#newcan

When I first opened up "Parse," by Roderick Moody-Corbett, my first reaction was something along the lines of wondering if there was a format error. I almost brushed the story aside, afraid to dive into what looked like one large paragraph, but I began reading anyways. I was swept right in by the story, by the rarely seen second person narration, by the urgency, and by the emotion. It was not until I came to about three lines from the bottom when the realization struck me: this entire story was one sentence. Of course, I could have read that in the description that was nicely laid out before the story even began, but I missed that when I instead started reading the first line and couldn't find a way to stop. I am glad, however, that I got that surprise and that revelation after I came to the end of the text, as it was something I had never seen in a story before, and it changed my opinion on long sentences and long paragraphs.

Aside from the fact that the whole story was one sentence, even though that is an important point and I could write whole essays just on that point, and I will definitely come back to it, there are other aspects of this short story that we can look at. This story was one of the winners in the Canadian Short Story contest in early 2013, making this piece of literature fall into the category of not only Canadian, but also as something that very heavily relies on the theme of newness. This theme, of newness, is more prevalent in the story than in the ways that it is Canadian. The writer is Canadian, and there are a few references of Canadian locations that are mentioned, but there is nothing that is predominantly Canadian other than that. The locations could be changed to places that exist in other places in the world, and the story would not be any different. However, the fact that the author is a Canadian is important when looking for Canadian literature, and important to recognize and not simply lump the story into American literature, which often is done if the places mentioned are not Canadian places.

The fact that the story is new is the theme I would like to focus on. This story, having been published earlier this year, is capable of presenting information that is very relevant to the world right now. It discusses themes within the story that are things that people can relate to at this moment, and uses word choices that many people can use in their everyday life. This has the ability to make the story all that more interesting and compelling to readers right now. As well, looking at the way the story is structured, all in one sentence, we can see how this not only can be used to represent the thinking of the character at a time of a break-up, but also of the way that our society currently works: fast and all at once. This relates to the newness of the story because it is linked directly to the current society as it was published so recently and can accurately represent the present culture. Therefore, while it is an important fact that this story is set in Canada and written by a Canadian, the fact that it is new is what makes it easy to relate to and understand. 

All in all, I would recommend giving this short story a read if you haven't before. Not only is it Canadian literature, which is something we, as Canadians, should start spending some time looking at if we haven't given it a second thought before, it is incredibly interesting and in a very rarely seen format. The non-stop sentence will entice you in with its irresistible speed, leaving you feeling as if you have just experienced this significant moment yourself. It is new and you will find that you can relate to those quick moments as these are the feelings people are feeling right now in society.

Link to “Parse,” by Roderick Moody-Corbett: http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2013/03/parse-by-roderick-moody-corbett.html