Readings in Relation to Me and future Writings

I thought hard and long about skipping this particular entry. I thought, “I can’t rank these readings. I can’t even rank my favorite artists, food, or movies, much less these readings.” But I realized that I was spending way too much time thinking about not writing this entry, so I might as well write the entry since I’m doing the thinking anyway. Therefore, the list I’ve got on my head looks a little bit like this:

Bret Lott’s “Toward a Definition of Creative Nonfiction”

Why? Well it’s simple. Lott’s piece made it conceivably possible for me to figure out (or at least give myself an idea of) what creative nonfiction is. Yes, I had my initial ideas of it before I even signed up for the class and some of those are ideas that I still hold to be true about creative nonfiction, but Lott helped me shape what I think of it now. And, as I am inclined to believe, the “here and now” is important to highlight since I do have to write an essay (or three) that could be conceivably be called creative nonfiction in this day and age. I loved his piece because he describes CNF as a moral cause by saying that it is our responsibility to answer to and for our lives. I’d like to that before I am no longer capable of doing so.

Montaigne’s “That Men Should Not Judge”

I will most probably receive a lot of flak from my peers for admitting such a thing but what can I say? I liked Montaigne’s piece because of exactly what it was. It’s an essay. Yes, it may not exactly be called creative nonfiction but you’ve got to love the “try.” Relying on Lott’s word, Montaigne was the first to call his writings “essais.” They were tries, endeavors, attempts to make sense of things, or, in other cases, to prove a point. This whole thing about trying is what I must do to be able to write something of value.

Danticat, Drummond, Schwartz (and maybe Kinkaid)

I’ve grouped these three together because of a particular theme they have in common (at least I think so) in their writings featured in class. The pieces I have read from these authors have a certain element of “revelation” in them as I have blogged about earlier. This same kind of element is something I’d like to incorporate in my writing. There are a few things that I can think about in my life that was something like a revelation. It’s definitely something I would like to explore.

Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”

The reason Orwell is ranked fourth as of the moment is because I really couldn’t decide if it had any real impact on me and what I might write about for my essay. But I liked it enough to rank it by itself, separated from the rank below. In any case, what rather liked from Orwell’s piece is the fact that he was straight forward. He had everything lined up to make a point. It was a deliberate criticism of imperialism. This particular one has a lot more gravity since it is something he directly experienced.

Alexie, Oliver, Thiel, Didion

Not that I didn’t like their respective pieces, its just that it really didn’t affect me as much as the others did as far its relation to what I might write about (But what do I know?)

Jo Ann Beard’s “Out There”

I absolutely enjoyed this piece. But I can’t bring myself to emulate it. I need some sense of order and flow in my writing. Yes, Beard may have some kind of order, but it was incredibly incomplete. And I can’t write in “staccato,” its just not my style.