Tropisms

Back when I was attending the University of California in San Diego and working at a movie theater part-time, I was taking courses in French literature as required by my major.

During one of those courses, the work of Nathalie Sarraute was introduced to me. She wrote a book called Tropismes, and the style of writing was unlike anything I'd seen before, in English or in French.

It starts off as a description of events, of people doing their daily routines, almost unthinking and without specific emotion, just a general feeling among them all. It's a little hard to explain, but it was like reading about sheep as the shepherding was going on, and the reader can sense the ennui or the non-thinking, non-feeling feeling of the sheep.

In that same course, we were asked to write our own piece in French, one that imitated the style employed by Sarraute in Tropismes. The result of my work detailed the routines I found myself following at my part-time job in the theater--the work in the box office, the snack bar, and as an usher, all happening concurrently, written in three neatly planned columns.

Months later, I rewrote the piece in English for another class--Experimental Writing. We were supposed to read our work out loud during class so that others in the workshop could get a feel for the intended rhythms and pace of our work, but because my piece was written in three columns meant to be read concurrently, I had to record myself reading it so that it was like three people doing a round.

It was probably the most experimental, the most troublesome, and the most difficult-to-read piece in class, but it got a lot of positive responses.

I include it on this site because it fits the theme. Au cinéma!



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