Sunday, March 31, 2013

Critique of Elle’s “Here Lies Love”



The title mimics an epitaph and suggests that the piece will one way or another deal with the death of love.  The story is divided into sections by roman numerals, which fit the poetic tone of the piece as though they are separating prose stanzas.  Though I read the first couple of sentences of part II like lyrics to a Cake song, I like the elegant and ambiguous language of the overall piece.  I also like how the characters and other scene elements are reduced to geometric shapes, colors, and other sensory details.  While the ambiguity does benefit the story, I am not sure what to make of the overarching conflict with Katherine, who is apparently the character as the one before with the “evil inside of her.”  I cannot tell if she is now independent of her lover or a tumor, the latter of which would be supported by the title and other details.  Some aspects of the story could be made clearer, but the piece is very well composed.

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