Glatt Kosher

I think this is one of my best stories.  It's got all my favorite elements; possible mental illness, missing body parts, magical & mystical events and an ambiguity about what really happened in the story.

I got the idea for Glattt Kosher from a short story by Ethan Coen (half of the Coen brothers; producers of the movie Fargo).  In Ethan' story, Gates of Eden,  a weights and measures inspector takes his job just a little too seriously, to great comic effect.  I tried to use the same technique with a kashrut Rabbi who takes his job too seriously.  The results worked well but not necessary as a comic piece.

I am most proud of the fact that I put a McGuffin in the story.  A McGuffin is something that the main characters care very deeply about and moves the plot but which the reader knows is immaterial to the story.  Alfred Hitchcock was fond of McGuffins and famously used the technique in Psycho.  The plot in Psycho revolves around the $40,000 stolen by Janet Leigh but, of course, the audience knows something more sinister is going on.  Another good example are the Letters of Transit in Casablanca.  In Glatt Kosher, the grated cheese is the McGuffin.  

I had fun setting the story in many familiar locations around my hometown of Toronto.  It was also fun to delve into my parochial school past for the many theological debates within the story.   But the most fun was including the Yiddish Glossary.

Glatt Kosher

Passing Fancy

When I first started writing I was petrified of repeating myself.  I was determined that each story would be complete different than its predecessor.  I'm over that fear now and just write to amuse myself.

In any case, this story was to be experimental.  I had no story idea in mind and just let the story and characters write themselves.  My only idea was that the story was going to loop in on itself, like a literary mobius loop.  Overall, I was pleased with the results.

Just a couple of notes:

This story starts a tend of writing about writers (much like my great influence, John Irving).  

The opening car crash was inspired by Harry Chapin's song, 30,000 Pounds of Bananas.

I did have a middle aged female friend who under went a "cleansing".  She never read the story and I hope she does not find my blog.

Enjoy.  And please drop a comment or two, it's getting lonely in blogville.

Passing Fancy