Response to Lydia Davis' "Television"

            In her short story “Television,” Lydia Davis creates a style of writing, which, through plain sentences that border on lacking any description whatsoever, mimics the mindlessness that completely swallows a person when they watch TV for hours on end. Because the sentence really don’t have much description to them, the reader can move through the words and sentences without having to put much thought into what is actually happening within the story. The numbered sections into which Davis splits the story further this stylistic choice. The short sections, which jump from one topic to the next, are reminiscent of how TV programming works: television shows are often short, and more often than not, the show that follows in the programming has nothing to do with the show preceding it.

            While her narrative style mimics the experience of watching TV, Davis does include descriptions of the actual act of watching TV. She does this without actually delving into specifics; thus, a reader has the ability to personally relate to her description of TV watching without being alienated by specific details, such as TV show names or certain characters. However, her lack of details is as much a means of avoiding alienating her audience as it is a way to keep readers from criticizing her work for being unlike their experience. In modern American society, watching TV has become a wide spread activity. Thus, many of Davis’ readers are likely familiar with what is being described. They know what it is like to “listen to the ads until [they] are exhausted” (Davis 209). They understand the feeling of “[wanting] to be part of it all” (Davis 209). Because Davis knows that the majority, if not all, of her audience is already going to be familiar with feelings associated with watching TV, she does not have to spend time on detailed descriptions. Instead, she can move forward and focus on the message of her story.

            I found Davis’ style compelling because she was able to get the experience of watching TV across without actually having to explain it. This is something I would like to experiment with in my writing, especially when dealing with common experiences. One way to create an experience without describing every minute detail is to write in such a way that it is the writing itself, rather than the actual words, that provides the underlying feelings associated with the experience.