a short discussion of very-brief fiction(1)
1 specifically Burning Family Members2
2 which is one of the stories collected in Varieties of Disturbance3
3 a collection by Lydia Davis4
4 who was formerly married to fellow author Paul Auster5
5 whom she is a more interesting writer than6
6 which is evident in the aforementioned7 text8
7 (SEE NOTE 2)
8 wherein the traditions of cremation9
9 as well as Western attitudes to death10
10 and the disregard for the worth11 of the elderly and infirm12
11 inasmuch as our society has become intolerant to those considered a burden
12 are adroitly and swiftly13 teased out14
13 given that the story comes in at under six, generously spaced, pages
14 ‘teased’ being a verb15 which is wholly appropriate16
15 “any member of a class of words that function as the main elements of predicates, that typically express action, state, or a relation between two things, and that may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, mood, and to show agreement with their subject or object.” from dictionary.reference.com
16 since Burning Family Members’ tone is blackly comic17
17 despite the relative cruelty18 of the nameless characters’ cold apathy19
18 no pun intended
19 in settling the affairs of their deceased or nearly deceased family members20
20 whom Davis pillories21
21 but in a manner as thoughtful as it is entertaining22
22 the end
