Alice Oswalt is the eight-year-old daughter of prolific comedian (and actor) Patton Oswalt and the late, acclaimed crime writer Michelle McNamara. It’s not a matter of “nature” or “nurture” with this kid—she’s got creativity flowing through her veins, and she’s probably getting encouraged at home to make stuff, too. And now it seems like Alice Oswalt is rising to the challenge and joining the family business.
On Tuesday, Patton Oswalt posted to Twitter a photo of a very short story (in the publishing biz, they call it “microfiction” or “flash fiction”) written by Alice. The story is called “Fart land.” With a title like that, you know it’s going to be funny. (Spoiler alert: there are fart jokes and fart words aplenty, and farts are always hilarious) What’s unexpected: It’s a literary masterpiece.
This isn’t an excerpt—this is the whole story. (You don’t need to write 50,000 words for something to be good, you know.) And if Dad has his way, it’s New Yorker-bound.
My daughter wrote this today. Gonna submit it to the @NewYorker’s SHOUTS AND MURMURS section. pic.twitter.com/myllaKrF7n
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 17, 2018
Alice Oswalt writes:
fart land is a land where people who fart a lot get sent to. You are one of those people. So you will be sent there. Your friends can visit. Not to worry. You will have a great time. At first it seems sad 🙁 but every single person like it not one but Mia. you don’t need to worry about her. You home is 3249 sticky drive. Have fun!
A brief literary analysis:
• Oswalt cleverly and deftly plays around with traditional story structure and notions of grammar and punctuation.
• She boldly and bravely writes in the “second person” narrative, a literary device in which the protagonist isn’t a character or the narrator but “you,” the reader. It’s a technique rarely seen outside of Choose Your Own Adventure.
• Even in a story about farts and farting, Oswalt exercises some restraint—we are left to wonder about the identity of “Mia,” and why that residential street is “sticky.”
People on Twitter had thoughts, too, mostly praising the young Oswalt as the next master of fart-based short fiction.