Monday, March 8, 2010
Red Ink
People tell me that writing is a way to avoid reality, a way to hide behind a persona or another identity and tell a story. Yet I find many flaws in the essence of this idea. I don't write for you. I don't write for anyone. I write for myself. It's cathartic. It's an extension of who I am when I sit down and put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. What spews forth is not a way to escape or hide. What ends up on the page or the screen is a manifestation of who I am, what I feel, see, hear, believe, hope, dream. Whether it be a song, a poem, an essay, a story, or a class paper, whatever I write is me. I don't write to escape reality. No, I write to reflect reality. I write to express, to expound, to enjoy, and yes, to share.
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I feel like you need a comment so here it goes (My Rant)....I "get" what your are trying to say. However, some critque...What is "reality"? What is "fiction"? When we write, we create a fiction--I'm not talking in terms of genre or pseudonyms--- whether we know it or not; what we deem "reality" is subjective. For one thing our memories are surprisingly inaccurate. Many authors have navigated this blurry line between fiction and none fiction; an example would be Dave Eggers and his memoir "A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius". In the last 10 years their have been an overflow of so called "fictionalized memoirs"; author and protagonist are still synonomous-there's just not the idea of--a nod to Roland Barthes-- the writer as "author-god"-- infallibly, flawlessly, scripting the book, journal entry, blog etc.The whole reason James Frey got in trouble is because the average reader doesn't subscribe the idea of a writer as both author and objective observer; when we assume the author as "author-god", his writing becomes an Eden without flaw (what you call "just me" without avoiding reality)you take away the very humanity of your writing.Both the reign of the perfect author-god and Eden are upset by the fruit of humanity--fallibility etc. In conclusion, the writer always escapes,assumes,falsifies--save the author-god. To sum up--by not wearing a mask, admitting the fiction of their work, the author denies the real truth of their humanity.
ReplyDeleteLauren I'm not sure we know each other. You say you "get" what I am saying yet I somehow feel you have so gravely missed the point.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughts though (and I'm not disputing any of what you said...it just is not relevant to what I was attempting to convey to those who know me well).
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