Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Kugelmass Episode
First thing I thought when I looked at the title and the author was, "Oh God, this is going to be weird."Woody Allen has this quirky, smart, humorous style that I truly admire. I had no idea he wrote short stories, but I knew he was a phenomenal director and screenplay writer. He has an impecible gift of story telling and a creative director's way of writing. I loved imagining what the character of Kugelmass looked like and how he talked. I imagined he looked and spoke a little like Woody Allen, but that was just a CRAZY assumption. This piece was classic Woody Allen. The way he incorporated his directing style into "The Kugelmass Episode" at the bottom of page 354 was brilliant. The transition between the current "scene" of Kugelmass and Emma talking about moden day wonders of New York and the Stanford professor was too funny. The way Kuglemass speaks and interacts is hilarious, but I wish I could look past that and try to understand his true motives- other than wanting romance. This short story was the best I have read so far in this class. Not only for its humor, but for its straightforwardness (word?).
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Aida, i agreee. i love the way Allen composes his sotories. i sometimes wish that one of these days i will read a writing of his and it will be completely outrageous and suprise me in every aspect; but then again the "straightforwardness" of his writing never seems to dissaapoint me
ReplyDeleteAida, I didn't catch that it was a Woody Allen short story, but I'm glad you pointed it out to me! It makes sense now that I connect that with the way the story was written. However, I loved the ending of the story because it was just pure irony, and I found it hilarious that Kugelmass's desires led to his demise of being chased by the Spanish verb tener. It definitely was a great ending, but I thought that Allen used irony well throughout the story through Kugelmass's relationship with his wife and Madame Bovary. To me, it felt like the irony helped in the development of Kugelmass as a character and allowed me to conceptualize him better in my mind about what kind of person he was.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that readers don't look at the author's name primarily when reading a piece of literature? I am not condeming anyone for not because I am like that too. I try and remind myself but sometimes I feel like if I read it it wouldn't make a huge difference to me because I probably don't even know who these people are. That is why I was surprised when I read "Woody Allen". I was astounded that one of his short stories would be published in a literature book. His influence in American culture is tremendous. But the point I am trying to make is that I understand that we are all just shrugging when we read an author's name, but if we spent a milisecond reading the name of an authour and researching online or reading a biography on them to see what they were like or what experiences shaped them- it can make a HUGE difference.
ReplyDeleteWoody Allen? Am I that behind ? As usual I guess. Can somone explain how I might begin to identify who this guy is? But anywho, I appreciated this short story in the sense that it was really entertaining for the most part. But as I neared the end of the story, in my "mental library" I was forced to categorize this one into the "Not another one..." folder; I can't STAND stories that conclude the way this one did. While the ending wasn't completely random, it might as well have been. It just seemed unfit for the story. The only way it seems to fit, is because it is so random and strange, just like the rest of the plot and characters. Maybe if I begin to understand who the author is, it'll make more sense?
ReplyDeleteOk well to start off Reiko- go online or on some video-sharing websites and type in Woody Allen's name in. His character is unique. He has this quirky, smart, and very quick kind of humor that grows on you almost instantly. I have nto watched any of his films but have read about his movies in books and seen clips of interviews and trailers. I can't say that I know about him, but from what I do know he is an artist of creativity. Just look him up and you will see exactly what I am talking about. About the ending- yes it was weird. That's Woody Allen for you. It doesn't make complete sense in the way that you could spend 5 seconds explaining what happened and be done with it. His endings make you want to believe you know what he is talking about and then completely mess you up thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteWow! I loved this story, i loved the plot the comedy, how he gets stuck being chased around inside a spanish textbook! I love it! best story I've read in this class so far, as far as just pure enjoyment goes, after I picked up this story I simply could not put it down untill I read finished it.
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