summer camp

I feel the moment has come when I should try to cobble a few thoughts together about summer camp: I've been a bit strapped for time.  I arrived here on Sunday afternoon after travelling up from Washington by train. I'll make another train trip to NY in about ten days' time; I'm thoroughly looking forward to it, as it's a much more preferable way to travel.

Baltimore is every bit as 'sultry' as Washington; almost as bad as Darwin.  I haven't had much time to gain an impression of Baltimore yet, as the college is on an arterial highway somewhere green and leafy in a suburban belt (a bit like La Trobe tho a much more upmarket area). It's hard to know exactly where I am: I feel as though I've been plonked into the middle of a set for one of those movies about upmarket American educational institutions like Dead Poets Society. There are lots of tasteful mock-sandstone buildings, lush lawns, soft northern hemisphere trees and even a herd of deer on campus (or so I'm told). The whole place screams money: apparently undergrads have to pay $40 K a year.  Which seems like an incredible amount to me tho I'm unaware of how much Australian undergrads pay these days. The dorms are new but somehow penitential in atmosphere.  Each dorm consists of a series of suites with five individual rooms (yes, we do get a room to ourselves) with a bathroom and kitchen living/room attached. There's IKEA-style furniture in the rooms plus sheets, a pillow case, a pillow, a very small towel and a blanket -- the admonition to 'bring your own blankee' makes more sense now, esp with air conditioning set permanently at 72 F.  There's absolutely nothing otherwise -- no reading lamp, no iron, no electric kettle, no chairs in the living room, no 'trash can' in the bathroom: the students are meant to bring these themselves.

When I arrived, there was only one person inhabiting the rabbit burrows off my suite (there's now about four).  We all had to go to a welcome dinner with students from other Masters programs.  Other students told me they felt really 'excited' and 'thrilled' to be there; that it was 'totally awesome'. (As one of the Canadians said to me: 'the word "awesome" is overused.') At the same time, they often looked as shy, nervous and subdued as I felt.  But this seems to be part of the American way: overstatement rather than understatement, as in Australian culture, prevails.  It's all supersize me.

Nevertheless, there's also been a certain amount of seriousness about the program and people's projects, which is pleasing. I take comfort in the fact that there are lots of nerds and dorks around; even some of the 'faculty' seem a little shy or diffident (not a surprising trait in writers). We attend daily workshops in the morning with our 'mentor' that last for about three hours, then have a ninety minute lecture in the afternoon on some aspect of 'craft' or 'genre'. It's not as academic as the English Dept I hie from, but you wouldn't expect that for creative writing.  American lecturers also tend to perform rather than read lectures. The program is presided over by a spry grandmotherly type -- which seems totally appropriate: all creative writing programs should be presided over by grandmotherly types.  She reminds me a little of Glenda A except with more 'edge' to her or with more obvious edge.  Amongst the students, there seem to be two camps of people here, as one of the Canadians put it: the 'teachers' and the 'journalists'.  Very few people identify as 'writers', which is refreshing: I'm a bit tired of the pseudomysticism which sometimes seems to accompany the idea of being a 'writer'.  Things are a bit more hardnosed here -- which would be to do with the course's association with nonfiction, journalism or a more go-getting culture. Or all of the above.

I know I'm kind of meant to write about how crazy all these Americans are, and to repeat some of the whacky things they say, how ignorant they are, etc.  I guess I could do that, but I'm really a bit too tired (which is why this post is all over the place).  The thing about Americans is...most of them, with a few exceptions, seem like normal enough people.  To return to the 'emotionalism' thing: it's almost as if you have to separate the person from their schtick sometimes. I constantly feel as though I'm having to translate (to myself), to render things down.  While the mode of delivery of questions and feedback in lectures might be more appropriate to an Encounter Group, the content can be substantial.  People write copious amounts of comments on pieces offered for workshopping (often with gradeschool teacher enthusiasm).  No one can be introduced without an incredible amount of fanfare and well, positivity (to which one lecturer bashfully responded: 'Gee, and I only gave you some cookies.')  It's as if there's a gap between American's daily reality and their discourse about it, as if there's a compulsion to commemorate and celebrate everything.  Individual incidents have to take on an inordinate amount of importance.  On the other hand, my very own mentor delivered a lecture on the navel-gazing dangers of the trauma narrative ...there is actually a surprising nervousness about writing about yourself, and whether you can have anything to say (if you don't come from an abusive background).

In some ways, I feel I've fitted in better than I would have expected; it's not as overwhelming as I might have feared. People generally seem to understand me and my accent.  On the other hand, I feel rather over-identified as an Australian.  A moment comes up from time to time, when everyone choruses 'Australia' or 'she's Australian' (a bit like 'he's from Barcelona).  The biggest difficulty I've found is the extent to which I have to translate my writing -- idioms, social context, etc -- for them.  I thought that I would have to do this, but I underestimated the extent to which they might not understand aspects of my writing (I reckon a British audience would get more).  It's raised a question about whom I'll be writing my manuscript (i.e. thesis) for -- an American or an Australian audience.  I think it will have to be American, to satisfy the requirements of the program  (i.e. so it can actually be marked). On the other hand, I suspect Americans would really rather have an American tour guide interpreting Australian for them. And I fear that the end-product would have to be almost totally re-written for an Australian audience -- or at the very least, rendered down.  (I mean, the Americans had never even heard the word 'chook' before...)

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Comments

[Pavlov's Cat]

"I'm a bit tired of the pseudomysticism which sometimes seems to accompany the idea of being a 'writer'."

OH, yeah. Amen to that.

It all sounds really interesting. Especially the 'need for translation' part. Looking forward to hearing more adventures.

[elsewhere]

It is interesting...sometimes the content of what people say seems facile, other times it doesn't. Also, various debates in creative nonfiction (CNF) seem to have moved on different ways I can't quite reconstruct yet, especially about the ethics of interviewing and profiling. People have big problems with a lot of what Capote did, for example. When I've heard CNF discussed in Australia, it's often as if the Tom Wolfe generation was 'it', but of course it's moved on since then.

All of the 'faculty' members here have given readings and they've all been very good. They all have good reputations as teachers; there's been no bitching or backbiting about faculty members or other students' writing (tho there has been criticism -- our workshopping has been fairly intense). However, someone pointed out to me that the Faculty only spend a few weeks together each year, so they're probably not tired of each other yet.

I've also been stockpiling creative nonfiction readers to ship back to Australia.

Oh, and I've been told to write for an Australian audience, because that's where my market will be (and where my passion to communicate really lies), tho I have to provide a glossary of terms and endnotes of explanations. My workshop thought that Americans were generally too ethnocentric to want to hear about anywhere else but the States -- except maybe a Harpers-level audience...

[ThirdCat]

I'm glad to hear you've been told to write for an Australian audience...I was a bit worried that you were going to have to write three things to get one (not that I was tossing and turning all night, just I was concerned).

[TPS]

It is great to hear that summer camp has a lot to give - and that the people ar so interesting. I also think the 'need for translation' bit is fascinating, and as you say, we encounter this issue all the time in many worlds of cultural communication. I wonder what happens when the need for translation is not met? Surely when we read american prose there is a certain need for translation (to the same extent? I dont know) and I would like to think we bridge this.

Perhaps the american audience is not accustomed to doing this or doesnt feel obliged too. Is that the point of their ethnocentrism?

[elsewhere]

TC -- glad to know you're not suffering.

TPS -- good question. Re: 'them': Probably a bit of both. I think in the case of my workshop that it was more the case that they weren't used to doing it.
Re: us -- I'm sure there are certain nuances we miss, but on the whole I'm sure it's a bit of both, varies, etc. Thinking about things later, I thought, well, I did watch Sesame Street from the age of three...I knew all about 'trash cans'...and I also watched British playschool (it ran back then when there weren't enough episodes of Australian playschool). Do Australians receive more encouragement to adapt culturally from an early age?

[craftydabbler]

I've been meaning to comment on this post for a while, but I get all jumbled up trying figure out what it is I want to say and then figuring how to say it.

Candy coating and positivism are rampant in the US. I knew it was to a certain extent, but I've been paying more attention since I read this post. The person who cuts my hair changed her hair color from a lovely dark brunette to an orangey-blond color. The only thing I could think to say was, "Oh, how exciting." (I had asked her if the color was new and then realised I would have to make some sort of positive comment. It was the best I could come up with.)

One of the things that bothers me so much about being an American is that there is so little curiosity about the world. If it is any consolation there often isn't that much interest in exploring what the US is and what it could be. We get an awful lot of canned BS about ourselves and the world when we are in grade school. We, as a nation, don't read. I could go on telling you things you probably already know, but I'm getting depressed.

I didn't know about the word "chook" until I started reading Mother Goose to my daughter. Chook, chook, chook, chook, chook/Good morning Mrs Hen/How many chickens have you got/Madame, I've got ten/Four of them are yellow/And four of them are brown/And two of them are speckled red/The nicest in the town. This was the first poem that she asked for over and over.

Regarding the pseudomysticism of being a writer, I think for me that is because I fear being a bad writer. People who can do it and do it well impress me, and cause a bit of envy. : )

[elsewhere]

thanks for that. being in the US made me ponder whether our 'cultural cringe' and sense of being at the margins made us Aussies & kiwis more curious about things. Whereas being brought up in the 'centre' of things might make one tend to be less curious.