ENCW 202 Spring 2020
Posted in The Unconscious on Feb 27th, 2020
In “Difficult at Parties,” a woman experiences a sexual trauma and, while trying to rebuild her sex life with her partner, can suddenly hear the internal thoughts of actors in porn videos. Machado takes otherworldly scenarios and brings them into our world to critique the intricacies of the feminine experience. “Difficult at Parties” begins in the […]
Posted in Senses and Words, The Unconscious on Feb 27th, 2020
In “Difficult at Parties,” there is a sense of ambiguity about the narrator’s recent trauma, although just enough is given to glimpse into what may have happened. She is bruised, there is pain, a cop calls, and it seems like there is a care taken concerning the sex life she has with Paul. It is […]
Posted in The Unconscious on Feb 4th, 2020
The use of the fantastic in “The Great Awake” is quite literally transcending planes from the unconscious to the conscious, where whole cities take to insomnia incarnated. “People slept until their Sleeps stepped out of them, then they went on living awake.” (32) The author does not explain the Sleeps, although the story attempts to […]