Chapter 9:

Summary

Text Within Text: This chapter explores how certain novels use text within the story in order to further plot. For the examples Clark chooses Miss Lonelyhearts and A Visit from the Goon Squad.

Letters from the Heart: The focus of this section is on the different letters received by an advice column and how it uses the embedded text to solve narrative issues. Clark makes clear that each letter is written in a different voice and style from the novel's narrator. These stylistic choices help provide a snapshot of the times in which Miss Lonelyhearts was written.

Points of Power: Clark shifts his focus in this section to A Visit from the Goon Squad. He discusses the different post-modern experimentation with text such as 75 pages in the novel that are power point slides and how in another chapter speech bubbles depict a conversation. Clark mentions that he believes that this sort of experimentation should be undertaken by all writers.

Signs of the Times: Exploration of text within text continues in this section with Clark turning his attention back to Gatsby, this time with an eye towards text within text. This time Clark explores how the interwoven signs and text in Gatsby take on a much larger meaning (optometrist eyes on billboard become God's eyes, western story symbolizes Gatsby's character arc). Text need not only effect structure of also meaning.

Different Genres: Within this section Clark talks about using text within text for the non-fiction genre. He mentions how some journalist have written large stories by quoting text extensively to further the narrative along. He states to use text and let it talk wherever it may appear, as text help portray the complexity of human life.

Writing Lessons

1. Use written communication between characters as a form of monologue or dialogue. In Jane Austen novels, this communication might have been in the form of an exchange of letters. In Miss Lonelyhearts messages are exchanged via a mass medium- the newspaper. In more contemporary works of fiction and nonfiction, such as A Visit from the Goon Squad, characters can speak to one another or to multiple audiences via an almost endless number of media platforms, from e-mail messages to Instagram to Twitter to PowerPoint.
2. Use every opportunity to choose texts as evidence in every possible form: public records, court documents, obituaries, wedding announcements, epitaphs, graffiti, tattoos, baseball cards, fortune cookies, T-shirts, cereal boxes, journals, diaries, letters, notes left in pockets- and, in the digital age, blog posts, tweets, status updates, text messages, and more.
3. When you introduce texts within your text, you can do so in three different ways:

• A single element, such as a purloined letter, embedded in a larger story can have special impact because of its singularity- say, as a clue to solving a mystery. The name Rosebud on a child's sled, for example.
• Multiple similar elements- such as an exchange of letters or text messages- can establish a predictable pattern that builds momentum and guides readers toward a destination.
• Multiple diverse textual elements- like the ones in Gatsby- can surprise the reader even as they eventually combine to create a setting, shape character, offer a dominant feeling, or express a theme.

Critique

Clark's idea for using evidence in this chapter is quite interesting because it applies the idea of using sources in a different way, much the same as Bizup's "BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing". By redefining how research is engaged it allows for a more effective message in Bizup's case of composition and in Clark's case of prose. Using text within text would align to Bizup's suggestion of "background, exhibit, and argument" (75-76).