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Shit Lit Crit By Vanessa Gebbie ____________________ They are sitting on a bench at the station, Earnest
and Ruth. Before we go on, stations are a point of departure,
yes? Or a point on a journey. Earnest and Ruth are not modern names, ah! They
are perhaps mid way through life? This is a point on their journey? An important
point, for it to be starting a story. Hold your breath, reader. Oh, nearly forgot. They are together. It is Earnest
AND Ruth. There will be some relationship between these two people. They are SITTING. This is meaningful, of course,
they do not stand, they sit. They are maybe old? Relaxed? Or maybe their knees
hurt? That’s important, and should not be discounted. A bench… not a seat. Benches have no back. You
cannot fully relax on a bench. Ah… There is no relaxing into each other, this
couple, no leaning back, forgetting. Or maybe the author intends us to think
they are magistrates? Let’s file that one away for future reference, in case
the story takes off, goes too fast and gets fined for speeding… THE station. Symbolic that the station has no name,
then? Ah. It is a generic station. I knew it had meaning. It is a generic
station, a stopping, or starting or intermediate point on life’s journey,
surely. Their names. Ah. The author has chosen earnest for
the man. Earnest. What trails our minds wander down with ‘Earnest’… is he
a deeply serious man? Is he perhaps related to Hemmingway? Is he good in bed? Hang
on, where did that come from? Answer,
look, the last four letters spell ‘nest’.
Nest is synonymous with ‘bed’, therefore the author was thinking of
sex, and it is communicating itself subliminally to the reader via
‘Earnest’. He is serious, about
bed. But has a bad knee, hence the sitting. But…. What of the ‘Ear’ of Earnest? Ah… ears
of corn, maybe? He is a country man? Or maybe is deaf? Only one ear is mentioned
in Earnest. So… the character is good in bed, and is deaf in one ear, and
suffers from bad knees. Such communication! Wait. ‘The Importance of Being Earnest…’
another layer for the astute reader. Not only is he good, serious about bed, he
is also deaf in one ear, has a bad knee AND is an important man, perhaps?
Wait… what about ‘Being’? is he just acting, then? Is this man, Earnest,
sitting here on a bench at this station, not really who he seems to be? Does yet
another path open itself? He is pretending, acting out a role, he is…. An
actor!!! To recap. Earnest is… half deaf, serious about
bed, OK at sex, and is an important actor, with a bad knee. Wow! What about Ruth? Ah. Biblical allusion, she is
religious? A nun? Does she act (ha! Told you) out this fantasy for Earnest in
bed? The meaning of Ruth is ‘pity’. Do we feel pity for this Ruth? Or does
she pity us having to read this story which starts with her and Earnest on a
bench at a station? Should we pity her being with Earnest? Should we pity her
Earnestly? Is she sitting on his deaf side, perhaps? Yes! He’s not listening to her, because he
can’t, not with that ear. Poor, poor Ruth. And stations are such noisy places
too. Ruth, the gleaner. The picker up of dropped ears
(more ears… ah, such cleverness, the weaving is amazing) of corn. (Ah. Earnest
was perhaps a man from the country, was he not… yes! The author is using
symbolism to underline the countryness of both people, here, on this bench, at
this station.) Ruth and Earnest, up from the country, she on his
deaf side, but… she chose to sit this side, did she not? Her natural place,
where she talks and he doesn’t hear her. AH!!! This is a story about non-communication. I can
tell. Back to the opening sentence then. They are sitting on a bench at the station, Earnest
and Ruth. Earnest is eating a ham sandwich. Oh God. Ruth MUST be Jewish….or not hungry, or
he’s only bought one, or…the possibilities are legion….. Feel free to extrapolate at will, so long as you do
it in private. ____________________ Vanessa wrote the following limerick upon her
acceptance into Defenestration: It's nice to be back in "Defen" And to write with a humorous pen, Your taste is astounding, Amazing, unbounding... Your cheque's in the post, once again. |
(c) Defenestration Magazine, 2005