Thinking

October 14: Intertextuality and Writing

As a writer, intertextuality is a concept about which I am interested to learn more. Particularly because, while I have thought about many of the relationships between texts, it never occurs to me that I am utilizing these relationships while I’m writing. Obviously, what we read becomes a large part of what we think about; reading helps us gain other points of view, gain knowledge, and form new ideas. However, at what point does the relationship between reading and writing become skewed? At what point in my writing do I not realize the references I am making? How can my mind make those references subconsciously without me knowing of it?

Before we discussed intertextuality in class, I had not even begun to ask such questions. However, now I am avidly interested—specifically because I tend to make multiple subtle allusions to other authors’ style within my writing. Of course, this is because I am also curious about different styles and the outcomes they can bring.

Still, the fact that I am generally unaware of my references disregarding style remains unchanged. While I recognize these references when editing my work, it baffles me that I fail to recognize them when writing my work. However, while I am curious about the notion, it is not something I would like to change. I enjoy the writing the way I do. The question is if referencing other works within my writing is part of my writing technique at all.

September 30: Metaphor for the Mind

I’ve never really thought of metaphor as something more than comparing two things without using the words like or as. However, after our class conversations last week I’ve begun to think more about the process of construction a metaphor. It is astonishing to think of the human mind as something so complex that it connects language points without thinking about it. Whenever I hear someone being called a pig I never think about the qualities of a pig that define that person, I merely understand.

This understanding leads me to think about other things. Do I—or all humans for that matter—have a preconceived notion of what a pig is when discussing such in terms of a person? How did that notion overshadow the image of an actual pig? When someone calls her boyfriend a pig why don’t I picture a small pink animal on a farm with her boyfriend’s face on it? What do I picture exactly? Even now, I am not entirely sure.

I had no idea until we talked about it that my brain connected two so unrelated things together so logically; I merely just thought about it, no need for further inspection. Does my mind make connections with words or ideas I’ve just learned? Does it associate them with previous knowledge without asking me first? And interesting but terrifying concept indeed.

September 19: Ten Well Written Sentences

The following are the top ten most well-written sentences I have found within my fellow students essays regarding the question “What is English?”

1) “English studies are home to the written, the filmed, and the spoken” (Josh Snell).

2) “It all sounds fairly straight forward, but when the word “English” is in conjunction with the word ‘Major,’ the floodgates of uncertainty open” (Bethany Cooper).

3) “Literature is our past, present, and future. Through reading a book, you can learn just about anything whether it is fiction or not” (Andrea Pepin).

4) “…it only seems fair that the best definition of the English discipline is: Anything pertaining to the English language. This seems obvious and insulting to the reader” (Richard Cautela).

5) “It creates skepticism, which is a good thing because without it, life would be awfully dull” (Alyssa Bonin).

6) “English is too broad of a subject to cover by just a couple of majors, the fact that there are various different majors that have to do with the English language helps to concentrate different, important, aspects of the language” (Danielle Hounam).

7) “Literature in itself is such a large subject that connecting it to the subject of English makes the whole thing ten times larger than it would have been if it were just the grammar” (Noelle Rossini).

8) “I think there is a very good reason why everyone asks the question: What can I do with English major? I feel that this reason is because English is one of the most abstract majors that you can choose. There are so many different forms of writing that being an English major almost seems to be a daunting idea” (Dylan Florian).

9) “I want to focus more on the writing aspect of English. Although I’ll be focusing more on writing, that doesn’t mean I won’t be focusing on the literature aspect of it. Those two go hand in hand” (Samantha Scott).

10) “I have chosen to complete the literature option to this major, but I realize and look forward to the opportunity to become a better writer” (Heather Burdwood).

September 16: Purpose of The Use of Force

It’s astounding to believe that William Carlos Williams wrote The Use of Force to show the different perspectives in the given medical situation. As a writer, I don’t think the idea of writing a piece like that has ever crossed my mind. However, I cannot say the thought fails to intrigue me.

While reading The Use of Force, I had no knowledge that the piece was from a collection of Williams’ works. And after discussing this piece and the collection it is from, I find myself a bit eager to read the latter. I would love to learn how he molded his characters to be relatable to different people, depending on the situation.

That being said, I did have difficulty relating to the majority of the characters in The Use of Force. However, this was most likely because the piece was written in the first person and, when books are written as such, I generally prefer to mold my mind to take the mentality of the speaker. I thought that the doctor did the best he could in the situation given; he was paid to examine the young girl and he did so. Whether his actions were uncalled for is to be determined by the reader. I found it interesting that Williams wrote about this particular situation. Had he written this piece for medical students originally? Was he trying to shy them away from the medical field or simply show them what they were getting into ahead of time? Perhaps if I get around to reading the full collection of stories, I can reach a conclusion to that question myself.

September 8: Anyone Can Write

I find myself growing progressively fonder of the idea that anyone can tell a story. So much fonder in fact, that I believe everyone should tell his or her story. Of course, some people do not have the literacy skills to do so. But this does not mean these people should be forsaken as commonplace or uninteresting. The fact of the matter is often entirely different; everyone is interesting. This does not mean, however, that they are interesting to everyone. People have their own preferences to people, much like they have their preferences to books.

Additionally, I am also growing fond of the idea that people can learn to tell stories that are not their own. It has been done before: a middle aged American male writing on the behalf of a British teenage female, a white female in the new millennium writing of the struggles of an African American woman in the time of the Civil War. Through practice and empathy, people can learn how to share not only their own stories, but also the stories of others. This makes me feel the need to write on behalf of those individuals who are not literary enough to tell their stories. However, I understand it is not my place to do so.

As a writer, it feels gratifying when others find an interest in my field of study. Still, I am not opposed to slight misrepresentations of this study. Those who wish to write but lack the knowledge or skill to do so are allowed to write regardless; neither I nor law has the power or desire to stop them. The least grammatical piece could be the most moving. It could show culture, division, sorrow, and gratification. Writing is not only for the educated. Writing is for everyone.

September 2: English Majors

On the Keene State College webpage, it is stated that the goal of the English major is to create sophisticated ways to respond to texts, write texts, and understand texts. All of these avenues greatly appeal to me because I one day hope to become an editor. In order to accomplish this goal I will need to have a well-balanced understanding of literary styles and meanings. For this, I must aim to be a better reader and comprehend literary texts—or any text for that matter—more completely. The mission also appeals to me personally because I aspire to become a better writer; learning skills and mechanics that have worked well in the writing of others and applying them originally to my own writing will help me better mold my literary style.

In addition to the aforementioned, the mission further explains that the study of English at Keene State is a rather personal experience. The website explains that personal contact between faculty and student is highly preferred. This interests me because I am always trying to improve my style of writing and prefer to do so with instruction and recommendation from those who know me personally—although all aspects of constructive criticism are taken into consideration.

The web site of Roger Williams University portrays the English curriculum of the school differently than that of the one here at Keene State. The page discusses how the faculty at Roger Williams focuses more on preparing students for leadership roles in their workplaces after university. Similarly, while Keene State aims to teach students different ways of working with texts, Roger Williams tends to focus more on the translation of literature. The University also focuses on presentation in a group or classroom setting and argument and defense techniques during said presentations. This struck me as particularly odd because oral presentation, while indeed a great skill, is not a skill I directly relate with English as a major. I tend to think of English more from a writing perspective; what happens after writing (such as oral recitation or film production) I consider a different genre of study. This makes me curious of the film major offered at Roger Williams. Are students studying film required to learn about literature?

Almost juxtaposing Roger Williams’s English major is the English major of Emerson College. Emerson does not have an English major. Instead, the college substitutes the term English with “Writing, Literature, and Publishing”—because if they had simply titled the field ‘English’ I wouldn’t have understood at all what they were getting at. The school has two degrees in this field: a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Despite sounding almost the same, the majors are advertised on the website to be quite different. The Bachelor of Arts offers introductory skills and practical involvement, putting an emphasis on the student’s preferred area of expression. Conversely, the Bachelor of Fine Arts focuses on literary history and the history of literary texts. It also focuses on the publishing world and provides creative writing and critical thinking skills.

The differences in the majors of these three colleges surprised me because I was under the assumption that English as a major was a universal idea. What I found to be particularly surprising was the two majors from Emerson College; before researching them, I had no idea that adding “fine” to a title could change its meaning so drastically.