Musings on the F-word in life and literature
Readers might recognize the title of this piece as a quote
from John Goodman’s character in the first season of “Treme.”
The dreaded F-word shows up frequently on HBO shows and in
most R-rated movies and contemporary literature. That and a few other curse
words are practically de rigueur in books and movies for adults—and I don’t necessarily mean for
adults only in the sense of violent or sexually graphic material, I mean any
story that deals in a realistic manner with everyday people, whether they’re
cops, drug dealers, gangsters or teachers or librarians.
Let’s quit pussy-footing. I use the words shit and fuck in normal
conversation and I’ve used them (or my characters have) in all of my novels.
And yet there are situations where I don’t feel comfortable either saying or
hearing those words.
My sister told me she was afraid to read my first novel because of what
she feared was in it (Graphic sex? Violence? Bad language? I don’t know). I
don’t know if she ever read it or any of my books. I have an elderly relative
who has been complimentary of all my novels but has complained about the
language, and his complaints give me pause; they make me wonder whenever I use
a curse word in my writing if it’s the best possible word for the situation.
Could some other word work just as well?
The lesson I think most people of my generation learned long ago is
that cursing is often a manifestation of lazy thought. A more thoughtful and
creative person should be able to find more effective language. I grew up at a
time when foul language was common among boys—was, in fact, a badge of honor,
but never in mixed company. Boys didn’t curse in front of girls and girls
didn’t curse at all. (But of course we all suspected that they did when we
weren’t around). Anyway, it was a gentler time when ladies and gentlemen were
expected to be more decorous than they are today. My mother never once used
either of those two most offensive words. Neither did my first wife.
As for literature, you don’t find writers prior to the mid- 20th
century casually dropping the F-bomb. But it did begin to gradually creep into
literature as the century advanced. There’s a wonderful story I once read about
Ernest Hemingway and his editor, Maxell Perkins. It seems Perkins, who couldn’t
even utter the word himself, was upset about Hemingway’s use of the word fuck.
He made a note to himself on his desk calendar to talk to him about it. When his
secretary came in she was shocked to see on his calendar, as if it were an
appointment: 12 p.m. fuck Hemingway.
That’s how I remember the story, which I read many years ago. I just
went online and found a slightly different version. See http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-return-of-a-man-called-perkins-2043552.html.
Due to being raised as a proper Southern gentleman, I am
painfully conscious of my language. There are certain words that I never use
because they are demeaning or hurtful, and there are others that I use casually
but only when I am speaking to people whom I know won’t be offended. When
talking with people I don’t know very well I avoid those words until I hear
them say them first. Then it’s Katie bar the door.
In my writing, I use the language my characters would
naturally use. You can’t have a crotchety old fisherman in 2012 speaking like
English gentry in the Victorian era. A writer has to keep his characters true
to who they are. My books are set in contemporary times, and they are peopled
by artists and writers and students and the working class. They all cuss. They’re
people who, if they existed, would curse a hell of a lot more in real life than
they do in fiction. It would be unrealistic if they didn’t. Still, I keep in
mind while I’m writing that some readers may be offended by language, and I try
to limit the use of curse words while, at the same time, keeping it real.
That brings me back to the title and the reference to “Treme.”
There is a lot of cussing in “Treme.” Gabi bought me the first season DVD for a
birthday present, I just re-watched the premiere episode. The F-word was used
hundreds of times, because that’s the way people like Dave the DJ (Steve Zahn) and
Creighton Bernette the angry English professor (John Goodman) talk. There was
one scene where security guards were hauling Dave off and he shouted “Fuck
you,” about 10 times in a 30-second scene. That’s realistic. But I must say
that even though I think “Treme” is a great show they do over-do it with the
language. You don’t need to say fuck 20 or 30 times to establish that Dave and
Creighton are the kind of people who say that. You can sprinkle the word in
here and there to establish gritty reality and then stretch your creative
juices to find other words that may be just as effective. At least that’s kind
of the guiding principle I use in my writing. And I go back and forth between
softening it and making it real.
Finally, I must say that one of the funniest lines I’ve ever
heard in a movie was when Creighton said, “Fuck you, you fucking fucks” on a
YouTube video and later marveled that it went viral and he became famous for
using fuck as a verb and an adjective and a noun in a five-word sentence. Now
that’s using the word effectively and creatively.
3 comments:
If you can use the word as three different parts of speech in the same sentence, then it must surely be wonderful word that we should all use continually. I guess I won't though. Like you, I use it in writing when it fits, but some people seem to think it fits everywhere.
I use the F-bomb in my own fiction, but I'm careful to limit the number of characters who say it. I've found via teaching that Generation Y couldn't care less about the word, so my Gen-Y characters use it frequently. College kids now are FAR more offended by racial slurs or language they perceive as homophobic or sexist. That's actually smarter than the old system, it seems to me.
Carv, I definitely agree with the college kids about what's offensive.
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