Bonus Projects: Creative/Critical New Media Experiments

Sometimes the best way to understand a structure is to build it. Sometimes the best way to analyze a creative work is to get creative. Post a link to your creative/critical new media experiment below, along with a 300-word explanation of what you've done, how it enhances your/our/the public's understanding of one or more of …

Purity: Mental Illness

Well that was a wild ride from start to finish. As logical as it seems now looking back, I was so shocked when Andreas jumped off the cliff to his death. The whole section of him talking with "The Killer" and struggling for control was really interesting. It warped the narrative perspective of this novel …

Purity: An Emotional Rollercoaster

I do not think I have ever felt a larger range of emotions than in these six hundred pages. I felt them myself and I felt them through the characters. There was anger, sadness, grief, happiness, love, ecstasy, emptiness, hatred and so much more. Franzen was unafraid to delve deep into the minds of the …

Purity: Warning Signs

Tom's section is written in the 1st person however I felt I learned more about Anabel and her personal sometimes twisted thoughts and acts. Tom describes that his soul had unionized with Anabel's and that they were becoming too similar of people. At first this sounded extremely romantic, but truly became the downfall of their …

Purity: Unconventional Love

What interests me most about Purity, is its ability to represent love, relationships, and emotions in an extremely authentic manner. This is what I want to write about for my "final project," thus, I wanted to blog about love and its representation in Purity versus the representation of love in most of the modern day fiction novels being …

Purity: The Body

In this portion of the reading, the body, its functions, and its ephemerality seem to be a leitmotif. There is Anabel's project about her body, Tom and Anabel's sex life, Anabel's frustration with men peeing standing up, Anabel's eating and exercise disorder, Clelia's colon, the dead body and ashes of Clelia, the cessation of Anabel's …

Purity: First Person Narrative

I was caught off-guard by the shift in narrative point of view with "[lelo9n8a0rd]." I was not expecting to read any first person accounts in the novel, and I'm curious as to why Franzen introduces this narrative technique so late in the novel, and only for Tom. I almost feel cheated that I get to …

Purity: Love Over Time

While Franzen follows a very periodical timeline in parts of Purity I felt a stronger connection with his characters, Tom and Annabel when he told their story in reverse. Starting with their divorce and the problems they struggle with as a couple felt very vulnerable and raw. The intensity of their passion in the woods …

Purity: Disgust and Trust

While reading the second part of this novel I was disgusted with numerous characters, specifically Andreas, his mother, and Horst, too many times. If anyone saw my face while reading this section, it would have been clear my thoughts on the actions of these characters. Andreas's mom, Katya is very similar to Pip's in how …

Purity: Male Entitlement

Reading Purity in the wake of everything that is happening in the media and the news over sexual assault/harassment allegations made me examine certain scenes in more depth than I might have before.  For instance, Pip, the heroine, remarks that the only reason that Igor hasn't fired her yet was because he wanted to sleep …