Blog Paper

I believe I have been at stage two of reading development for a fairly long duration of time heading into this semester. I have picked this up from past English and literature classes, especially when talking about postmodern concepts such as intertextuality and metafiction. I have learned not to give the “American Idol” approach to responding to a text, which I believe has forced me not only to make more concise opinions about a text, but to be more open-minded when selecting a text. I have not had very much experience with postmodern literature—only the three years or so that I have taken literature courses—but I feel that I have a confident grasp on most of the texts that I have encountered and I am able to find references to other texts and find how the text has inspired other texts. One example I keep coming back to is the influence William S. Burroughs’ cut-up technique had on Radiohead’s Kid A. I always get a kick out of how artists inspire other artists, and I think that reflects the texts I read outside of class. I think a big reason for this comes from the précis papers I wrote in Contemporary Literature. Writing about topics related to the units being covered in class allowed me to think critically about the concepts covered and how they relate to other texts I associate myself with outside of class.

I spent a lot of time reading Paul Auster over the summer, and looking back I was probably reading with a Text-Other reading mentality. One of the most relevant—and most pretentious—examples was found in Auster’s “Travels in the Scriptorium”, in which Auster indirectly writes himself into the novel, surrounded by other characters from past Auster novels. I read “Travels” twice over the summer, the first time taking notes on the characters and referring back to past Auster novels to mark each of the characters used. It became sort of a project for me, but I enjoy reading in this way.

At this point in the semester, I feel I have made strides towards the Text-World stage of reading development, but I find myself in the Text-Other stage more often than not. Looking back at my blogs, I have noticed a pattern in which I try to relate the assigned text and terms to other texts. So far, I have made mention of Shoot ‘Em Up, The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Paul Auster, and Thelonius Monk in my blog entries, while mentioning the writing styles of the author only twice. I have not yet commented on how the text has commented on politics or the lower class, though I have consciously tried to change my approach in writing my blogs in order to challenge myself—I haven’t really taken a Text-World approach to reading before, and I feel that constantly taking a Text-Other approach in my blogs will not only be taking the “easy way” out of doing them, but it will also limit my thinking and responses to the texts. However, one thing I am happy about is that I have been able to stay away from “I” statements in my blogs. For the most part, I have been able to refer only to the text while keeping personal opinions out of the blogs, though the informal feel of a blog entry leads to some “I” centered moments along the way. Still, I feel it is important to question the assigned text and have a greater idea of the cultural impact it carries.

It will be challenging, however, because I have not previously taken much interest in the Text-World approach to my texts. Many of the texts I read outside of the classroom are not light reads, but there are times I prefer to take them at face value just for the sake of enjoying the text as-is. I think reading a lot of Auster has put me in this rut. There are times in his novels (and we saw this with Murakami earlier in the semester) that Auster writes himself into a corner, and rather than give explanations as to how or why something happens, he leaves it to chance. He does not raise many questions, but that is what works for him.

I also think my lack of experience with non-western literature has an impact on my development. So far, the non-western literature covered in class seems to have much more pride and awareness for the author’s culture, Rushdie and Roy especially. Though I have read western literature with social/cultural/racial contexts (Frederick Douglass comes to mind), I do not think I have ever read as many texts in which the authors were so proud and passionate about their cultural surroundings. This has gotten me a bit out of my element, but as I have said, I think this is good for me as it opens me up to new reading experiences.

There is no question that striving towards a Text-Other reading development will require me to step outside my comfort zone. Relating the text to world events and cultural history has not been a strong suit of mine, but it is more than doable. I believe accomplishing this task will be as simple as opening up to trying new topics for my blog. Pointing out intertextuality and similarities between texts is fine, but I would like to try extending my blog entries further. I feel “The God of Small Things” is a great text for me to start out on because it has so many different topics available. I am hoping to write about the roles of males vs. females or the westernization that is taking place in the novel. Starting out with these easily recognizable concepts will allow me to work my way up to doing more “stage three capable” blog entries, and develop a stronger way of responding to texts in the future.