Plathological

Yes. Yesterday in workshop, someone was trying to dissect the "elements of symbolism" in my story. I was beyond irritated. All I could think of was: WHAT symbolism????? I have placed nothing symbolic in here. a pipe is just a pipe while at the same time it is not a pipe. yes? good. fuck. symbolism. seriously.

Camus is one of my husbands. I am pleased and in agreement.

but,

why am I analysing myself so much?
at this time . . .

This really doesn't surprise me, but this is how I did:

Edgar Allan Poe

Your Literary Style Is 16% Realistic, 50% Philosophical, and 100% Psychological!

"Your literary style mostly resembles Edgar Allan Poe's. Poe's stories and poems are, for the most part, examples of fantastic realism. The stories or poems often have elements of the fantastic, such as spontaneously crumbling houses, ghosts, and talking ravens, but they also retain a realistic interpretation, and the fantastic elements are almost always realistically explained away in the texts to make them more believable. Regardless, his works are still inherently creepy and reek of the mystical. What further adds to their creepiness is Poe's brooding description of psychological torments, ranging from men anguishing over the death of lost loves to the excessive, delusive guilt felt by criminals. Your literary style is similar in these respects, focusing heavily on the fantastic and relying on horrifying psychological descriptions."

I wouldn't say you have a heavy-handed symbolism, but the style of your prose is usually so under the skin of your character that things can't help but seem alive and significant; that pipe may just be a pipe, but it's hard not to interpret it with an eye toward the symbolic. You give them heat, even the ordinary things that seem irrelevant.

And while I do often suspect I'm a reincarnation of Poe, I should also point out that the quiz is BADLY DESIGNED, with terribly generalized questions. Every story is different.

And why does Camus look like Bogart?

Camus as Bogart: I don't know, but I myself generally tend to subscribe to the notion of writer as untouchable sex object. I see both myself and other writers in this way. I also think you're right about why some (most?) may read symbolism into my writing. There's sound reasoning behind it, but I rarely, is ever, intend it. god. postmodern theory is taking over all my rational reasoning. oh god my endless battle.

i like thinking I'm a reincarnation of some French writer, most likely Rimbaud. I've been blatantly telling people that for . . .oh . .almost nine years now. The French make so much sense to me. I feel at home in places I may not necessarily belong, by default.

:D

and for the quiz being so "generalized" in its questions, it was surprisingly accurate in its results. at least it was clearly intended for people who write, you know? As opposed to people who think about how they would write if they did. I think answering those (seemingly general) questions would be difficult if you didn't know, inherently, what your writing was like.

One of my ex-roommates always suspected I'd drink myself to death and -- well -- Poe.

Plus I have the Edgar Allan Poe actualy figure.

Sylvester Stallone has written and is producing a film about Poe's last days. This thought terrifies me in ways I can't fully describe. They are unnamed horrors.

Sylvester Stallone???

I'm naturally terrified here.