Discourse in a Digital Age discussion

Now this is a fascinating one. I hope to be posting a reading guide today, but go ahead let us know what you thought about Gray Adams and his inner life.

I'll start with a commentary on the identity of the character. It's natural to assume that a first-person protagonist has a similar worldview of the author. You at least assume they are the same gender and ethnicity, unless told otherwise. Browning chose to go a different way with that, making Adams male, black, and one step further, gay. At the same time, she imbues him with other qualities she shares - a middle-aged academic, for example. She does not call attention to these traits, instead leaving you to infer them as the story goes. She uses this device with several other things in the novel as well, such as the implication that Sven is HIV Positive.

I think this is good, and well in line with how people think about their own lives. They don't call attention to things about themselves they take as obvious facts, and what does it matter anyway? It is also a device people use when they don't want to think about something (like Sven). What else do you think this choice adds to (or detracts from) the story?

It definitely made me do a double take--I was like "I thought this was by a woman" and checked the cover. Then I'm like "wow gender norm much!" I don't question when a man writes about or as a woman but if a woman writes as a man...face palm for myself.

This book was so weird...but I did like it. I didn't love it and don't know if I'd recommend it to many but I laughed out loud several times. Definitely an interesting read!

I had to make myself read this, but came to appreciate it, especially the humor on several levels, as I went along and to reconsider my general knowledge of and response to contemporary performance art -- e.g. cutting edge?/just plain obscure? Looking forward to discussing the various issues, including our opinions, tomorrow night.

So no reading guide yesterday, obviously, but I've made progress on it. There's quite a lot to catalog. It will be up at or soon after the discussion tonight. :)

Full Annotation for this book is practically impossible! At least without help from the author and in the time I've allotted myself to do it. References every page, offhanded or nonsensical comments mean something, it's all nuts. Nevertheless, it's a lot of fun.

I had hoped to finish this, but as Kim pointed out, the performance is complete. Here is my annotation up to page 68. I hope it is appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k...

Thanks Kim for the treats on short notice, and thanks to everybody for your input.