The Tangled Bank
The Tangled Bank comprises the 18 scenes (actually, 17 monologues and 1 third-person narration) that survive of a semi-aleatory fiction writing project I undertook between June 2007 and February 2008. All the pieces take place in a Midwestern city, and each involves at least 2 of 10 different people, all of whom have some sort of connection to a riparian nature center in a decaying public park.
1. Throwing a Game to a Kid
Throwing a Game to a Kid is the first episode of The Tangled Bank. In this episode, the narrator is Christopher, an athletic 30-year-old man, and his antagonist (briefly, and offstage) is Samantha, the daughter of a neighbor and a friend of his son. In the monologue, Christopher talks about his attitudes toward competition and playing with kids, and manages to avoid the central topic: a chess game between himself and Samantha that turned ugly.
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2. Too Much to Ask of an Eight-Year-Old
Too Much to Ask of an Eight-Year-Old is the second episode of The Tangled Bank. In this episode the narrator is Melissa, an assistant professor of biology, and her antogonist is her son, Jacob. After taking a long phone call just as her son was about to tell her something important, Melissa wonders whether her priorities have gone awry.
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3. Anger Reduced to a Comic Effect
Anger Reduced to a Comic Effect is the third episode of The Tangled Bank. In this episode the narrator is Lisa, who at the moment is still the Executive Director of The Tangled Bank Nature Center, and her antogonist is her father, Raymond. Lisa describes a phone conversation with Raymond, a conversation in which she explodes with anger—but then quickly realizes exactly how her father must be dealing with it.
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4. Not Even Me
Not Even Me is the fourth episode of The Tangled Bank. In this episode the narrator is Dorothy, who with her friend Louise has been attending Professor Jorgensen’s Elder Summer Science Series for many years. Dorothy and Louise arrive at Tangled Bank to find a young new biology professor waiting for them. It’s Melissa, and she has surprising news.
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5. A Little Laugh from Lisa
A Little Laugh from Lisa is the fifth episode of The Tangled Bank. In this episode the narrator is Gary, a former underground rock musician. He’s working in his painting studio at 3 a.m., when the phone rings.
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6. Some Funding from the State
Some Funding from the State is the sixth episode of The Tangled Bank. In this episode the narrator is Betty, and her antagonist is Arthur, her father.
Betty has just found a retirement community near her home where Arthur can live out his remaining years. To afford it, however, she must ask her father to be complicit in a small but important lie.
Listen / Escuche:
[hmp_player playlist=’The_Tangled_Bank]
