Here is a letter and story I submitted as a false document in my Graduate Narrative Theory Seminar:
Dear Karen and Narrative Theory Class,
I'm sorry I can't be in class tonight. I have decided to stay in LA with my family for an extra week because they are having a hard time. My youngest brother, Amerigo, told us on Thursday that his reserve unit has been called back to Iraq, so he will be deployed to Fallujah (for the third time) at the end of this week. My mother is not taking the news very well and I hope to be able to help her cope for at least another week.
I'm sorry this means I will not be able to present my false document in class tonight. I actually didn't have time to finish my project, which was going to be a false government report from the 911 commission uncovering a previously unknown impetus for Bush's campaign in Iraq.
I did, however, come across a children's story while I was here (in LA) that I thought I would transcribe for you. The story depicts a dog explaining to his family a vision he had, and the action he believes his family should take in consequence. I think the story is a good example of a type of false document because the dog never actually had the vision he uses to motivate his family, and also because it's supposed to be a children's story, but I think it's more like a simulation of a children's story.
I really wish I could show you the book. The pictures are done in a Mexican folk art, retablo style, sort of like the paintings you (Karen) have on your dining room wall (in which odd perspectives and childlike drawings depict saints and holy personages appearing to men and women in need). The book is done in a unique style of retablo, however, called Retablo del Mundo Animáles, which depicts animals having the kind of spiritual visions that humans are depicted as having in the classic retablo style. It is a sort of retablo adapted for children's stories that originated in New Mexico near the turn of the (20th) century. Most scholars believe the Catholic retablo style incorporated the animals originally in order to engulf the prominent coyote and serpent stories popular among non-Christian natives of the area. Over the years, it became commercialized and began to incorporate more recognizable urban animals like dogs and lizards.
I have typed the translated text of the story below for you to read in class. Again, I'm sorry I can't be there, and I'm also really sorry I didn't finish my own creative project. I'll do better with the graphic stuff next time, I promise.
Sincerely, Jennifer Large.
(My asides are in parentheses.) (It's not a very good translation, sorry!)
The Faithful Inspire The Great Dog General
Jorge was the father of a great family of clever, liberated dogs.
The story of their escape from the mean (closest word I could think of) family that had kept them was legendary throughout all the known world.
Although the great dog family had been blessed by God with many different kinds of food in their spacious den, there was one kind of food they had gotten used to eating of which they didn't have much. It had been announced by St. Elizabeth (patron saint of bakers) that that this particular type of food was a gift from God, created especially for Jorge's family in order to sustain their virtuous attempts to liberate other dog families.
The shortage of this special food made the great father dog, Jorge, a little bit desperate.
St. Jude (patron saint of desperate and lost causes) appeared to Jorge and told him that he should assemble a meeting of his dog brothers in order to discuss the situation and come up with ideas about how best to obtain more of the special food.
At the meeting, the brothers discussed the fact that a band of wild dogs that lived far, far away had a large store of the special food. The old brothers all tried to think of how they could get it from the wild dogs. They decided that they would send Jorge's youngest son to get the food. He was strong and would be able to get some of it away from the wild dogs, who were not as clever as Jorge's son. In order to motivate the son, who was very loyal to the Holy Virgin, they decided that they would tell him about a vision they had during the meeting.
Now, everyone knew about the evil lizard that had bitten Jorge's oldest son and killed him a couple of years earlier. So, in the vision that Jorge narrated to his youngest son, he said that the Holy Virgin had come to them, and that she had appeared standing on a rock floating over the head of the lizard, who was being protected by the wild dogs, who were eating the special food. Jorge and his brothers told Jorge's son that he would be doing a great and righteous thing, inspired by the Holy Mother herself, if he brought them (the wild dogs) the great liberating word of God/Justice, which would cure their wildness, making them grateful to Jorge's family to whom they would then want to hand over both the lizard and the special food.
So Jorge's son went to the wild land. He adequately subdued the wild dogs, though he never did find the lizard. He found, however, that in order to ensure his family's access to the special food, he would need to stay there to administer it.
In order to make this easier for his family, he decided to tell them that he had had a vision as well. He told them that St. Gerome (patron saint of myths) had appeared to him and told him he needed to sacrifice his life by staying in the wild land for the good of his family in order to bring them food and in order to bring greater peace to the wild dogs (whose wildness had, surprisingly, been more organized than originally believed, as Jorge's son had thought it might be).
This revelation made Jorge's wife very sad, as she was not only missing her son, but afraid for his life as well. As she kneeled before the altar of Our Lady of Sorrow, she prayed for her son. Suddenly, Our Lady appeared above her head, producing a bitch from the heavens. She said to Jorge's wife, "I can not change the plans of men, but I can ease your grief by giving you a daughter. May she always remind you of the love your Holy Mother has for you and the compassion she harbors in her sacred heart for your suffering."
(What I believe are the last few pages of this book have been ripped out. I'm not sure exactly how the story ends, but I thought this was enough to provide some discussion for class—sorry!)
