Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Annie Dillard's The Writing Life

A blog without pictures is boring, so let's do this with pictures. Just my thoughts as I read through this book.

My progress through chapter one could basically be summed up by this:

 

I like metaphors as much as the next guy, but to use a dozen different ones to try and get at the fact that writing is hard got on my nerves after a while. It's not that I don't understand or empathize with what she's trying to say, but it's too easy to lose interest in her metaphors that dramatize the process a bit too much. Okay. I get it. Now can we move on? (See? I can be extreme too.)

Chapter two, luckily, was a lot better in that regard. I found her descriptions of her "writing space" a lot easier to relate to, and I actually enjoyed her description of the view outside her window. It was easier to stomach her bold statements when she stopped using "you" all the time. On a slightly unrelated note, I think I understand now why people advise against the use of second person in college essays.

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