"real writers read". I couldn't agree more, Doug. I don't think there was
ever a writer who wasn't also a voracious reader.
On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 1:22 AM, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Ah, now pardon me for the previous posts. You seem to realize what's
> needed.
>
> The thing of it is, each of us finds the writers we need (are
> different, quite often).
>
> Doug
> On 24-Mar-08, at 7:14 AM, Nathan Hondros wrote:
>
> > I have this notion that it may be possible to teach literature and
> > criticism
> > (the construction of the tools; Anny, I like that analogy) but that an
> > academic understanding of writing and its methods, or even the complex
> > interaction of a reader with a poem, is more elusive. I can barely
> > describe
> > the way in which I interact with a good poem, let alone understand
> > it on
> > more than merely a formal level. Can this form of emotional
> > intertwining
> > between an audience and a work of art be taught? Perhaps I am saying
> > that
> > what I love is the personal experience of a poem, and not the
> > breadth of
> > understanding or intellectual concept that underpins it.
> >
> > I do disagree with the tabula rasa model. All writing owes a debt to
> > the
> > good and the mediocre that went before it, and this must be learned or
> > unlearned as the case may be.
> >
> > Ezra Pound advised writers to "pay no attention to the criticism of
> > men who
> > have never themselves written a notable work". I've read William
> > Faulkner
> > quoted as saying that real writers are far too arrogant to listen to
> > anyone
> > when it comes to their writing. These two quotes fit so well
> > together, don't
> > they?
> > But, of course, these thoughts of mine are unschooled. Perhaps the
> > value of
> > schooling in these matters is in knowing what has been thought and
> > spoken
> > before, so that one doesn't end up repeating what everyone else
> > already
> > knows? I apologise if that's the case with the rant above!
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>
> Latest books:
> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> Wednesdays'
>
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
>
> to rid me of
> the ugh in
> thought
> i spell anew
> weave the world
> out of the or
> binary
>
> bpNichol
>
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