Laura van den Berg, an acclaimed writer from Orlando, Florida, keeps her readers’ attention with provocative prose in her short story “The Greatest Escape,” which she read to a group of students gathered in the Museum Learning Center in the Addison Gallery of American Art on Wednesday night.
“The Greatest Escape” follows a 17-year-old girl, Crystal, who moves to Hollywood, Florida, with her mother to perform their magic act in a small theatre. Although their target audience is initially families, middle-aged men start attending the shows, and Crystal begins to wear nothing but a bikini on stage to gather more attention and fill more seats. To save up enough money to take care of herself, Crystal stays at the bar after her performances and uses her charm on older men in order to steal their wallets. Meanwhile, Crystal’s father’s whereabouts have remained a mystery since his own greatest “disappearing act.”
Many students gathered to hear the successful young author read her story, creating a dynamic conducive to an engaging reading.
“Even as a writer, I sometimes find myself cutting in and out of a longer prose reading,” van den Berg said. “However, it is very interesting to hear how an author reads their work, what they think is funny or serious and what rhythm they use as they recite. I try to project these different elements when I read my work in order to keep the audience curious and involved.”
Jeffrey Domina, Instructor and Chair in English, agreed with van den Berg’s opinions on how hearing a story read out loud impacts the audience’s understanding of the story.
“I don’t think readings alter the meaning significantly, but the way in which a person reads a story involves a certain interpretation,” said Domina. “The inflection, the voices used for the characters, the speed, the emotions and the tone with which the author reads the story might line up with how someone has previously read it, and at other points, it might depart from it. Sometimes, this might feel unsettling, but it makes the reader think about the story differently. You might just return to your previous interpretation of a story, or the reading might open up a different, sometimes better understanding of the story.”
The difference between how a reader interprets a piece of literature on their own and how this is changed through a live recitation was evident during van den Berg’s reading.
“Van den Berg read the story very differently from how I imagined it being read,” said Haley Avery ’16. “Her voice carried a sort of monotony through the words that seemed to diminish how much the main character suffered. However, judging by how her inflections changed depending on the scene, I felt that was intentional. Even though I didn’t read the story that way on paper, this interpretation of the main character made me think very differently about the story and the events that occurred. I loved getting that second interpretation.”
After reading “The Greatest Escape,” van den Berg opened up the floor for questions. The reading itself only took up a small portion of the time allotted, allowing many students to ask questions.
“It was very interesting how van den Berg described her method of writing first drafts as messy and disorganized,” Avery added. “I had never thought of the writing process that way. I have always thought of authors as having a very strong skeleton before they even begin to write or even just having some sort of map of where they want their thoughts to flow. Hearing how van den Berg relies solely on her intuition while drafting stories gave me great insight into the mind of a writer, and how methods and processes differ for each person. It was great to be able to hear that perspective.”
“A reading of something, even by the person who wrote it, involves interpretation of performance, so the audience hears not only the story, but the author’s opinions about the story,” said Domina. “Some writers do this very well, and others don’t. Van den Berg’s voice carried the story in a way that correlated perfectly with the words on the page. It’s always somewhat different to hear a story then to read it, though. Live readings really enhance the story and invite unique perspectives on it.”
