Persons attempting to find a "text" in this [story] will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a "subtext" in it will be banished; persons attempting to explain, interpret, explicate, analyze, deconstruct, or otherwise "understand" it will be exiled to a desert island in the company only of other explainers.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR - Wendell Berry's introduction to Jayber Crow.
This article was posted to Jayber on 8 May 2007 by to the following categories: Feature, Stories.
An audio version of this article is also available.
A collection of fictional letters for which I would be interested in knowing further details.
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To: Sam
From: Walter
Thanks for sending me the tuna fish. She's swimming around in my pool as we speak. I feed her tuna fish sandwiches for irony. Har har.
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To: Earl
From: Henry
The hair-growth formula you gave me fused my eyebrows. Is this some kind of joke?
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To: Mom
From: Janis
Jeanne called. She asked if I wanted her yarn collection in return for a favor but warned that it smelled funny. I have no use for yarn. Is this a craft mafia thing again?
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To: Dean
From: Tom
Thanks for teaching me the bullwhip trick. I use it at corporate parties all the time now. Rawhide!