Honors Theses
Date of Award
2007
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Tom Franklin
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Barry Hannah one time told me a story of mine “lacked heart.” I was in Barry’s undergraduate workshop, already scared to death at having Barry Hannah, my living hero Captain Maximus himself, critiquing my work, and he told me my story lacked heart. I can honestly count that as one of the lowest moments of my life. My kindhearted (but stem) advisor Tom Franklin had cautioned me time and time again about letting voice overwhelm my story, about neglecting plot, about a certain tendency to be glib. I took all of those criticisms to heart, and I was making great strides in constmcting actual stories instead of the first-person pseudo-stories I had been cranking out since high school. But Barry’s comment obliterated me. That night while doing donuts in an empty parking lot, blasting the Tom Waits album Bone Machine, I made a little promise to myself. Never again would any story I write be devoid of passion or agony or any tme human emotion. nor would anything I did in this life be half-hearted or lazy or underwhelming. I failed miserably at the second half of that vow, but the first half I believe I have kept. So I say let me be stmng up and bullwhipped if any of the stories present in this collection lack heart.
Recommended Citation
Cajoleas, James George, "Veterans: Short Stories" (2007). Honors Theses. 2184.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2184
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