Why is it that writers are so fascinated by paradoxes?
In a class with Kate Bernheimer we
created our own literary movements with titles
like The Coalition of Contrarians
and taglines like "embrace repulsion" and "truth
is created by merging contradictions, or is it?"
Fitzgerald says of paradoxes, "The test of a first rate
intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind
at the same time and still retain
the ability to function."
It's hard for me to believe that in an election year.
I believe some paradoxes can be stamped out
if caught early enough.
Though sometimes just knowing a paradox exists inside yourself
and learning to treat it gently is the most
you can hope to achieve.
I kept a list of paradoxes while reading Shannon Cain's
collection of short stories, The Necessity of Certain Behaviors.
I was going to say a few things about them,
but I think I'll just let them speak for themselves.
"The List of Necessary Paradoxes."
The Landlord Paradox.
When a rent-controlled apartment in New York City
directly influences a person's decision to procreate.
The Progeny Paradox.
When a daughter's disloyalty to her parent
is both liberating and horrible.
The Relative Good Paradox.
When circumstances are such that a person is thrilled
to find an unwashed carrot and a can of sardines in his lunch
box.
The Ice Age Paradox.
When, in order to survive, an individual must freeze herself
inside into a block of ice.
The Drive Paradox.
When a person takes road trips with no destination
in order to figure out where it is she is going.
The Comfort Paradox.
When complacency is the very thing
that threatens one's security.
The A & P Paradox.
When a grand gesture actually makes everything better.
The Fairness Paradox.
When civility is the most disturbing aspect
of a person's behavior.
Shannon Cain is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, the O.
Henry Prize, and a Fellowship from the National
Endowment for the Arts.
Her stories have appeared in Tin House, The Colorado Review,
The New England Review, and American Short Fiction,
among others.
Her short story collection, The Necessity of Certain Behaviors,
won the Drue Heinz Prize for Literature in 2011.
She is the co-editor of Powder, Writing by Women In the Ranks,
from Vietnam to Iraq, and co-adaptor of Coming
in Hot, the stage adaptation of the book.
She's editor of Roadside Curiosities,
Short Stories on American Pop Culture, forthcoming in 2013,
from the University of Leipzig Press.
And Shannon served four years as the executive director
and two years as fiction editor of Arizona's own Kore Press.
Shannon has recently joined the faculty of the MFA Program
at Bennington Writing Seminars.
In reading Shannon Cain's work, I've
come to believe that she is smart, observant, and honest.
She has taught me a new way to look at paradoxes, to admire
their lovely incongruity and that oh so necessary gray area
that they inhabit.
Shannon Cain shows the complicated truth of matters
and, in doing so, creates a space
for all of those who feel oppressed
by their own paradoxes, a space where we can all just breathe.
Please welcome Shannon Cain.
[APPLAUSE]