Jacqueline Doyle
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Chapbook
  • Nonfiction
  • Fiction
  • Flash
  • Readings
  • What's New
  • Contact Me

response to "Haunting Houses"

10/22/2022

 
This has been a week of such good news. Later yesterday, after we learned that Steve's essay in CATAMARAN was a Notable in BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS, he got an acceptance of a story from HUNGER MOUNTAIN. Great magazine! 

And I finally got hold of the full Notables list, and I see that two CRAFT essays are on it. Which is incredibly gratifying. I wonder sometimes whether we're keeping up with other magazines, whether I'm choosing the best CNF, whether the best CNF is being submitted to us, and feel very encouraged (yes, and yes, and yes). Really love working with our EIC Courtney Harler and having a stable team of CNF assistants and readers (Jamie Etheridge, Shara Kronmal, Allison Carr, Kyle Cochrun). I don't always agree with the readers, but I respect their opinions very highly. Will name the two Notables here once we've contacted the winners.

And this morning I got a direct message on twitter from Jill Talbot. 

I meant to tell you I taught "Haunting Houses" two weeks ago, and my students LOVED it. They appreciated the intertextuality, the descriptions of the house. I asked them if they hadn't seen the film if it was a distraction, and they said no, the description was enough to make it clear. One student said, "This is the first essay we've written abotu the persona haunting, rather than being haunted." I thought that was very insightful. I put your essay with an excerpt from Nick Flynn's latest memoir, a late chapter when he returns with his daughter to his childhood home. And Jamila Osman's "A Map of Lost Things" from Catapult. Everyone agreed that all three were the strongest essays of the semester (it was our final day of reading!), which is why I selected them as our final readings.

It means a lot that a writer I respect so much is teaching my essay. When she told me a few months ago that she was going to teach it, I said it might be difficult for students who hadn't seen the movie (probably all of them; "Ghost Story" wasn't in the theaters for long and I haven't seen it on streaming platforms), so I'm glad she addressed that. I'm THRILLED that the students liked it!
Picture
from David Lowery's film "A Ghost Story" (2017)

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Chapbook
  • Nonfiction
  • Fiction
  • Flash
  • Readings
  • What's New
  • Contact Me