Tucker Max Sounds Like...

Thinking about words that decribed Tucker Max’s writing was difficult at first, but after looking over the word list we made in class, I found it easier to help explain what I saw in his writing. I’d like to read an excerpt from Max’s first book.

The people at my table begin talking about energy healing. Everyone is mesmerized by a girl who took a class on it. I tell them that energy healing is a worthless and solipsistic pseudoscience. They think energy healing is a real science because the instructor of the girl’s class went to Harvard. One guy calls it a “legitimate, certifiable science,” while making air quotes with his fingers. I tell them that they are all “Legitimate, certifiable idiots”, because they believe in horseshit like energy healing,. Two girls call me close-minded. I tell them that they are so open minded that their brains leaked out. They all glare at me with disapproval. I hate everyone at my table.

           

            The first word that grabbed my attention to describe Max was colloquial. He writes in an informal, conversational type style that sounds like he is speaking directly to you. He also uses words that may sound vulgar and may be disapproved by most.

I also think that indefatiguable is another great word that helps understand how Max writes.  He not only sounds like he is incapable of being tired out, but he writes about the parties, and clubs, that he goes to, the nights that he is out until three or four in the morning, and almost makes the reader feel the exhaustion that he doesn’t seem to ever have.

Now,  in the excerpt above when Max was talking about energy healing, although most would not have gotten fired up about the topic, he did. Max has to write in a way that gets an immediate reaction from his readers.  He calls people idiots because of their opinions, and seems to always get in some type of argument with whoever he is talking about in his stories. Not only does he sometimes offend the people that he is talking about, but he also irritates the reader at some times. I think the word to better describe what Max is doing here is agonistic. He’s agonistic because he is argumentative and looking for an immediate effect. He wants to make the reader question whether they believe what he is talking about, and also spark an interest for what he has to say next.

To better understand what Max does not sound like would be to use the word artificial. Max is a writer that is honest and upfront. He is telling the truth and doesn’t care whether it offends the readers, or anyone else for that matter. Vulgarity doesn’t bother him and neither do anyone’s opinions.

Although there are many other words to describe Max and his unique fratire genre, I think that some of the words we went over in class did a good job in helping me understand a little bit more of how Tucker Max sounds.

Author Influence

 Notes:

            Forbes magazine quoted Leo Tulstoy while trying to explain the early childhood of Tucker Max. “Every unhappy family is unhappy in it’s own way.”

This was a start in trying to figure out not only why Tucker Max was driven to become a successful writer, but it also helped guide me into finding out who may have influenced Tucker Max as a writer.

Another quote from Forbes Magazine was from Tucker Max himself,

“I was raised by a father who wasn’t there and a mother who wasn’t there.”

His parents were divorced when he was a year old and his father didn’t show up in his life until he was sixteen. His mother was a flight attendant who was never home and made him move a lot of the time from place to place. She was also away from home because she was taking care of her mother who was an excessive drunk. He was never at the same school for more than a year until middle school. Now, Although this was difficult for him, he was still an outstanding student and didn’t give up though it may have been difficult for him.

I think that this plays a big role in Max and his writing. This helps understand why he may have been so wild in his college years, and why he needed to write to express his feelings about it.

Although, it may seem hard to find someone who influenced an author who invented a new literary genre, as Max started Fratire, He does claim to have some authors that influenced him.

I think the most influential author towards Tucker Max’s personal work would have to be P.J. O’Rourkes who wrote many books, but a specific one that influenced Max was All the trouble in the World. –  Max said that this shaped his early comedic voice. In his books, he has to relate to the male audience. Fratire, is the genre that he created, and this relates to males and the stereotypical college student masculine identity.

Max also said that P.J. O’Rourke showed him that he could be really edgy and funny, yet also smart. This was a very important influence to Max and its easy to see in his work not only how he’s humorous, but how he is also a crafty writer with a unique style and voice that captures his audience.

“Something is broken inside me, and it’s easier to try to fix it in other people.”  Was a quote by
-Elgin James, and was also listed as one of Tucker Max’s favorite quotes of all time.

I think that this quote helps to understand Tucker’s writing, and also understand him as a person. He grew up with a broken family, and this is relatable to him as a person.

Now, out of all of the authors that Max talks about, from O’Rourke to Malcolm X, he never mentions anything about how they have influenced his unique style, just the aesthetic aspect of his works.

            I think that this is the main reason why he was given a genre of his own. Not only does he write in a creative humorous way, but he has a unique style. He writes in way that I haven’t seen from any other author. He lists the exact dates and times of the events he’s talking about. He gives you a date and time to better help put you in the time frame of what was going on, which is part of the unique style that he developed himself.

            Although Tucker Max may not have followed in another authors footsteps relating to the style of his text, I think that its fair to say that even Tucker Max, the wild college party animal, had influence from other great writers that helped him become successful and grow as a writer himself. 

Presentation

The Good

-Knowing the author

-Having a main point

-Focused on what I was getting at

-Good Eye Contact

The Bad

-Nervous

-My points don't go in the right order

-Stutter

-Too many hand gestures

- Doesn't flow

-Not smooth

Author's Audience

For me, finding the audience of Tucker Max was not difficult whatsoever. First of all, you have to look at his genre. Many people consider Tucker Max to be a part of the fratire genre. This is a 21st century type of genre that is pretty much chick lit., but for guys. This refers to men in their twenties and thirties being the main character in the story. Fratire literature is based on very masculine themes. I didn't want to just say that this is how I found out the audience on my author, so I took a poll at the school. I asked twenty random people the simple question of, are you familiar with Tucker Max. Ten of the people were women and ten were men. Eight out of the ten men knew who he was, all of which liked him, and two out of the ten women knew who he was. The two girls that did know of him said that he was "repulsive". I thought that this was humorous, and I figured that this would be the case. I think that as a reader of Tucker Max, with friends that read his books, I know the type of audience that he is looking for. Tucker Max has a way of writing that pulls the readers in. He degrades women in the process, but I also think he degrades men by talking about the situations that he talks about. There are online hate sites about him that are ran by guys and girls. I think that it's funny how he can upset so many people, yet get so many people to like him. He keeps his audience based on his Twitter feed, his websites and also other people help to invoke interest in him. By all of the people talking about him, this keeps the college aged guys interested in what he is writing that is so concerning to some readers. I think he does a good job and by keeping "haters", he gains more recognition, that his fans enjoys.