Response 5: Oct 13

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Swooning over Swoon! --audj, Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:02:42 -0400 reply
Gosh, what more is there to say about Swoon. This has probably become one of my favorite books of all time. And I know we said that the poetry wasn’t great, but I think it’s fantastic. I love that it’s a little erotic, a little easy, and very real. It feels like the kind of poetry I would try to write if I was a writer. My favorite part of the book easily is when they talk about exchanging photos, and Nada feeds Gary the line about looking at his photo makes him real. We see that email really can humanize someone if we let it. Of course, I’m probably most in love with the cover and its relationship to the book. Colors can say so much, and in this case, they were chosen with care and regard for how the reader would view it. Just awesome—a book written to people by people. It’s one more thing that again makes the book very human. I like to, and this is going to sound horrible, that Nada and Gary are not movie star gorgeous. They look like regular people, and the suggestion that this could happen to anyone is very real. Hell, it happened to a friend less than a year ago; now he’s married with two step kids. This book kind of gives the feeling that everyone deserves happiness and that in the end we all find it and we all live happily ever after. I love books like that! I like books that have a clear cut resolution. I like, too, that because they are learning about each other, the book proceeds with very little symbolism. There’s not much under the surface. There’s also very little to no hubbabaloo or lying to each other. I like that Gary and Nada are honest with each other about other people that they’re seeing at the beginning of the novel too. Honesty is a good thing! Neither seem to be much for embellishing as a matter of fact. I can’t imagine discovering the person I want to spend the rest of my life with over the internet. I guess that’s one of those “god works in mysterious ways” things. In the case of my friend, it seemed to offer a filter. He didn’t post his picture (he wasn’t particularly good looking). When he talked to people after a little while, then he would send a picture. That way, he could judge their interest. He apparently knew he had a keeper when she told him he was hot, but poor Gary. Nada tells him he’s not anything like what she looks for. She gives him some spiel about how she only dates dark haired men who are lean. I think that’s what my friend was fighting too—that initial judgment that is based only on looks. But I think that Gary and Nada have the best kind of love—the kind that falls in your lap when you’re not looking, the kind that surprises you and who you are. There’s something more than beautiful about this book, and I think it’s the humanity and love that the book represents.

Charlotte Harris --charris3, Wed, 12 Oct 2005 13:25:35 -0400 reply

In the book Swoon written by Nada Gordon and Gary Sullivan. I had two quotes that stuck with me through out the whole book. Gary wrote them both. It also got me to think about them with my life. The first is “ I think all writing is a form of love, or desire.”(12) I had never thought about before. I just did it as a normal part of daily life, by checking emails and responding to them or by writing papers for school. After reading this quote I thought about it we normally do only write out of love or desire. Most people cannot see that for school papers but we have a desire to do well in school. We have to write the papers to do well in classes since it is part of a grade or else we wouldn’t do it. We also wouldn’t write back in Emails unless it was about something we love, to someone we love, or something about a desire. To either know something more or know someone more. People also write in journals for love or desire to remember what happened. We just get these types of things imbedded in out heads that we don’t tend to think about them. A writer writes books, or poems by a desire of writing. People tend not to do things unless they have a desire to do them. The desire or lust of something leads us to love something. The other quote that I also spent a lot of time thinking on was “Tell me, Nada, what love is. Seriously. For you?” (53) A lot of people don’t bother to think about it much. We say we love stuff or people all the time with out thinking about it. Most the time people do really know if they do love something or what makes them love it. Most people say they love stuff just looking at it once and they really mean they just really like it. To me love is something that I would like to have the rest of my life or couldn’t live with for my life. The only problem is that two people can never have the same definition on what love is. It’s different for each person. Everyone has different thought processes and different feelings. Both of these are two of the strongest quotes in the book. It got Nada thinking about them. She mentions that she couldn’t respond to them for about a week after Gary sent them. When she explains what love is to her she had to ask several questions as to what context he wanted her to answer about the love. It’s used in such a large way and could refer to a lot of different things. She mentions a list of things that she thought he could have been asking her about them and trying to answer those questions. As I said a bit earlier a Desire or lust of something leads us to love something is true. A desire to write that leads to love is someone who likes to write papers or stories as a desire will tend to love them a write more of them. Most people can see that the more emotion someone puts in their writing, the more interesting the writing becomes. As they get closer to each other in the story through the emails the more intense and the easier the writing is to read and the more it flows better together.

Swoon Response - Katie Amos --kamos, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 07:55:59 -0400 reply
After finally obtaining a copy of Swoon last night, and having the chance to read up to about page 20, I found myself still thinking about the parts of the text which we discussed in class. The quote on page 12, in which Gary says that “all writing is a form of love, or desire” is a concept I had never really thought that much of before. We desire a voice and justice when we write to someone who has hurt us, just as much as we desire reciprocation and someone to talk to when we are emailing a friend. In Nada and Gary’s case, they have a longing to connect with the other person as well as the words they write because language is so important to them. The second part of the book that had me interested was the section we looked at in class that begins on page 165, in which Nada and Gary first meet after knowing one another for so long only through emails. The initial shock of finally being in the physical presence of someone they know so intimately, is so much for them that they resort to writing in a notebook to communicate with one another. To some people this might seem strange, but to me it hits very close to home. When I was much younger, I had a relationship with a boy that was mainly internet based. We would chat online and exchange emails so much that when I finally saw him it felt awkward, new, and strange. It’s difficult to talk with one another because you feel as though you know so much about them that you don’t know where to start. Also, it’s easy to type your every thought, feeling, and dream to someone over the internet, just as it is easier to tell someone something over the phone rather than face to face. You also might say things in emails that you would never say out loud, and when you finally meet this person who knows so many details about you, it’s easy to put up a “veil” or wear a “mask” like the ones Gary and Nada talk about. I think this book is important because it draws attention to many of the pros and cons of the internet in terms of relationships. The internet lets us connect with people we might never connect with and lets us freely express what we think and feel. It also makes things too easy and also hard at the same time because at the click of a button we send those feelings to someone, and if we ever meet them we might not know what to do with ourselves. With the big boom in online dating service use, though, this novel is sure to be one that defines a generation because it is the best example I’ve seen so far of the modern day, online, love letter. In a way I find that however much the internet lets us connect with others, it also makes us a more singular society because we aren’t going out and trying to meet people or trying to be sociable (the most unsociable person face to face can have a million connections online).In the end there are really too many things to discuss about this novel, but lastly, I wonder, what ever happened to old fashion pen and paper.

Swoon Response-Jessica Bradley --jbradley, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 08:35:56 -0400 reply
I have really enjoyed reading “Swoon” and I feel like I know the lives of Nada and Gary. Since our generation is becoming so high tech by communicating through e-mail, instant messages and text messaging with cell phones, even in my own life I can understand the type of personality people have by their response styles. I like the style of writing that both Nada and Gary use because I think it can be factored in as a part of their other personality traits especially with this type of relationship. For instance, letter writing, there are so many different styles for every single person…big, curvy, small and maybe even sometimes hard to read. Regardless if people have met or not their writing style can influence how they act or sound in person. Nada’s implicit lower case words, word choice and informal grammar explains a lot about her life, intellect and emotions. For example on page 77, “from my early teens I’ve said I’ve wished to be: A HUMMING BLUE SPHERE OF MIND LIGHT, embodiment is a terribly fraught issue for me maybe that’s why my writing has so much body in it because my own relationship to my body is dysfunctional….but language, ahh, it’s so physical or palpable.” I think she knows she is really smart and “beautiful” in the inside, but I think she down plays her self confidence with her appearance on the out side. Therefore, I think she turns to language as a medium or a neutral balance that satisfies her personality inside and out. By comparing her body of writing to her own body is interesting because she says that her body is dysfunctional, meaning that she’s saying her life is dysfunctional too. Ironically, I think she THINKS her body is dysfunctional due to low self esteem, but what and who has a functional “normal” life, or in this case, body of writing? I liked the ending quote to the paraphrase by her ex-lover, “you know language isn’t as sexy to everyone as it is to you.” Gary’s style on the other hand is more formal with use of capitalizations and good punctuation. Although, I think Gary expresses more emotions and has doubts in what he writes. Several times he wrote things like, “I wrote you a letter and didn’t send it” and “This letter is boring isn’t it.” Unlike Nada who is confident with her writing style but has low self esteem concerning her appearance, it’s vice versa for Gary. He has a low self-esteem with his writing style and is more confident about his appearance and exerting physical emotions. But what intrigues me most about Gary is his self-examination of their relationship and his life, which I found a connection to people’s “personality” via communicating through the new technology. On page 83 he asks many questions about himself in his e-mail, but the one phrase that I found the connection is, “I feel like some of the above (questions of self analysis) puts enormous pressure on you to reply or whatever…I mean I’m thinking out loud here…” Yes, he is thinking out loud and that is what is wonderful about relationships through technology because you can think out loud and for instance through instant messaging and text messaging you have to respond with the first thing that comes to mind or something relevant such as an excuse or lie. Never the less the responses between Nada and Gary are some what quick and they’re technically “thinking out loud,” rather standing face to face speechless and maybe having feelings of discomfort.

Kriatina Gifford --Kgifford, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:20:31 -0400 reply
When I first started reading Swoon I could not figure out why everyone loved it so much. I mean it was all about two people whining about how bad their lives are. He ruined his relationship and was homeless while she complained about her sickness and her soon to be ex. They continued pointing out the negative parts of their lives. I understand that it was a bad time for both of them and I felt bad for them, but it got a little tiring after a while. I had to force myself to continue reading. I did not get very far in the book but what I did make it to did get a lot better. It was making a turn for the positive. I like that the book is based on emails between the two. It shows the progression of the relationship from strangers to acquaintances to friends and more. It shows them getting more comfortable with each other and each email as their other relationships with the opposite sex slowly disintegrate. Their emails become more causal as well as the content within them and they start talking about everyday things like they live with each other, probably because they email each other daily. They obviously have the same intellectual level as well as common interests with poetry and other writings. When we reach the last email in October it has an effective impact. The last thing that Nada writes about is what she considers love. It is very effective to end the month and the section with this email. It makes the reader think about the last part they read before putting the book down and this spot is a perfect place to take a break. It is a foreshadowing of what is going to happen in the rest of the book as well as in their relationship. I have to say when I reached this point in the book I started liking it more. The emails and their relationship seemed comfortable. This was a great spot to discuss their meanings of love.

Autumn Means --ameans, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 10:59:38 -0400 reply
In the passage in Swoon where Nada and Gary meet in person for the first time, it’s apparent that these two people are having lots of difficulty communicating with one another face-to-face. During class discussions, a few people criticized Nada and Gary’s attempt to communicate more easily through written rather than spoken language; someone said that it seemed silly. Personally, I feel like Nada and Gary’s use of the notebook and writing their thoughts to communicate with each other is to be expected. Until this point in their relationship, that relationship has been defined by that very notion that the other person is somewhat removed from the situation. By communicating for so long through the Internet – e-mails – Gary and Nada have become accustomed to being able to portray themselves in the light they feel is best. Communicating through words online, without being in direct contact with the person with whom you’re communicating, allows people to mediate what they say. If someone asks you a question in an email, you have delay – you have time to think about the best way in which to represent yourself. Someone, during class discussion, also brought up the possibility of lying about oneself to someone over the Internet; I don’t think this is the case with Gary and Nada. I do think, though, that the aspect of feeling relatively removed from the other – in terms of physical (geographical and perhaps cultural) distance and physical (characteristic, human) interaction – allowed Gary and Nada to be much more uninhibited with what they were willing to tell one another when their communication was limited to written language exchanged in a more methodical way. Now that they’re face-to-face in person, though, and their responses to each others’ questions are expected to be more immediate, they’re having difficulty. Also…maybe being in the physical presence of the other, seeing them in person, being able to reach over and touch the other if so desired, being able to enact things together...has made Nada and Gary feel embarrassed about some of the things they’ve shared with each other (sexual fantasies, etc.). I think when you’re with someone in person, people tend to be more reserved about openly sharing very personal information. With Nada and Gary’s first meeting, I think there’s also an aspect of something missing; I think that it would be hard to have had a (relatively) long, close relationship with someone solely on their words. You would develop an attachment to that person’s intellect, wit, character, perhaps soul…but, at the same time, you would be denied to opportunity to develop similar attachments to that person’s physical appearance, their mannerisms. In this chase, I can see how Nada and Gary would feel uncomfortable around one another at first – They would feel a sort of conflict between intimately knowing this person’s mind, thoughts, desires, emotions..and at the same time feeling like they’re sitting across from a stranger because they’re not familiar with each others’ physical beings.

Steve Sinning --ssinning, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:31:42 -0400 reply
After encountering Nada Gordon & Gary Sullivan’s Swoon, I recall an assignment in another English class that we had to write. The project was to compose a multi-genre paper. For many students in the class, this was a difficult assignment. Although the teacher provided us with examples of an actual work, I think Swoon is the first real example I’ve seen. The multi-genre paper was composed of all type of genres, from magazine ads, to small art work, to poems. While Swoon is composed of poems, essays and even erotica, many genres are presented into one work.

At the time of the assignment, I looked at it as a big puzzle. I had to create my genres and try to fit them in a certain order. For me this was a difficult task. I can’t possibly imagine flipping through 5,000 e-mails and selecting only a small proportion of the letters. The most amazing part of Swoon to me is that Nada and Gary could select only a certain amount of e-mails, yet they were still able to get their story across. I believe part of this is because of the actual e-mails. It is clear just through reading just about any random e-mail that they put time into the e-mails. They put thought and care into most of their online conversations. When the two meet for the first time that they both actually remember, the communication line seems to break down. Suddenly the feeling of anxiety and nervousness takes over, and neither one of them can seem to communicate with the other like they did through e-mails. While in class, the conversation about talking in person opposed to online came up. While writing these e-mails, Nada and Gary had the opportunity to pick the right words. For all we know, the e-mail could have changed three times before they hit send. In a conversation, we don’t have the choice to rewind and edit.

The multi-genre e-mail form that Nada and Gary write in is inevitably responsible for their love. While there was obviously some sort of attraction, if they would have met on the street corner and realized that they went to the same college, they probably wouldn’t have fallen in love. It was with much thought, and with probably much time and creativity, that this multi-genre form led them to fall in love.

Breanne Alioto Response --bre4nne, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:07:40 -0400 reply
It’s so weird to fathom that the idea of this book, two people meeting through online blogs, is nothing short of very ordinary. Ever since the creation of the Internet, a new means of communication has been brought on to the world. Many people have met their significant others through the use of email and chat rooms. Its given people a way to get to know someone with out the nervousness of person-to-person meeting. In the book Swoon, Nada and Gary have published the series of emails they had written each other when they started their relationship. At first their emails were very impersonal, talking only about business. It seemed as the emails went on however that they both opened up to each other. I enjoyed reading the poems that were exchanged back and forth. I felt like the poems gave the emails some sort of personality. I found the situation with Nada and her live in boyfriend was very ironic. I felt this way because in his emails Gary was telling of a situation where he cheated on his significant other. This is exactly what happened to Nada. I thought that perhaps this would have some bearing over how Nada felt but it didn’t seem to. Nada’s live in boyfriend was caught cheating by her and since then she has never been able to trust him again. It surprises me that she would trust Gary after knowing that he has cheated. In one email, Gary said that he spent hours drafting the letter, then erased it all and started again. This is one of the magical things about email; you can read over what you want to say to a person before sending it. This way, things don’t just come spilling out of your mouth. I love the way that Gary is so inviting in his emails. He seems as if he truly cares about the things that Nada says in her emails. I also find it interesting that before the exchanging of the emails; Gary and Nada had crossed paths before. It shows to me that you end up always meeting the person you are suppose to be with, or I guess we can all hope that. I would be interested to speak with Gary and Nada now and see what their relationship is like after publishing this book. I think that publishing this book was a good idea because it helps people be more accepting of relationships that start with the Internet.

Sex and Swoon--it just makes sense --mscott, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:14:57 -0400 reply
The idea of public/private is the most striking aspect of Swoon. The love affair of Gary and Nada is stripped of all privacy and put on display for readers—such as ourselves. One could view this piece as exploitation. However, I see it differently. True stories are always more fun to read—it is far more inspiring. Gary and Nada use their true story to validate an internet love affair. They show that attraction is real and longevity is a possibility. So, if the idea of internet love is validated, then the course of the relationship is reasonable reading material. As with most relationships, their thoughts turn to sexual endeavors. Obviously, Nada couldn’t jump in her car and visit Gary for a nightcap. Her sexual outlet was language. She had to do what she had to do. The e-mail involving an explicit explanation of a lurid encounter with a pillow that was left covered in her bodily fluid was certainly a bit shocking. However, it seems appropriate that she would allow Gary to see such language. After all, they were in love—and sex and love are most certainly intertwined. I don’t think many would argue that Nada’s language is inappropriate in a private context. However, there is a debate about Gary and Nada’s choice to allow the reader to become a voyeur. Anais Nin is my favorite author, so I’m numbed to the shock of erotic descriptions. I’ve come to aspect the descriptions as valid, important pieces to a bigger piece. The sexual aspect of Nada and Gary’s relationship allows their story to be whole. A reader would certainly recognize a void in the piece if the sexual aspect was withheld. I think most readers associate love and sex—and would wonder if Gary and Nada ever engaged in sexual conduct (that sounds so criminal, but I couldn’t think of a better way.) I admire that their entire relationship is viewable. Their story is real and even inspiring. The sexual arousal that occurred from their correspondence may attest to the power of language—and prove the mind is the most vital sexual organ. If Gary and Nada do not feel exploited from the publication of their work—I do not feel bad for reading it. I feel privileged to have such an in depth look at a real relationship—dysfunctions and sex included. I certainly understand how parts of this book, such as the e-mail regarding the pillow, could be offensive to certain readers. I, however, think their story is real and human. Sex is normal. Maybe it’s odd that their sexual encounters were via e-mail—but hey, it takes all kinds. I’d much rather read the story of Gary and Nada than pick up a trashy romance novel and read the over-fictionalized account of a muscled man with flowing hair taking and retaking a buxom beauty.

SARAH haas --shaas1, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:20:48 -0400 reply
The part that stands out the most to me in this book is the part where they meet. The book on a whole was a lovely read, but I feel as though this part really stood out from the rest. It happened a lot differently than I had expected it to. I thought they would meet and fall even deeper in love and have an elaborate romantic affair. It struck me as extremely odd when they took out the paper and started writing back and forth to each other. I thought about this for a while, and I have some ideas about it. First, I feel that this could be explained as normal behavior because this is what they are used to doing. They know each other only through writing. I can only imagine how overwhelming it would be to meet face to face and have to analyze all the characteristics and features or the other persons face, and then relate it to emotions. I feel that they both have so many things that they can either exaggerate or hide through writing. It is so easy to leave something out or emphasize something else. Also, when you are writing, you have time to carefully think about your thoughts and what exactly you want to say. You also have time to contemplate how to put your words in a way that you know the other party will accept hearing it. The other thing that this part leads me to think about is the relevance of physical appearance versus emotional attachments. Although ideally we would like to say that physical appearance shouldn’t have anything to do with what we feel in our hearts, it is pretty evident that it does. Nada feels so strange and weird because of this she loves Gary with all of her heart but then emotions get weird because she does not know how to respond when her emotion don’t react like they should. I feel like I have many thought in my head about this part of the book and I cannot find a way to organize them in a meaningful way, but overall I think this ‘meeting’ says a lot about the importance of physical appearance.

Swoon --lgilkeso, Thu, 13 Oct 2005 14:39:21 -0400 reply
Although Swoon is a love story and there are many in depth and abstract passages that could be analyzed, particular passages stick out to me. The poetry in the book, while it is questionably good or bad, offers lots of room for insight and interpretation. All of this aside, the passages I found the most interesting are those referring to hair. Gary, on page 45 mentions that he once wrote an article to a magazine titled Creem! about having long hair. This sparks conversation about the significance of long and short hair. In a responding email, Nada states that she feels “hair is as powerful and as important anything” (page 46). This particular sentence strikes me as amazing. It amazes me that something so ordinary that many people take for granted is considered powerful and important. The next and perhaps the most powerful passages about the power of hair is the one on page 53. In this passage Gary states that at a holocaust museum one of the most controversial exhibits was a huge display of human hair from Auschwitz victims. In this sense the hair is very powerful. Gary continues to say that this exhibit was so controversial because it was so massive and so personal. The massiveness of this display made the numbers of those that lost their lives in Auschwitz that much more real to those who viewed it. The power of hair controversy continues throughout the book. When Nada and Gary decide to exchange pictures it is the hair that first turns off Nada. She writes an email describing her reaction to the picture and how Gary really wasn’t her “type” (page 87). She continued to say that it was okay that he was skinny and great that he was short because she too was short. The main problem with Gary, according to Nada, was the color of his hair. Gary is a blonde and Nada is generally attracted to darker haired men. This passage also illustrates the power and importance of hair. Nada and Gary have a connection that both find absolutely amazing and mind-boggling. They confide things in each other that they hold back from others that have been in their lives for years. It is evident after the long, deep emails that the connection is one beyond just friendship. When the two trust each other enough to exchange poetry that they have not let their lovers read, it shows that both know this relationship is a special one. Oddly enough, a picture depicted a particular color of hair had the power to make Nada question those feelings she felt so deeply. I feel that the significance of the passages discussing the power of hair are overshadowed by the poetry and other abstract, deep emails exchanged throughout the book. These citations are just a couple that illustrate the ongoing reference to the power of hair throughout the book.

brieanneL --Michelle, Fri, 14 Oct 2005 16:40:46 -0400 reply
This love story is not like any I have ever read before. This is a modern version of a romance novel. This type of story is only possible through the advancement in technology. The Internet is one of the most popular forms of communication. It is now more popular than face to face as well as hand written mail. People use the Internet for business, pleasure, and are now even beginning to form relationships on it. Today it is not an uncommon thing to have a relationship with someone far away that you have never seen before. I think that this form of communication is so popular because it allows people to be whom ever they choose. It allows shy people to put on a front and be brave. It gives people the self-esteem to say things that they might not usually say. It also helps people that don’t have confidence about their appearance develop relationships that they may not have formed. It also allows people to edit and revise things before they actually say it. In the beginning of this book Gary realizes that he has seen Nada years before but didn’t personally know her. She however did not know who Gary was and did not have a clue what he looked like. This book is full of their unedited emails and poems. When they first began writing they wrote about mostly business and poetry. It was friendly but not personal at all. Throughout this book their emails get much more involved and graphic. I’m not quite sure how I feel about publishing things so personal. I love the realness of these emails. Their writing was very easy to read because it is written, as any normal person would speak in an email. It was very interesting to watch this relationship grow from being strangers to developing a serious romantic relationship. Towards the beginning of their online relationship during their break ups they confide in each other more than anybody probably would if it were face to face. At that stage in their relationship most people wouldn’t spill their hearts out to someone they didn’t know entirely well. I think that the reason they did spill their hearts out was because of the sense of anonymity. They built this strong bond through the common feeling of loneliness. They were both dealing with break ups and kind of used each other as a therapy session. The part that I found interesting was when they met. Nada was having a difficult time with him being in front of her. They had depended on communicating through writing for so long that they didn’t know how to verbally communicate with each other. They had to get a note pad and pass it back and forth. This is weird to me. I guess they got to know each other through the way they wrote and it was hard top place that with whom they actually were. I think the reason that she had such a problem with his looks was because she had developed her thoughts of what he might look like in her head. When he didn’t match up to those expectations it was hard for her to realize that this is actually the face in front of all those words. Overall I thought this book was good but very different.

Brittany Peters --bpeters, Tue, 18 Oct 2005 11:40:30 -0400 reply

Amanda Drake --adrake, Tue, 18 Oct 2005 21:55:19 -0400 reply
Though it took me until now to finally obtain a copy of Swoon, I almost think it was worth the wait. This novel brings to mind the phrase "modern day fairytale". I actually didn't realize that this was a true story until after I read it and I was amazed. That is so exciting! While reading it I was thinking things like This is so true and raw and honest, so I am glad that in fact, it was true. I admire these two people, Nada and Gary, so much for the courage it took to bare all to us through this genius idea for a novel. It is so original and really unlike anything else I've ever read. I feel like I was there through their whole relationship and watched it develop up close. I know these people on a more personal level than I know most of my friends and family members! I almost felt like I was invading their privacy by reading some of these very personal emails. I enjoyed some of their poetry, especially the ones they wrote together. It just seemed like such a sweet thing to do together, especially considering how they came to be what they were together through words. Everything rang so true in the development of their relationship. When they were planning on meeting I was nervous for them! I've read and seen enough online relationships to know what a drastic impact meeting can have on the surreal cyber relationship they had previously. Before they were in this kind of un-reality where it was easy to hide behind and inbetween their words. Meeting and facing the awkwardness of forced conversation puts things into a sometimes harsh perspective. I was so afraid their relationship was going to be over after that first meeting, but luckily they stuck it out, despite Nada's habit of dealing with affection/confusion with her sharp tongue. I also enjoyed the almost erotica aspect of the novel, and the intimate emails that followed their first time. These emails show the courage that comes from being faceless, even after you get a face to go with the voice. When it is just words that you can take hours to think out and analyze what to say, with the friendly and ever ready backspace key right there for your use, it is easier to explain how you feel and show what you want to the person of your desire. I did not like when they took out the paper and started writing to each other when they first meet. I thought this seemed a little ridiculous and cowardly. They should have sucked it up and faced each other verbally. I understand that this is what they were comfortable with, but just because it was the easy way out doesn't mean it was the right thing for them to do. It just seems like another cheap escape from reality to me. But, perhaps I'm wrong seeing as it worked out for them haha. The way this book seems to embrace fate warms me. I love how their lives were entwined before but never developed and then by chance they happen to develop a meaningful relationship through a random encounter in a blog. Fate can not take all the credit though, because as we know through the emails, Nada and Gary built their love slowly and fully. It was a great read and I loved seeing their friendship turn into love through their words.

Swooning over Swoon! --sbaldwin, Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:57:20 -0400 reply
Audrey: Yes, it's one of my favorite books for exactly these reasons. The messiness of it is sheer humanness, not literature, but not even a "book" but reality. The poetry is uneven for me. Hers is precise and interesting in small doses - his is at times too much - but it does work as an archive of their relationship. The whole business of Gary's looks is fascinating. To some degree it's about what makes for "good looks" - a set of cliches and media images - and the difference here between "real looks," how someone really looks. And there's a sense that his picture is exactly how he is - goofy, open etc.

Charlotte Harris --sbaldwin, Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:06:04 -0400 reply
Charlotte: A well constructed response - you've focused on a few specifics in the text, explored them, showed us something about them. OK, now writing as desire: we could wonder whether this is true - is some writing not about desire? But I think you're right, it's tied to knowledge: the desire to know, to know someone or something. The second quote: Nada is asked to Idefine love, and later Gary tries to as well. In a way this is like a "profile" on facebook or something similar - they want to see how their definitions compare. But in a way this is about channeling and naming the communication that's already occuring. Think of that first quote: if communication is already about desire, this is the directing and locating of the desire.

Swoon Response - Katie Amos --sbaldwin, Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:08:18 -0400 reply
Katie: I think you hit at the center - or one center - of this book with that question of physical presence. The scene where they meet in the cafe is moving, sad, funny, vivid - so much of it is the sheer discomfort of the other person's presence. Think of how we deal with other people: only physically in certain circumstances - e.g. intimate relationships (lovers, children, etc.), perhaps in sports, perhaps a doctor - but otherwise, even in their presence, we deal with people through language and convention. These two know each other intimately through language but are forced to face - a good word, suggesting that physical presence - to face their physicality as well. What I like is the sense that this is not an either/or (physical or virtual) but a negotiation. They work it out...

Sex and Swoon--it just makes sense --mscott, Sat, 22 Oct 2005 01:10:03 -0400 reply
accept not aspect

Swoon Response-Jessica Bradley --sbaldwin, Sat, 22 Oct 2005 21:18:36 -0400 reply
Jessica: Nice attention to the specifics of Nada's style. Yes, she is very much lower case, whereas Gary uses caps. I think you capture this description exactly right. Her style is controlled, avoiding risk, and very aware/reflexive on its own effects - she's concerned with how she appears and controls this tightly. If Gary is thinking out loud, she is more careful - or at least more careful in what thoughts we see. It's true that these are two for whom language is sexy, it's arousing, it's what makes them tick. Yet this makes perfect and familiar sense for those of us who email and IM and so on - we do invest in these codes and protocols.

Kriatina Gifford --sbaldwin, Mon, 24 Oct 2005 15:49:09 -0400 reply
Kristina: I agree that they're tremendously self-absorbed. One premise of this work is that their life is interesting, or at least worthy of art. We might decide that the answer is yes, that the make their talk and their lives into something that is worth reading about, but we can still see that it's a kind of risk or gamble, and also a kind of hubris or claim on us - i.e. to spend our time reading about their lives. Of course, what complicates it is the presentation of the everyday material as art; yes there's some trimming, but largely we're reading their letters. So, this makes the effect of the letters interesting - as you note, their written email relationship begins to alter their "real" relationships. This self-absorbed writing, whiny and pretentiouis as it may at times be, and art all the same, has a transformative effect on their lives. Question: can you find places where they comment on this? At time they are quite reflective on the role of this relationship in their lives and quite able to question the importance writing could possibly have.

Autumn Means --sbaldwin, Mon, 24 Oct 2005 16:46:16 -0400 reply
Autumn: Yes, I agree a relationship built on distance. They need to establish that distance even when face to face. I think it's true that an internet relationship - or any relationship predicated on distance - has the possibility of lying. (Of course, it may be that all relationships are like this: even face to face there's some distance, merely in the fact that I don't know what the other person is thinking...). I suppose email capitalizes on this distance -- through delay, as you note, allow us to literally "compose" who we are and how we respond. I think it's definitely true that Gary and Nada have worked out how to be truthful and intimate even if distant (so, these are not imcompatible terms). And then there's the meeting: what is it about the other person, in general, the sheer physical presence? There's somewhat of a loss of words, literally!

Steve Sinning --sbaldwin, Wed, 26 Oct 2005 10:12:54 -0400 reply
Steve: Good point about the multi-genre quality of this. Of course, one aspect of multigenre would be different literary genres within a single work, i.e. different forms of writing. Another aspect would be different media, so text + pictures and so on. These things blur together somewhat. In Swoon, anyway, there's both kinds of multiplicity. Another question is the degree to which it all fits together -- like a big puzzle, as you put it. I suppose it's a question of whether the multiple genres still fit within a single larger genre. Does one of the genres dominate or organize (perhaps the "novel"). Or is it all a kind of collage. Is it a mess or is there some organization without a dominate genre? This leads to the quesiton of how we see different genres as physically/materially different yet somehow as all "art" and all "readable."

Breanne Alioto Response --sbaldwin, Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:19:43 -0400 reply
Breanne: (Note: they're meeting through emails, not on a blog.) But you're right, it's increasingly normal and ordinary. I like your comment about the poems - they do provide personality, certainly a different angle on the personality of these two, and it's interesting to see the difference in poetic style. It would be useful to look at and compare a bunch of the poems. What do we make of them individually? How do they shed light on the novel as a whole? You're right that the possibility for reflection and revision is one particular value of email, something it enables that's not possible face to face. We get the sense that Gary takes more advantage of this than Nada. And yes, you could speak to them now! Or at least send them email...

Sex and Swoon--it just makes sense --sbaldwin, Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:26:28 -0400 reply
Melissa: It seems that digital discouse is a tremendous outlet for sexuality. On the one hand, there's the sense of imaginative release, of the chance to open any fantasy and let it occur in the unreality of the digital; on the other hand, there's the sense that sexuality to some degree ties the digital to the body, physicalizes it. I suppose the sex adds to or confirms the truth of these writings - in the sense that we feel these are true eroticisms, true fantasies, and so on. It's interesting to see the two of them talking about sex, about it's role in their relationship, before physically doing it - but soon enough they are engaged in cybersex. I wonder what role the cybersex played for or against their physical, face to face relation - I mean, is it something that needs to be lived up to? (I agree that A. Nin is great.)

SARAH haas --sbaldwin, Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:29:15 -0400 reply
Sarah: Yes, that meeting is perhaps the most interesting part of the book. It's worth looking closely at the words used, at their remarks, at the typography, everything. There's real emotion occuring between the words, in the white space. An amazing moment...

Swoon --sbaldwin, Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:31:52 -0400 reply
Lauren: I think it's great you noticed the hair discussion. I suppose we can take this as part of their tendency to make everything in their life significant, to make everything worth noticing and worthy of art - even hair. All the specifics of appearance are mulled over for their meaning. It's possible to see this as too much: as self-involved and indulgent, as pretentious and arty; and in it's own way it is that. But it also is a life lived intensely.