12/15/02

Fruitflesh
ISBN: 0062517244
By Gayle Bradeis

Passion Fruit
"fruit—enjoy; fruition (enjoyment of what has been struggled for). Latin-frui, fruitus.
Word Stems: A Dictionary, John Kennedy, American Book Company, 1890.

With so many books about writing out there today, it is safe to say that I have become a rather cynical reader. I think the real test should be whether a book on writing causes the writer-reader to create, which Fruitflesh clearly did for me.

Gayle Brandeis’ whole argument is that the writer needs to be rooted in the world of the senses, not up in some rarefied atmosphere – that true creation is muddy work, much like gardening. I agree wholeheartedly with her premise and believe that a good writer lives through all her senses.

Brandeis writes, "Writing is a physical act. Our fingertips are highly sensitive. We write to touch." The physical act of writing triggers the creative response from the brain in which blank paper or a computer screen is transformed. When I am on a writing groove, the actual sounds of the keyboard are comforting and in tune with my thoughts. I write in my whole body.

The book begins with the delicious phrase, "A strawberry changed my life." That little seemingly insignificant berry opened up a new world of texture, color and taste to the author, who had before been trying to create in that rarefied and impossible realm, where nothing tangible can ever be set down.

Part two, Roots was my favorite section. "Delve deep into your roots-the roots that connect your body to your family, to the earth itself, the roots that dangle beneath your desire to write." This quote generated two poems for me about my ancestors and their story as perceived by me.

Throughout the book are lovely little meditations on eating fruit. If you also love to eat, this book is a must. As she writes about the mango, "Let your writing be like this feast-bold sensual, unapologetic. Enter into it fully with your whole body, without hesitation." To be honest, I didn’t go out and buy a bunch of fruit, but I was able to do a few of the exercises, which were fun as well as a generative source for material.

Sometimes, Brandeis’ writing was hokey and clunky. "Our bellies are our centers, but creative energy moves throughout our bodies like sweet sap. It can gather and pulse in an ankle, the small of the back, a left earlobe, any part of our fruitflesh." To me, this is a metaphor run amok.

For the most part I think this book is a worthwhile read, not just for women either. Men have bodies and write also. I think it should be marketed to all genders. Still, it proved very effective for me as a writer and I would recommend it to anyone struggling with the craft of writing. Creation is hard work and we suffer growing pains as we stretch our limbs to the life giving sun.