The class is taking up a certain amount of mental focus, so perhaps that is why I have not been posting as much. Not that I mean to give this up.
All those things said, ... what day is it? Tuesday (..."maybe Tuesday will be my good news day?") ... Time to get on to Frankenstein. Magic Hours is now overdue and unread. In my strange mood, I managed to misplace it.
From Tom Bissell's article, Writing about Writing:
Dreams, after all, are many, often mundane, and their private pursuit is the luxury of every dreamer.
All human activity is taught. The only thing a human being is born to do is survive, and even in this we all need several years of initial guidance.
To write serious work is to reflexively grasp abstruse matters such as moral gravity, spiritual generosity, and the ability to know when one is boring the reader senseless, all of which are founded upon a distinct type of aptitude that has little apparent relation to more measurable forms of intelligence.
... The New Yorker style is a fine style with which it is eminently worth getting acquainted, but it is not the only style. Nor is it, in every case, even the most preferable style. One truly interesting thing about the New Yorker style is that it can serve as both a hiding place for mediocrity and as the lacquered display table for masters rightfully confident in their powers. Used well, the New Yorker style is what one imagines the style of God might be, if there was any indication that God spoke English.
This is no substitute for conversation or writing, but it is filling up the page. I was feeling so wired around 7:30 or 8:00 that I took some sleeping medication which is now, happily, kicking in.
No comments:
Post a Comment