I'm reading a review on Salon of a novel by Miranda July. Who I've never heard of. The title of the article is 'The Supreme Weirdness of Miranda July'. I haven't read it carefully, I'm at work. I'll study it later. I guess I have to buy this book, to study the style. It is not a favorable review, nowhere close. This quote caught my eye:

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"I did enjoy the absence of what I think of as MFA cadence, i.e., “independent clause + comma + noun phrase” (e.g., “She felt the weight of him, the heat”)".

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What the hell is an MFA cadence? Is it considered a horrible thing? This sounds awfully like the way I write. Lucy, you must know about this.

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Oh yeah, the name of the novel . . . it's a debut novel, July must be known for something, to get a big review on Salon. Title: "The First Bad Man".

--edited by Mimi Speike on 1/12/2015, 11:55 PM--

Urk. I don't know what that means But I think I've got some sentences written out like that in my own WIP. In fact, I've read books that have sentences like that. I enjoyed the stories and the writing.

Maybe it's some sort of slang term. I binged the phrase, and came up with nothing.

Hi Mimi--I laughed when I read the quote you pulled from Salon. I hadn't heard this term before, and I thought it was funny--and true!

Have either of you ever read Alice Munro or Denis Johnson? I feel like lots of MFA students try to echo that style. And then eventually they settle into something more idiosyncratic and natural.

I guess I have to read Munro and Johnson. Book Country is my writing program, and I don't think I could do better for myself than here. And, for free!

Well, the one writing the review said, "What I think of as..." which pretty well says it's their invention.

But what they mean is pretty clear. People who take an MFA degree are not being trained as writers, in the way someone who takes a commercial fiction writing degree is. Instead they're steeped in "the work of the masters," as the university's literature department defines that. So it's not surprising that so many graduates of that course who turn to writing, so do in in the literary genre. And that genre is known for a "say something, and then then add embellishment," style. To me, it's people I don't like talking about things I'm not interested in, with three times as many words as necessary. But that's only me, and lots of people love that style—certainly enough to keep those publishers in business.

So I suspect that the one who gave that review wasn't the right one one to do so because they're not a fan of the norms in that genre. Kind of like having an action adventure critic do a review of a sweet romance.

I guess I have to buy that book. 

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Another review is very much for it. "Like most really good books, The First Bad Man is summary-averse: It defies the demands of jacket copy, and the joy of reading it comes from seeing the odd, musty, intimate corners of a person's inner life treated with immense gravity and care."

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"July is a master of the intimate weirdnesses of human thought that are both deeply specific and yet totally recognizable."

--edited by Mimi Speike on 1/14/2015, 3:19 PM--

In my WIP I'm fleshing out the outdoor settings that I gave short shrift to in the first draft while I was working on my plot. To help me do this, I am reading on the long public transit commute to my day job a collection of articles by a respected outdoor writer. This thread made me aware of the "MFA Cadence," and now I see that it is overused by this writer to the point where it's tiresome. I know I'l try to avoid using it much in my own work, my stories, my articles, my essays.

The jacket copy says the author earned a BA and a MA in History. He spent his career as a journalist and essayist and novelist. No MFA in sight.

Jay wrote here that "the literary genre. . . is known for a 'say something, then . . . add embellishment,' style. To (Jay), it's people (he doesn't) like talking about things (he's) not interested in, with three times as many words as necessary." Jay's position is a legitimate one, but he concedes that enough people like that style to keep certain publishers in business. I don't think all literary fiction follows the formula that Jay describes. But maybe the writings of MFAs does.