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Sucker; Palahniuk-esque.
Topic Started: Nov 1 2008, 10:04 PM (297 Views)
KampfVerein
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P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute."

Then again, so did Joe Bessimer.

And David Hannum. And Michael McDonald.

(The politician, not the soul singer.)

No one really knows for sure who said that magic phrase, so it depends on who you're asking.

Now, I'm no math major, no stat slinger, so I won't say Barnum's right.

Or...somebody's right.

I can offer this, though:

There's a sucker born every period.

You're reading this, aren't you? That makes you a sucker here. And here. And here, too.

After all, I can tell you anything and you'll just have to believe it.

Who's gonna argue with me? Who's gonna say otherwise?

I'm what failed novelists in tweed carrying around Conrad and teaching at a community college call "the narrator." I tell you everything you need to know and nothing you shouldn't. Of course, that comes at a price. If you read, you accept me. And if you accept me, I own you. The minute you start reading, you're mine and mine alone.

These words? These are my domain. My universe.

In here, consider me God. I'm the truth, plain and simple.

Watch.

I'm dead.

No, wait, I'm dying of cancer.

Ooh, no, even better, a mysterious Gypsy woman revealed to me the exact date of my death via a crystal ball and a little gothic ambiance.

Did I say Gypsy woman? I meant my long-lost, amnesiac sister clad in cult robes.

Do you see?

No one really knows for sure, so it depends on who you're asking.

And who else can you ask?

And who else could tell you? You don't have a say and I don't have the time for audience participation. This isn't dinner theatre, some cheap murder mystery. You didn't go to high school with this cast.

Can you taste that?

That lingering flavor of power beyond your means, so sublimely sweet that everything else in your mind and on your tongue is like brine?

Go on. Don't deny it. Savor it.

The narrator's your only friend. Other people, out there, they'll cheat you, they'll betray you, they'll lie to you.

In here, among these words, you can finally have some sense of order. Stability.

No more questions. No more arguments, accusations. No more you v. who.

Everything's gospel.

Just relax. Listen to me. Your friend. Your teacher.

Your god.

I won't lead you astray.

Then again, Keyser Söze said, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

Or was it Baudelaire?

I guess it depends on who you're asking.

Period.
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+Linden
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Wow, absolutely brilliant and enjoyable. :o

Brings an interesting conclusion: Perhaps we read fiction to be lied to? And if that's the case, then it's not the god that has the power. It's the reader; because they choose to be lied to and the reader can always set the book down, escape. Unless you're reading the Never-Ending Story but that's a story for another time. ;)

This whole concept would make an excellent play, if I ever figure out how to write one properly.
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KampfVerein
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Linden Branch
Nov 1 2008, 10:35 PM
Wow, absolutely brilliant and enjoyable. :o

Brings an interesting conclusion: Perhaps we read fiction to be lied to? And if that's the case, then it's not the god that has the power. It's the reader; because they choose to be lied to and the reader can always set the book down, escape. Unless you're reading the Never-Ending Story but that's a story for another time. ;)

This whole concept would make an excellent play, if I ever figure out how to write one properly.
Thank you very much, both for reading and for your compliments.

You're more than welcome to adapt it for the stage, should that time come!

You know, when this piece was in my deviantART gallery ages ago, I do remember someone asking me if they could use it for a monologue in their acting class. I'm fairly certain I didn't invent that story...
Edited by KampfVerein, Nov 1 2008, 10:44 PM.
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** Death's servant
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I like how you iluminate the relation between a reader and a writer. Though thhey have never met one or the other must have absolute power over the other. Wither the reader decides to inturprit the words as a hidden meening, or is forced to bow down to the writer, making the writer their god for the few minutes in wihich they read. I love it.
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KampfVerein
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Death's servant
Nov 2 2008, 03:19 PM
I like how you iluminate the relation between a reader and a writer. Though thhey have never met one or the other must have absolute power over the other. Wither the reader decides to inturprit the words as a hidden meening, or is forced to bow down to the writer, making the writer their god for the few minutes in wihich they read. I love it.
Thank you very much, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've always found that literary master-slave dynamic to be very intriguing.
Edited by KampfVerein, Nov 2 2008, 04:10 PM.
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** Death's servant
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Reflection
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yeah, it is an interesting concept
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