When first reading “Short Talks”, it can be difficult to understand Anne Carson’s purpose of writing this piece of literature. At first, people reading “Short Talks” might wonder if there were missing pieces throughout the whole text; they might have also pondered if the sections within the text actually fit together in some way. A clearer picture of “Short Talks’ is painted once it is analyzed and considered with great thought. With the use of Carson’s cyclical images and persistent use of historical facts in fiction, the piece achieves a cohesive style that amalgamates the work. Throughout the collection of the short essays Anne Carson references many historical figures. The famous people she mentions include: Frans Kafka, Gertrude Stein, Prokofiev, and Sylvia Plath; by alluding to all these people, she inherits the authority they hold in the readers’ mind to fortify her own writing. To augment her authority, she even mentions Frans Kafka multiple times. Frans Kafka is first referenced in “On Rectification” about his life and wife, and then he is once …show more content…
Carson’s words seem scientifically decisive due to the way she unified her talks. Her short essays are often backed up by facts, which stops people from wondering if she has any sort of knowledge and power of the subject. These historical references are situated throughout the text to hamper the questions of people reading “Short Talks.” She begins this piece of literature with a fact claimed alongside her inferences. In “Homo Sapiens”, Carson says that the phases of the moon were inscribed on the handles of the tools, so they could be “reminded of her presence” while they worked. While the tools might have had the phases of the moon engraved on them, it does not mean the engravings were used for that aspiration at all. Carson affirms historical assumptions with historical evidence throughout the text to help consolidate the