video game in 1994, but the game itself was made the same year. The video game was for my Super Nintendo which I had gotten two days earlier. To validate the date of the release of the game, I simply googled for “Donkey Kong Country” and quickly found the year it came out. I used a different source to prove the accuracy of my my last element. I was not sure at first whether I had read my first newspaper at 5 or 6, so I decided to ask my mother, who still has the original newspaper.

As cited on Wikipedia: “Art refers to a diverse range of human activities and artifacts”. Humans use their imagination to create things. In my opinion, Art is a means of expressing oneself. As we have learnt in class, there are many forms of arts. Art has many genres, forms, and styles. On artist Miranda July's assignment website, most of the assignments are art since we are asked to either draw or write something. Some others ask you to actually build things. We can relate some of the assignments to postmodernism for several reasons. For instance, assignment #51 asks you to make a paper replica of your bed. Another good example is the assignment which is about giving yourself an advice in the past. This is a postmodern idea, for it is not part of modern art nor any other form of art. To conclude, most of the assignments are about art since we have to use our imagination. The website is also a kind of museum or a display of works of other people.

Assignment # 11 [ Photograph a scar and write about it ]

1. Which one of Miranda Julys assignment did you choose to work on?!

I decided to work on assignment 11. The assignment consisted of taking a photograph of a scar; either one that was found on my body or off someone else’s body. I had to take a close up picture of the scar and retell the story of and how the person got their scar.
The story: The person that I have chosen to talk about is Amanda; she is my friend’s sister. When Amanda was 4 years old she ran from the kitchen to the living room. The kitchen and living room are connected together by a single marble step. While Amanda was running she did not notice that one of her toys was in front of the step, tripping over the toy Amanda hit her head against the marble step. Amanda’s parents rushed her to the hospital and she was given 4 stitches. Amanda is now left with two scars on her forehead above her hairline and the other near her eye.

2. Describe your experience completing Miranda July’s assignment.
Completing this assignment was a lot of fun and a little odd. When I had finally made my choice that I was going to pick the scar assignment I had to choose if I was going to talk about myself or about someone else’s scar. Asking someone about their scars is the not most typical conversation starter, although that didn’t stop me. One day during lunch out of the blue I asked if anyone had any scars and what their story was.
I honestly didn’t think that so many people had scars and I was surprised by just how interesting their story was. After long consideration I have chosen to talk about my friend’s sister’s scar. When I had asked my friend’s sister if it was ok for me to use her story she was a little uneasy about it because she rarely spoke about it. Finally she opened up about her scar and the story behind it; it brought back many memories not only for her but also for her sister. At that young of an age Amanda didn’t really understand what was going on neither did her sister but it gave everyone including the company quite a scare. I’ve known Amanda for quite a while and I never knew that she had experience quit the accident; I was relieved to know that she was all right and she wasn’t more serious than that.

3. What do you think Miranda July’s goals are in the creation of her website? How these assignments can represents what counts as art?

I think that Miranda July’s goals for creating her website and her assignments are for students of all ages to express their own creativity. Everyone expresses their creativity and their originality in different ways. Each assignment is designed to show off someone’s talent either it be in the drawing, or writing or singing. I believe that Miranda July designed these types of assignments so that those who view her page have a variety of options to choose from. One’s opinion of art changes from person to person. For example if I believe that a painting from Picasso is art someone else may disagree, for them art maybe writing a song or take a photo of the sunset.
With each assignment there is a website or address where you can send you work, doing so allows either Miranda July herself to see your work. Sending your work allows her to see new talent; this might give her ideas for book or for movies. I also think that it allow her to see what her fans come up with using simple ideas that they later make into their own. She might also make other people view your work this might aspire others to show off their talents and creativity. I believe that this encourages people to go after their dreams because what one maybe think is horrible another may think its arts. That is what is so controversial about art. No one sees something in the same light; everyone has their own thoughts and opinions. Those thoughts and ideas are valued and treasured. Art is what you make it out to be art is adding your own special touches to your work, something that you can later on claim to be yours. An original idea that makes you different from everyone else; there is an artist is each and every one of us we just have to be brave enough to let that person shine though.

Assignment #27 Take a picture of the sun

I chose, as my Miranda July assignment, to take a picture of the sun. It was difficult to capture the sun on camera due to some principal of physics I will not attempt to understand but it is not the same as when viewed with one’s own eyes. It was the end of a hectic day when the picture was taken and by the time I retrieved my camera and ran to the park to get a shot of the glowing red ball, half of it had sunk below the horizon. I then took other pictures on different days, each shot more clever than the last but I decided to stick with my first photo. That was my physical experience of taking the picture but I figured there had to be more to it than that. I thought about the sun. It’s a given. It hangs over us everyday from dawn to dusk. It’s where plants seek their energy to grow and survive and we use the plant’s energy to do the same. But the sun sustains life in other ways. Some trends show suicide rates to be higher in periods of the year where daylight is diminished and so it may be true that the sun plays a role in our emotional well-being as well. The sun is beautiful and enhances our own beauty. People look calmer when the sun is in their face (mildly annoyed at having to squint but calmer nonetheless). It’s the same sun that rose on our first day of life that shines on us today and will be there tomorrow, too. The sun allows us to tell time but is itself timeless. We all have the sun in common but each person shares a unique bond with it.
Miranda July reconceptualizes art by showing that art exists in our everyday lives and does not always have to be created for the specific or sole purpose of being art. The idea that only some few gifted individuals have the vision or propensity to create art has been discarded (Lyotard’s incredulity towards metanarratives). Her assignments cause the ‘artist’ to pause and read whatever they will into the meaning of the task as one would struggle to find meaning in other established, yet equally obscure forms of art.

Assignment #63: Make an encouraging banner

I first started thinking of something encouraging I often tell myself.
When I feel stressed or depressed because of my work, my family, my friends or only because I have a lot of homework and exams, I always tell myself to never give up and to be confident. It does help me a lot because sometimes I lose control and it becomes really hard to pass through some difficult situations.
After I found my encouraging sentence, I drew each letter of this sentence on a piece of colored paper and I cut them out. Then I had to glue each letter on another piece of paper that is a contracting color. I hung the letters across my bathroom so that every morning, all my family and I, we’ll read this encouragement and I hope it will help.
I took then a picture of my work and I sent it.
I really enjoyed my experience because it was interesting and I developed my creativity. I also liked the assignment because I found it useful to people because of fact that only some words can change someone’s life.
I think that Miranda July’s goals are to inspire people and to make them create something that is really significant and interesting.

This is why I also think that these assignments represent a kind of art because people use their imagination and their creativity to make videos, music, songs, paintings, drawings …

Assignment #50: Take a flash photo under your bed

Before I did it, I found it useless and since I have to do it for school I will do it to have my marks. When I finally did it and hold the picture in my hand I realize that sometimes there is some parts of my life ,which are dirty the same way as under of my bed was, and I always sleep over them and never take time to see them and make them better. Also the fact that every time I clean my room I don’t really think about cleaning under my bed. I realize that when I used to say that my room was clean it was not because under my bed was dirty. It is the same think also when something happens to someone and they never try to see why but instead just try to live with it even if it is dirty but they did not see it yet. Basically this exercise made me see stuff in my life that I was not really making attention to .Now I am going to clean them and after show a clean picture of under the bed of my life.


I think that Miranda July goal was to make people see some hidden part of their dirty life that they don’t normally see or they miss. By creating different assignment to propose to her reader she show them that she care and share what she also learned in life. Not only telling story she wrote .these assignment can reconcile people life when they, make the different assignment, take time to read between the line of each one and learn from what they did. Their life will be better because in every assignment there is a message. This is art because people discover what in their life was hidden from them and they were always living with it without notifying it; so when they see it it’s beautiful. This is the same principle in painting