Week 003 continues what seems to be a trend. Wendell Berry continues to expand my vocabulary while O. Henry all but bludgeons me with a dictionary. I am considering adding Chambers 20th Century Dictionary new Edition 1983 to my list of weekly readings since I spend so much time in it.
The real surprise since starting this endeavor however is the reading of essays. You really cannot read them the same way you would poems or short (or long) stories. You have to read them with what I call, intention.
When reading a story, you really don’t have to actually read all the words. “a,” “and,” “the” are superfluous. Adjectives and adverbs you only need to read enough of them to reinforce the mental movie playing in your mind as you read the words. When the action really gets moving, you read even less, letting the words serve more as queues and road signs, rather than needed details.
With essays however, that does not work. Skip a word, derail the whole thought process. An essayist is not a preacher or a storyteller. A sermon will contain a single point that is driven in through example and admonishment. The preacher has but one lesson for you that day and wants to make sure it is made clear. A storyteller takes you on a journey and while he may tell you when to look out the window, it is up to you to observe and experience. An essayist, however, makes connections. Skip a word, lose a connection. Break a thread, the entire tapestry unravels.
The essays I am reading now were clearly written in the late 60’s, early 70’s. No need to look them up. The cultural references make that much obvious. What was surprising however was the applicability of those same essays to current events of today. You have to swap out some names, places, events and groups, but I am quite certain you could do that and create a series of completely relevant, current up to the day essays out of those same, fifty-year-old pieces. It’s a little depressing actually. The only question that would be left unanswered by said exercise would be how much more or less dire our circumstances are compared to the time of their original writing.
They are interesting enough and I think, relevant enough I may very well return to them one day and read deeper. For now, though, that is as deep as I want to go. I am fairly certain Mr. Bradbury did not intend this challenge to include deep analysis, but instead, a continuous stirring of ideas. So, back to the kitchen to stir the pots and see what bubbles up.
My Week 003 Report Card:
Poetry (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
- The Slave’s Dream
- The Slave Singing at Midnight
- The Witnesses
- The Warning
- The Belfry of Bruges
- A Gleam of Sunshine
- The Arsenal at Springfield
Essays (Wendell Berry)
- Discipline and Hope (part 3)
- Discipline and Hope (part 4)
- Discipline and Hope (part 5)
- Discipline and Hope (part 6)
- Discipline and Hope (part 7)
- Discipline and Hope (part 8)
- Discipline and Hope (part 9)
Short Stories (O. Henry)
- The Miracle of Lava Canyon
- Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking
- A Retrieved Reformation
- Confessions of a Humorist
- A Ramble in Aphasia
- Blind Man’s Holiday
- The Ransom of Red Chief