Subject: Re: Your Posted “S_ _T” Essay on Brevity

BREVITY never likes to find itself stuck in a rut, and to that end, we were entirely pleased to publish Janis Butler Holm’s provocative, some say “head-scratching,” essay entitled S_ _T. It is experimental, decidedly.

Marissa of Drake University took the time to write the author, on behalf of her class, seeking some insight into the work, and here is that exchange:

Professor Holm,

I am a sophomore undergraduate student at Drake University in Des Moines, IA. For my Reading/Writing Non-fiction class, we read your uniquely structured essay “S_ _T” that was posted on the Brevity site and were impressed. We all loved your essay because of its humor and for its clever lines.

However, the essay positively puzzled us and we are desperate to find out more–so I was assigned to contact you personally and to find out all you would tell us.

We are curious first about the title. What are the middle letters supposed to be? (Our class of 15 girls and a professor guessed slut, spot, shit, etc…) We also would love to hear more about it’s purpose, it’s source, and the reasoning behind the S and T format.

On behalf of the class, I would like to say thank you for writing a piece so mysterious and we would appreciate your time in helping us out.

Thanks Much,

Marissa

–

Marissa,
Thanks again for letting me know that your class enjoyed the essay–always good news to a writer’s ears. Here’s what I can tell you about the piece:

1) It’s part of a collection of nonconversations whose “voices” are named for letters of the alphabet. Other titles on the Web include “C Said, D Said,” “X Plus Y,” and “O, P” (at <http://www.bigbridge.org/poetjholm.htm> and <http://www.locusnovus.com/lnprojects/op/>). Unlike most of the other pieces, “S _ _ T” is nonfiction memoir.

2) I’m interested in what the French theorist Roland Barthes has called the open, or “writerly,” text–writing that invites the reader to play a larger role in meaning-making than do more conventional works.

3) I’m also interested in poststructuralist theories of identity, which suggest that we aren’t the unified egos we pretend to be but collections of contradictions and discontinuities.

4) From my point of view, “S _ _ T” can stand for any or all the words your class has come up with, and even some you haven’t. (Are the blanks necessarily letters? Can they be words? Should “_” be pronounced “Blank”? Etc.)

5) One of my goals is to craft pieces that both engage and call attention to our strong desire to make meaning.

Thanks, Marissa, for taking the time to ask me about “S _ _ T.” It’s always fun to find out how readers respond. Please give my regards to your professor and to your colleagues.

All the best,

Janis Butler Holm