Class: Click
Everybody posts three questions. Pack supporters will use these questions among others for discussion.
posted by Michael | 2/01/2007 07:51:00 PM
Contributors
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13 Comments:
1 - Barth claims that a balance is needed between the "Mark" and "Valerie" in each of us. Still, his prose style is absurdly verbose, and seems to lean toward "Valerie." Why?
2 - Even discounting his long-windedness, he seems to favor Valerie's point of view in the story, painting Mark as short tempered, and Valerie as more caring. Why is Valerie portrayed in a better light than Mark?
3 - Neverending complexity, limitless distance, and the space between the lines are central to Click. Is modern American life as complex as Barth seems to indicate, or is that only one option?
1. How does Barth's style contribute to the piece? What do the numerous underscores, parenthesis, and brackets add to the story?
2. What is the purpose of the many sets of names given to "Mark" and Valerie" (Fred and Irma, M and V, Expediter and Enhancer)? Are the names purely situational? Which set do you find the be the most valid?
3. While the narrator states that he is "on both their sides in this matter" (pg. 90), do you truly feel this is the case? What person do you think he sides more with if either?
While the way he writes is complicated, he seems to be trying to simplify the complexity of “Everyday Life” by boiling it down to life is just complicated and that’s just the way it is, isn’t that a contradiction?
While noting the complicated nature of M and V’s relationship he leaves out the ‘meat’ of their fight with one another while throughout the rest of the story (which is about that fight) he adds in every minute detail, what is significant about this?
What is the significance of his use of abbreviations, for example FWF and CNG?
What does Barth hope to accomplish by making this story imitate a fractal pattern? Is he saying that language is essentially circular? That it constantly folds back on itself?
If academicism of language is a characteristic of postmodern literature, how does Barth reconcile this with the idea that the simpler the word, the more complex the meaning while the more complex the word, the "simpler" the meaning?
What is the significance of the narrator's moving back and forth from the world of the story to the world of the reader (i.e. "breaking the fourth wall")?
Click Questions
The author uses quotation marks in the first few pages of Click when using the names of the featured couple. He calls them originally “Irma” and “Fred” but later admits that these are internet names, and refers to them later as Valerie and Mark – which again is changed to shortened versions as V and M respectably. What purpose does this serve? Why does the author use fake names at all, and why would he admit to it and then later adapt them again?
Through the story of Valerie and Mark (V and M or Irma and Fred), we learn the couple has had a quarrel and has since begun the make-up process. How does this story line tie into the narration of the piece? For example, on page 74 the author makes use of parenthesis that contains additional information that is presented as if the couple were fighting within the narration. “(This parenthesized matter, they agree, is stuff that might be left out of or cut in, at least for the present). (In the opinion of one of them, there could be much more of it). (In the opinion of the other, much less – but never mind).”
The author of this piece uniquely places sections of Click out of order, allowing the story to jump from scene to scene and day to day. How does the ordering of information within the story affect the reader’s comprehension of what has transpired?
1. This story is most obviously a critique on middle-class married life. Does Barth's writing style indicate an aggressive, opposing attitude or a more passive, supportive attitude towards the characters of Mark and Valerie and the details of their relationship?
2. As the title, The Hypertexutality of Everyday Life would indicate, Barth's story also appears to be a critique on how certain groups of people live their lives. With this in mind then, what function do all the extra details in parentheses serve throughout the piece? Could they be representative of all the little things in life that people tend to overlook in their everyday routine?
3. "A physically healthy, mentally sound, well-educated, (usually) well-fed, comfortably housed and bathed, gainfully employed, not unattractive early-fortyish middle class male American is at least temporarily on the outs with his housemate/girlfriend, a comparably advantaged and not unattractive professional who has shared her opinion that he hasn't the talent to achieve his heart-of hearts aim and that this deficit is of a piece with a certain general characteristic that she finds objectionable."
This passage rings familiarily of David Foster Wallace's long-winded writing style in Interviews With Hideous Men. Considering what we know about Wallace and his ideologies, what could we say about Barth's own ideological viewpoints in this passage? After reading the whole story, could we say that his and Wallace's takes on middle-class life are similar, or not?
1. Why does Barth tell us that using the characters real names would entail to much description and back story, yet he rambles on about why he doesn't use the real names?
2. Is there any significance to M showing V how to browse around the internet instead of going straight to email, when M is the one who always wants to get right to the end?
3. Why does Barth use (etc) in places that appear to need more detail? For example, foreplay can be so protruded that (etc.)
1. The description of hair that is noted in pgs 74 and 88 is described as glossy and walnut. What is the importance of (glossy walnut) hair?
2. What is the reason for Barth’s continuous use of punctuation and general typography?
3. Several times, sexual activity is mentioned in the story. Of what importance is this reference?
1.The story seems to begin and end with the same word – click – although it is not spoken. How does this add to the frametale that seems to mirror the complexity of modern life, relationships, that Barth describes in the story?
2.When describing the fight on page 82-83, is Barth mocking the constructions of these modern characters and their relationships? (Valerie’s usage of astrology and the sub-points b1, b2, b3 etc. to demonstrate the lengthy amount of complaints which characterize the relationship issues.)
3.How does the internet, or “world wide web” as Barth refer to it serve as a device to convey our tale, as well as the Mac? How often is it that our lives reflect this necessity of narration?
4.We are posting these questions to a blog.
1) Why is it that the only physical description of Valerie is her walnut hair? why is it so important to Mark?
2) What is the purpose of the format of the problems of Valerie and Mark being in the a), b), c), etc.?
3) Is there in symbolism behind them going to an aquarium and never actually making it there?
Courtney R. said...
I would like to start with a disclaimer: i did not understand this story, therefore my questions are rather short and simple.
1. What is the importance of the fact that Mark and Val are not married?
2. What is the purpose and/or significance of the frequent (etc.) in the story? Is it suppose to emphasize the clicking in the story?
3.What is the point and plot of this story?
1. Does Barth intend for the reader to "click" through the extraneous info of the text?
2. Does Barth suggest a potential artificial omnipotence in the "e-fiction" on pages 78 and 79?
3. Is technology viewed favorably or negatively in this story?
1. John Barth frames the story around the everyday lives of two individuals and manifests their personalities through their exploration of the Internet. He does not discuss their interactions with anyone other than themselves and the screen in front of them. How does the Internet foster both new sense of global community for society while at the same time, detaching individuals from their very own local communities?
2. Valerie views life with her peripheral vision, wanting descriptions and discussions of everything , leading to endless discussions of details and tangents. Mark represents the need for clear cut, concrete conclusions and labels to organize and understand life better. With which philosophy does Barth sympathize? Even though he frequently inserts an “on with the story” throughout the text, he cannot resist going on and on with endless details. Does he believe in a balance between Valerie and Mark or lean more towards Valerie and merely acknowledge the reader’s frustration in attempts to reconcile with the “on with the story” bit?
3. Why does Barth include a link on the Coastline Measurement Problem and the Web? (78) The idea does not seem to correspond with any interests of Mark or Valerie, and hence they do not click on it. Does it reflect the idea that Mark and Valerie are not within proximity to revolution to act upon a serious issue in society?
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