Drifts and The Easy Life

I drifted into Kate Zambreno’s writing by way of a forward she wrote for The Easy Life by Marguerite Duras, a sumptuously poetic novel about trauma and its sequalae of dissociation, depersonalization, and fragmentation of time. Zambreno’s novel Drifts details a writer’s (herself) procrastination in completing a novel for a publishing deadline.  Her writer’s block is understandable as she has assigned herself the audacious task of inventing a style that has never been done.  This involves writing “fragments”, i.e.scribblings on drifts of sticky notes.  The result is a series of brief chapters strung together to form a narrative in the genre of autobiographical fiction.  I enjoyed her incisive observations, especially a darkly funny description of teaching as an adjunct instructor, and asides about Rainer Maria Rilke’s struggles with productivity.  For me, the symbolism of pregnancy and birthing a novel was a little too obvious, and as a novel didn’t quite escape the self-conscious gaze of the author herself enough to soar as a literary form on its own wings.  Still, an entertaining read.  And if you haven’t read Margeurite Duras, aim to make her a part of your life experience.