On a Life of Literature

I have to say that Dr. Sexson's Survey of Criticism is one of the most important English classes of my school career. I'm sure all students say this after their first Sexson class, but it's true. When I first started off the semester I thought maybe it would pertain as much as it has to my life of and in literature. Sexson, with the help of Dr. Downs, have opened my eyes to a whole other side of writing I never thought about exploring before; one being poetry and the other the "professional" essay. Now, I've Poetry in Creative Writing, and dabbled a little when I was younger, but I don't mean just poetry in the literal version, as all the critics of this semester past have taught us. I mean words that move the reader in some significant way. Words that warrant repeating. But, I suppose that's all our dreams. But before I was preparing to write in the world of film, now I'm thinking about...well, everything.

Being a good writer also means being not only a good reader, but an inventive and engaged reader. It's a popular saying in screen writing that there are no new stories, just new spins on the old ones. So what better world to immerse myself in than the one of stories and fictional inspiration. For, as I have said before, reality is boring and I'd much rather live in a fictional worlds of awesomeness. And now I want to do nothing more than lock myself away with the gargantuan mountain of books that has backed up on my "To Read" list I've been compiling since high school. But responsibility and reality keep me firmly rooted to the ground...for now. I'm hatching a scheme as we speak...

That all said and done, Monday in class when we started to talk about the different school of criticism we've covered (New, Deconstructionism, Feminism, and Reader Response) and how we, as critics, wear different glasses or see through different lens when we read and/or analysis a text in a certain mode of criticism.

I personally believe that it is impossible to read a text and bring nothing of yourself to the "literary table". I could never be a New Critic because I can't help but be inspired by what I read. This inspiration, or epiphany if you will, sticks with me when I analyze the text more deeply and that's not text centric. Deconstructionism is something I might have an easier time seeing eye to eye with. Being that my thoughts that were inspired by reading the text are part of the text themselves.

I do have to say it was interesting looking through the eyes of a feminist critic and even though I loved Don Quixote for what it was and never really thought of it as anything else. When I looked at the novel through the feminist lens I saw things and viewed characters in a way I never had even thought about before. And again, my love of the novel goes unchanged, but I feel as if my insight has deepened a wee smidgen.