Did anyone else feel harshly reprimanded after reading this? I swear it was like having a flash back to the eight grade when my little four-foot-nothing teacher Mrs. Rue was rapping her desk with a ruler telling me and the class that writing was a privilege and that she was going to revoke ours if we didn't straighten up! (True story.)
Of course the reason I feel reprimanded, (then as much as now,) is because I am guilty of just about everything he listed. But, the one that really got me to thinking was when Orwell wrote, "When you are composing in a hurry -- when you are dictating to a stenographer, for instance, or making a public speech -- it is natural to fall into a pretentious, Latinized style." My down fall is of course the fact that I hurry. Now I don't always hurry because I procrastinate; I usually hurry because I am afraid that if I don't get down what I am thinking right away I will forget. Then, when I go back to read over I apparently gloss over the fact that I sound a little pompous and just move on through the text.. I would like to blame society for modeling me into the fast-pace-have-to-accomplish-everything monster I have become, but in truth it is my own choice to live in such a lie.
I started off mentioning the story from eight grade in which my teacher informed me that writing is a privilege and I believe it's true. Keeping that truth in mind however I have to think about how I approach my writings. Do I treat them like they are a privilege? No I often treat them like a drudgery. For me this article reminded me that writing is a mind set. I think Orwell's rules for correcting writing are great, but for me it is more than just the rules to learn it's about finding myself, (even a small part of myself,) in whatever I am writing.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
"One must be an inventor to read well." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have always had a terrible habit of reading nonfiction in a nonlinear pattern. Most nonfiction books I find tell a story from point A to point B, but for whatever reason, (especially if it's a book I am required to read,) I find it impossible to just simply follow the dots to the end. As much as I enjoy The History of Reading by Alberto Manguel this book is no different and I find myself skipping pleasantly along through the chapters at random. Now that you have a glimpse at my reading habits I think the rest of this entry will make a little more sense.
At the start of this semester of school I find myself in a bit of a financial bind. If I simply wait on financial aid to come through to purchase book will of course put me behind in my readings, so I thought I would check with the school library and see if they had any of the books I would need and as lucky would have it they did. I picked up my copy of Manguel's book and began skimming the pages all the while trying to keep the Petrarch conversation with Augustine in mind (page 63.) I have always been someone who marks in books. I mark important passages, passages I wish to learn more of, interesting words or phrases, or even quirky comments made by character. I hardly ever buy new books because I like to find books that others have loved and marked and to see where their readings take them. However, the one place I never expect to find markings is in library books. As you can probably guess while doing my skimming I came across markings in the library book! (OH THE HORROR! at least that's how the library acted when I made mention of it to them.)
There are just two simple blue ink brackets on page 179 marking off the sentence, "All writing depends on the generosity of the reader." It was like a private note left just for me as if to say...yes I am talking to you reader. At first glance it sounded so simple and straightforward and yet it still gnawed at my mind all day. I had the feeling that I was still missing some bigger part of this idea.
Late last night I headed back to the page reading my now esoteric message once more. After reading it two more times I continued on with the pager seeing if maybe what I was missing would be revealed later. A few lines later on the same page I read this, " [The reader/writer relationship] is a fruitful but anachronic relationship between a primeval creator who gives birth at the moment of death, and a post-mortem creator, or rather generations of post-mortem creators who enable the creation itself to speak, and without whom all writting is dead.*" Suddenly the cliche little light bulb went on in my head. I would venture to say that many of us in the English department are here because of several reason but one being that we have something to write. On several of the other blogs I have read of students wishing to one day publish a book of some sorts to bee seen on the selves of bookstores. I must confess that I too have that same goal in mind, but what use is the writing if no one is willing to read what is written?
I have had numerous teachers remind me over and over that when you write you keep your audience in mind because you are really writing for them. It's interesting when you really start to think about it trying to understand and figure out your audience, but how many novel writer do that? In reading Manguel's book I'm starting to think it has more to do with understanding yourself and the story than understanding your reader. In the quote above it calls the writer the creator. If you write or "create" a book that is true to you and your original idea then you do so in the knowledge that out there somewhere in the world there is some reader who will delight in your book; and with it they will create their own understanding of the text.
Throughout Manguel's entire book I get a sense that he is who he is because of what he has read. Numerous times in my own childhood I can remember reading of things that I had not yet physically experienced or would never be able to physically experience, and yet because of the writer's words and my own inventive imagination it was as if I was experiencing them. There is a power that comes with writing and reading and both require so much give and take from each other, but it's in those moments of inventive struggling or pulling that wondrous things can happen.
*Added emphasis.
At the start of this semester of school I find myself in a bit of a financial bind. If I simply wait on financial aid to come through to purchase book will of course put me behind in my readings, so I thought I would check with the school library and see if they had any of the books I would need and as lucky would have it they did. I picked up my copy of Manguel's book and began skimming the pages all the while trying to keep the Petrarch conversation with Augustine in mind (page 63.) I have always been someone who marks in books. I mark important passages, passages I wish to learn more of, interesting words or phrases, or even quirky comments made by character. I hardly ever buy new books because I like to find books that others have loved and marked and to see where their readings take them. However, the one place I never expect to find markings is in library books. As you can probably guess while doing my skimming I came across markings in the library book! (OH THE HORROR! at least that's how the library acted when I made mention of it to them.)
There are just two simple blue ink brackets on page 179 marking off the sentence, "All writing depends on the generosity of the reader." It was like a private note left just for me as if to say...yes I am talking to you reader. At first glance it sounded so simple and straightforward and yet it still gnawed at my mind all day. I had the feeling that I was still missing some bigger part of this idea.
Late last night I headed back to the page reading my now esoteric message once more. After reading it two more times I continued on with the pager seeing if maybe what I was missing would be revealed later. A few lines later on the same page I read this, " [The reader/writer relationship] is a fruitful but anachronic relationship between a primeval creator who gives birth at the moment of death, and a post-mortem creator, or rather generations of post-mortem creators who enable the creation itself to speak, and without whom all writting is dead.*" Suddenly the cliche little light bulb went on in my head. I would venture to say that many of us in the English department are here because of several reason but one being that we have something to write. On several of the other blogs I have read of students wishing to one day publish a book of some sorts to bee seen on the selves of bookstores. I must confess that I too have that same goal in mind, but what use is the writing if no one is willing to read what is written?
I have had numerous teachers remind me over and over that when you write you keep your audience in mind because you are really writing for them. It's interesting when you really start to think about it trying to understand and figure out your audience, but how many novel writer do that? In reading Manguel's book I'm starting to think it has more to do with understanding yourself and the story than understanding your reader. In the quote above it calls the writer the creator. If you write or "create" a book that is true to you and your original idea then you do so in the knowledge that out there somewhere in the world there is some reader who will delight in your book; and with it they will create their own understanding of the text.
Throughout Manguel's entire book I get a sense that he is who he is because of what he has read. Numerous times in my own childhood I can remember reading of things that I had not yet physically experienced or would never be able to physically experience, and yet because of the writer's words and my own inventive imagination it was as if I was experiencing them. There is a power that comes with writing and reading and both require so much give and take from each other, but it's in those moments of inventive struggling or pulling that wondrous things can happen.
*Added emphasis.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
That fruitful miracle of a communication in the midst of solitude.
Caleb Crain's article, Twilight of the Books, is about the fall of reading and one explanation as to why that has occurred. He uses the writing and research of several other to talk about how writing is "unnatural," and give us a brief history of how writing came about. I'll be honest that with all the technology around and short cuts on writing I just assumed reading was on a decline, but never really gave it much thought. Reading was always such a huge deal in my own childhood that it never really occurred to my that it wasn't that way for everyone. Growing up reading started out as a chore for me because I suffered with dyslexia that went undiagnosed for years. I was placed in special phonic classes because my spelling was so horrible and yet the teachers would all marvel at how well I learned to read. In the article they talk briefly about dyslexia and how the reading remains effortful and I have to confess there are times when I find that to be completely true and other times where it all feels very second nature.
By the end of the reading I was slightly sad to think of a world in which reading became once more just a hobby to the elite. Reading should be enjoyed by the masses. There is so much that one can experience they read for themselves. Throughout this whole article I kept thinking of the movie Idiocracy. In the comedy it shows a world in which reading has become obsolete and the devastating effect that it has one the world at large. I would hate to think of our world ever actually coming down to something like that, (I mean the movie wasn't even that funny.)
I don't want to end this on a down note however so I will com back to my favorite qoute from the article which Crain actually takes from Maryanne Wolf; "The secret at the heart of reading," Wolf writes, is "the time it frees for the brain to have thoughts deeper than those that came before." Reading provides a personal way for a person to broaden their thoughts and minds....isn't that reason enough to keep it alive?
By the end of the reading I was slightly sad to think of a world in which reading became once more just a hobby to the elite. Reading should be enjoyed by the masses. There is so much that one can experience they read for themselves. Throughout this whole article I kept thinking of the movie Idiocracy. In the comedy it shows a world in which reading has become obsolete and the devastating effect that it has one the world at large. I would hate to think of our world ever actually coming down to something like that, (I mean the movie wasn't even that funny.)
I don't want to end this on a down note however so I will com back to my favorite qoute from the article which Crain actually takes from Maryanne Wolf; "The secret at the heart of reading," Wolf writes, is "the time it frees for the brain to have thoughts deeper than those that came before." Reading provides a personal way for a person to broaden their thoughts and minds....isn't that reason enough to keep it alive?
Just a simple introduction
My name is Sarah and I would imagine like most of you I have had a crazy week. Between the snow and family and school being open and closed I think I might have gone a little stir crazy at times. However all that is melted away and we are back to normals....or at least as normal as it gets right? A few things I guess I can tell you about myself is that I do in fact love to read, (and you are shocked that I am an English major right?) I am an amateur photographer which basically means I own a camera and will take pictures of just about anything in hopes that it turns out amazing. Writing has also always been a good way for me to spend my time from poems to short stories to of course the next great American novel, (well at least I can dream...) I like being able to go to concerts, theatrical performances, and museums when I have the time and money. All in all I am just your average southern girl trying to make it through this crazy world just one day at a time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)