The Class of 2020 may be experiencing serious senioritis symptoms, but none of us are in as dire condition as Gunnar Kaufman in college. "During my stay at Boston University I went to one class. My one hour of higher education consisted of Oscar Edelstein's poetry workshop, Creative Writing 104." His experience in Professor Edelstein's class immediately alienates him from the entire college experience because of his ridiculous classmates.
The BU creative writing students love having such a famous poet in their class, but they talk over him with their misguided enthusiasm. Rather than allowing Gunnar to introduce himself, they operate on preconcieved ideas about his character and poetic works. They've all read anthropological examinations of his poetry that label him as an "unknown street poet". Gunnar didn't write to please white audiences, so their over-the-top embrace of his work feels forced and uncomfortable.
Gunnar's classmates present themselves as the next generation of American authors, though they are all absolutely ridiculous. Peyote Chandler, who is named after a Mexican psychoactive plant, idolizes Sylvia Plath and even followed in her footsteps by attempting suicide. Obviously, idealizing suicide is problematic, especially because Peyote was only 13 when she messed up the oven and scarred her face. Peyote introduces herself by way of flaunting her parent's wealth and success. She then lists all her favorite philosophical subscriptions, which emphasize "third-world ideas" while reducing cultural practices to "cool" westernized theory.
Another classmate, Chadwick Osterdorf III, insists that the only true poet is Rimbaud. His choice is certainly problematic -- Rimbaud was incessently pretentious during his short and opium-fueled writing career. He then worked for the Dutch colonial army, exploited Yemeni coffee growers, and botched a major weapons deal with the King of Shewa, which is a formerly autonomous region of Ethiopia. Chadwick's love for Rimbaud shows that he ascribes to the self-satisfied poetic tradition while simulaneously overlooking colonialist violence and claiming solidarity with marginalized peoples. Basically, I can understand why Gunnar only attended a single university class at BU.
(Big shoutout to Wikipedia for helping me figure out all of Beatty's references)
Interesting post! I never really thought about the different students in the writing class but you make a lot of good points. I think by making these supposed "future writers of America" ridiculous, Beatty may be further emphasizing his point that writing can't really fix everything. We've seen Gunnar use his words and poems to try to retaliate, but he hasn't been able to succeed.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, props for your research lol. I think it's really interesting that each of the students are named after obscure references to already existing writers. Although they represent the next generation of writers, it's like they are doing what's already been done. Also, the students of creative writing 104 remind me of the community in Santa Monica. Sure, Gunnar didn't have too many materialistic accomplishments then (you know, as a middle schooler) but he isn't regarded as a funny and cool guy but rather the funny and cool Black guy. In this way, I feel like he's kind of invisible to his classmates at BU. Good post!
ReplyDeleteThis super satirical representation of Ivy League college attendees actually reminds me a lot of Legally Blonde. There's a scene where a handful of students introduce themselves and they all have ridiculous names and absurd resumes, which is obviously poking fun at stereotypical "elite" colleges. While Gunnar's poetry class is introducing themselves in pretentious ways, flexing their wealth and privilege while making Gunnar feel like an alien, all I could think about was Elle Woods feeling out of place upon her arrival at Harvard. I know that these two characters couldn't be any more different, but they are both kids from California feeling out of place in Boston.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really great that you looked into all of these references. It seems like every sentence in this book adds to the satire if you get the references. Both of these students seem to be really interested in being politically aware through their poetry because they love Gunnar's work, but they are still insensitive to what's actually going on in the world to the people they love to feel good about being woke about.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you looked deeper into this scene! One thing that I found really interesting while reading The White Boy Shuffle was Beatty's way of sneaking in interesting references like you mention in your post. I think one reason why Beatty is so fun to read is not only because he's pretty funny, but these references are a way of sneaking in more details about a character for readers who are interested in that analytical side of reading, while keeping things short and concise for people who are more interested in the actual plot. I think that Gunnar being talked over in his class kind of shows how people are interested in what he stands for or his achievements rather than Gunnar himself. They kind of treat Gunnar as an idea and don't really seem to be excited by Gunnar as a person, which totally makes me understand why Gunnar wouldn't want to be there either.
ReplyDeleteI'd never looked into the references, but they make total sense! It seems to be a shot at all of Gunnar's fans, who think they know all about Gunnar and think they're all hot shit for it, but they're just exploiting him without paying attention to Gunnar himself. I definitely get that kind of vibe from the girl who idolizes Sylvia Plath; she seems to idolize Plath's death rather than Plath's real life. All of Gunnar's wannabes idolize their manufactured versions of him rather than actually him.
ReplyDeleteThese are some really fascinating references here. The peyote one is more accessible, and funny on its own, but the depths of the Rimbaud reference that you explore here make it super interesting. The fact that his favorite poet is literally some random colonialist crackhead makes it much funnier, and also provides a very interesting reflection of his character, as you point out.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for figuring out these references, I don’t think I would’ve really understood the meaning of the passage without them. I totally agree that Beatty is making fun of the idea of the future of America, talking about how white middle- and upper-class Americans often ignore the horrors of colonialism and turn situations based on poverty into a “cool style” for someone to imitate. In general, just how Americans in general make light of horrible situations around the world, ignoring anything that they don’t feel comfortable with. After seeing this so blatantly in BU, of course Gunnar wouldn’t want to take any classes. It would just be a horrible thing to experience, all these people making light of these horrible situations, while Gunnar knows people for who these situations would be a daily struggle.
ReplyDeleteThese are such crazy allusions. It's really appalling how much Creative Writing 104's poets fetishize not only Gunnar but basically anything they deem non-mainstream, "white", or "normal".
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