Discussion Questions (week 4)

Discussion questions for this week:

• Why does Fitterman's book (according to title) take the form a musical? What is a musical? Does it have multiple definitions? How does this book use/relate to/comment upon music? What's so important (or unimportant) about music?
• What is the book's attitude towards war or "war-time"? How does this attitude manifest itself in the form/forms of the book?
  
• What does the form (or forms) of the book allow Fitterman to say or to do that might not be possible without that/those forms?
  
• Discuss an image, a series of images, or a visual moment that occurs in the book. What is the relation between text and image in this book? Is there a difference here? How can we define or distinguish those differences?. How can we "read" this visual information?
  
• Discuss any two of these concepts in relation to each other and to the book: excess, waste, wealth, changes of time, temporality, rate of information, entertainment, comfort, pleasure, pain, war, distraction, distortion, noise, perspective, size/scale, reproduction, repetition.
  
• What does War, the musical seem to criticize? What does it seem to embrace or endorse? How do we know we're reading/looking at a criticism/endorsement?
• What would you describe as being most complex about War, the musical? as most simple? What do you like most about the book? the least? What knowledge/ideas can you take away from the book as a writer?

Here are some secrets worth knowing:

• The accompanying video and music to War, the musical
• Fitterman interview for an earlier book, still very relevant to War, the musical
• An online book of his, but I'm linking for the small introduction.
• Lastly, for those with **TIME**(!!!), a lengthy essay on Fitterman (worth even skimming)