This is SUCH a trippy exercise... in part because unless they've refilled the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine Florida, I don't have 40 more years!!!! I agree with Shaiza (comment below) that the land purchase as the purpose of the trip does some of the organizing, but I would also say that in M&M, Tolstoy gives us those early paragra…
This is SUCH a trippy exercise... in part because unless they've refilled the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine Florida, I don't have 40 more years!!!! I agree with Shaiza (comment below) that the land purchase as the purpose of the trip does some of the organizing, but I would also say that in M&M, Tolstoy gives us those early paragraphs which not only describe the characters (the driver (Nikita, his wife, and Vasily) but also their dynamic (we learn Nikita is being underpaid, and is teetotaling, and lives separate from his wife). I'm compelled by the charge between the two so the "road trip" excites me as ground for seeing that dynamic progress (like "Thelma and Louise" or "Alice in the Cities"). For me everything hangs on this dynamic -- "Snowstorm" feels more like writing from a journal though I can see the structure's scaffolding --- the sledge ride, events related to encounters during the sledge ride, and the "stages" of the snow storm, and then the repeated digressions --- like hallucinations or dreams. But without the tether or pull of goal or character dynamic, I'm floundering. Last thought, the "Snowstorm" feels so located in the mind of one character -- our speaker/story teller. By M&M, Tolstoy seems to have grown the bandwidth for embodying more than one character. I so love that story.
This is SUCH a trippy exercise... in part because unless they've refilled the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine Florida, I don't have 40 more years!!!! I agree with Shaiza (comment below) that the land purchase as the purpose of the trip does some of the organizing, but I would also say that in M&M, Tolstoy gives us those early paragraphs which not only describe the characters (the driver (Nikita, his wife, and Vasily) but also their dynamic (we learn Nikita is being underpaid, and is teetotaling, and lives separate from his wife). I'm compelled by the charge between the two so the "road trip" excites me as ground for seeing that dynamic progress (like "Thelma and Louise" or "Alice in the Cities"). For me everything hangs on this dynamic -- "Snowstorm" feels more like writing from a journal though I can see the structure's scaffolding --- the sledge ride, events related to encounters during the sledge ride, and the "stages" of the snow storm, and then the repeated digressions --- like hallucinations or dreams. But without the tether or pull of goal or character dynamic, I'm floundering. Last thought, the "Snowstorm" feels so located in the mind of one character -- our speaker/story teller. By M&M, Tolstoy seems to have grown the bandwidth for embodying more than one character. I so love that story.