Discussion Group--A LACK OF ORDER IN THE FLOATING OBJECT ROOM George Saunders

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Spideyman

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Jul 10, 2006
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Here is an interesting explanation about the story by the author himself..............

Later, I was living in Amarillo, Texas, and I had an engineering job that I quit. And I came home kind of with that idea of being a writer, and had this little duplex apartment and a motorcycle, and one night I had this really crazy dream. A really vivid dream. And I got up and wrote a couple notes about it. And then the next night, I worked all day and had a pot of coffee and a bottle of Boone’s Farm, and then I fleshed out that little dream, and that got published. It was called “A Lack of Order in the Floating Object Room,” and it was a real crazy story. It was the first time I’d ever written myself out of my own ideas. I didn’t know what it was, I didn’t have any idea where it was going. But it was the sound of the language that was really there.


I had no structure. And I thought, This isn’t really a story. It’s too crazy. But I could feel that it had a little power, because I wasn’t sure what was going on. And then, of course, I kind of chickened out for about seven years — went through grad school and all that. But that night was really magical. I remember that night. Before, as a working-class person, I was always slavishly trying to do what I saw being done in books, you know. But that was really euphoric. Then I think I needed a lot of time to figure out how to sustain that for more than three pages. But it was almost like, in a religious sense, sometimes all it takes is one powerful experience, and then even if it goes blank, you remember that you had it. This story was like that, in that whenever I wrote something later, I’d go, Yeah, it wasn’t like that. So it was almost like having a benchmark. I’ve gotta someday get back to that level of spontaneity. And then finally I did, but it took a long time.
 

Spideyman

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Some further insight:

When we first ran this story at Hunger Mountain, we included an introduction by Tobias Wolff, who had been George Saunders’ graduate creative writing professor, about first reading this story as part of George’s application to the Syracuse MFA program. We hope you enjoy the story and Tobias Wolff’s commentary. –the editors


This part of that introduction spoke volumes:

So what did I see in this story? I saw the future, nothing less—the writer destined to be the consummate poet of American corporate-speak (“They rotate at about a revolution per minute, as per specs”), a great chronicler of human desire struggling to define itself against a world of manufactured, themed, reality—life subsumed by franchises and doled out in market-friendly dollops drenched in novocaine language: “This is an Employee Objective Assessment Evening.” And the story was really, really funny. What did it all mean? Search me. The thrill was in the ride, not in the arriving. Later he’d work out the destination piece, plenty of time for that. And so he did, again and again. He has become a writer of masterpieces.
 

Doc Creed

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I had to read it twice because it was disorienting (which may be the point- sometimes two separate sentences are divided by commas and other times there are incomplete sentences with a full stop.) and I wasn't sure if my first impression was accurate. I thought it was about a young guy working in a futuristic facility (virtual reality?) in which clients pay to have heightened sexual encounters. The rooms made me think of that Bradbury story...forgot the title.
 

Doc Creed

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One reviewer called it Metarealism ( seeks to depict the reality which exists beyond that psychological subjective perspective. ... Meta meaning, a holistic view of reality as perceived by a metaconscious mind, who sees reality as a whole rather than from a subjective personalized intellectually fragmented point of view.)
Yes. I was going to mention this. It felt similar to my first experience reading The Dark Tower books.
 

Spideyman

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Jul 10, 2006
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I had to read it twice because it was disorienting (which may be the point- sometimes two separate sentences are divided by commas and other times there are incomplete sentences with a full stop.) and I wasn't sure if my first impression was accurate. I thought it was about a young guy working in a futuristic facility (virtual reality?) in which clients pay to have heightened sexual encounters. The rooms made me think of that Bradbury story...forgot the title.
Definitely had to read it twice and very slowly, allowing each part to sink in. Once I "let go", the story started to come together-- a little!
 

HollyGolightly

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Sep 6, 2013
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Thank you Spideyman for getting this going! I just sat down to do that - I remembered! I like that note from GS about writing it and how he sat on it. And the whole learning to write yourself out of it - good stuff.

I got the feeling that this story is in a different when. Things are weirder than they are now - how about Hollo Chick Haus? That's funny stuff there. And entertainment has clearly become difficult to attain - it seems like the Floating Object Room might be some kind of road side attraction - nothing else to do there. Go see what floats. Or maybe society is the floating object room - and clearly lacking order. The narrator seems so bored with everything that he's got no choice but to make things happen - shake up the floating object room a bit. A mixture of language: "Haus", "lass", - the hitchhiker dressed like Bing Crosby - it made if seem to me like when our Ka-tet showed up in Calla Bryn Sturgis - different, but same - familiar and bizarre all at once. Such weirdness . I don't really think there's a deep meaning to it. If I felt anything like that about the story, I'd say it would be a peek at a kind of dystopian world. Other than that - just a little ditty George thought up. Nothing about anything really - just a story - I'm ok with that.

I wish I could remember the first time I read George Saunders - I could probably go through my short story collections and find it. But I knew I liked it. This isn't the only kind of story he can write - but he's definitely got a niche in alternative realities. Even when you think you're in the right here and now there will be some weirdness.

Sea Oak is a Saunders short story I read, and then found on Amazon Prime as a series pilot - Glen Close was in it. I didn't make it through the first episode though - it just didn't translate well. I highly recommend The Tenth of December - it's available in its entirety online. Some of those are disturbing in their cruelty - but you can see how the world may morph into something like that. And his play on our rituals, our traditions, what drives us - but twisted up a little - always makes me feel oddly sentimental and sad. Some of them are so truly odd they could be SciFi. Some of them feel so much like TC Boyle I had to check to make sure I read the name correct.

I wonder if SK has ever met the man and what he has to say about his stories. I think I'll give that a google.

I still have a kitchen to clean and dogs to play with for a bit - but I'll be back in a bit. Thank you for reading the selection. I plan to participate in these discussion sand read whatever anyone suggests.
 

Doc Creed

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Shall we do one more discussion reading ( 12/12 )before the holidays, or hold off until Wed.January 2, 2019 ?

I think the week of the 19th most will be busy with travel or last minute plans for Santa.
I'd vote for after New Year's Day. I am thinking of doing the last group discussion for The Stand the second week of January, btw.