"Flash fiction" describes short storytelling in which only the most essential words and ideas are used, while other unnecessary aspects of the story are cut out. Flash fiction allows the reader to quickly depict the point of the story without having to read very far into it.
This form of storytelling benefits the ideas in Richard Currey's novel Fatal Light because in each chapter of this work, Currey utilizes flash fiction. This is because, first of all, Fatal Light is a work of fiction, which can be deciphered in the epigraph on the copyright page. This epigraph states that the novel is a work of fiction, and that any aspects that resemble something in reality are purely coincidental.
Flash fiction is how Currey presents "snapshots" of the Vietnam War. For example, each chapter is very short, sometimes only half a page. With flash fiction, stories are supposed to be very short in length, but not necessarily without power or meaning. On the contrary, works of flash fiction bring out the main points in the story. This is true about Fatal Light because each chapter presents an issue or idea of the war. For example, in Chapter 8 when Currey presents the dilemma of leaving a loved one to go to war, the narrator says that his girlfriend Mary "told me she was terrified for me, that she might never see me again" (Currey 23). This strikingly blunt communication between the narrator and Mary is but one example of flash fiction, in which a problem or dilemma is stated the way it is.
Another way in which Fatal Light is a form of flash fiction is the way in which Currey uses only essential words in conveying the plot and ideas of the novel. For example, in Chapter 16, the narrator simply states, "My grandmother was dead" (Currey 58). This abrupt and straightforward way of conveying an important detail to the reader is an example of how, as harsh as it may seem to the reader, flash fiction serves only to present facts in the shortest way possible. This enhances the impact of the plot and makes it more powerful by revealing ordeals in writing as they are in reality.
Another example of flash fiction in the novel is how Currey chose not to give the narrator a name. This could be because his name is not relevant to the novel, since he represents each and every soldier in the war.
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"Flash fiction" describes short storytelling in which only the most essential words and ideas are used, while other unnecessary aspects of the story are cut out. Flash fiction allows the reader to quickly depict the point of the story without having to read very far into it.
ReplyDeleteThis form of writing has a beginning, middle, and end, which is also true for Richard Currey's novel Fatal Light. The book begins with "In Country," in which the narrator explains being in the front lines of the war. It then moves on to the sections "Bone Blood," "Malaria," and "Saigon," which describe his sickness and other experiences in Vietnam. Finally, the book ends with "Home," which is when the narrator returns home but feels like he does not belong there.
Fatal Light utilizes flash fiction because it is a work of fiction, which can be deciphered in the epigraph on the copyright page. This epigraph states that the novel is a work of fiction, and that any aspects that resemble something in reality are purely coincidental.
Flash fiction is how Currey presents "snapshots" of the Vietnam War. For example, each chapter is very short, sometimes only half a page. With flash fiction, stories are supposed to be very short in length, but not necessarily without power or meaning. On the contrary, works of flash fiction bring out the main points in the story. This is true about Fatal Light because each chapter presents an issue or idea of the war. For example, in Chapter 8 when Currey presents the dilemma of leaving a loved one to go to war, the narrator says that his girlfriend Mary "told me she was terrified for me, that she might never see me again" (Currey 23). This strikingly blunt communication between the narrator and Mary is but one example of flash fiction, in which a problem or dilemma is stated the way it is.
Another way in which Fatal Light is a form of flash fiction is the way in which Currey uses only essential words in conveying the plot and ideas of the novel. For example, in Chapter 16, the narrator simply states, "My grandmother was dead" (Currey 58). This abrupt and straightforward way of conveying an important detail to the reader is an example of how, as harsh as it may seem to the reader, flash fiction serves only to present facts in the shortest way possible. This enhances the impact of the plot and makes it more powerful by revealing ordeals in writing as they are in reality.
Another example of flash fiction in the novel is how Currey chose not to give the narrator a name. This could be because his name is not relevant to the novel, since he represents each and every soldier in the war.