Storyological 1.27 - YOU ARE SO PERSPECTIVE
/In which we discuss,
1. "The Poetics of Sex" by Jeanette Winterson, The World and Other Places (also in Granta)
Leslie Jones, SNL, nbc.com
Along with, among other things...
Guardian review of The World and Other Places
- Tragic Wonder
Now listen to what Hephaestus says in reply: "Take courage, and do not let these things distress you in your heart. Would that I had the power to hide him far away from death and the sounds of grief when grim fate comes to him, but I can see that beautiful armor surrounds him, of such a kind that many people, one after another, who look on it, will wonder"
- Catharsis
What is experienced in such an excess of tragic suffering is something truly common. The spectator recognizes himself [or herself] and his [or her] finiteness in the face of the power of fate. What happens to the great ones of the earth has exemplary significance. . . .To see that "this is how it is" is a kind of self-knowledge for the spectator, who emerges with new insight from the illusions in which he [or she], like everyone else, lives.
Show don’t tell.
- As explained on Reddit
Which seems a good time to mention that 'show don't tell', while great advice, is not the be all and end all of writing. I had a professor who used to say, it used to be that his writing students couldn't see the wood for the trees, but now, thanks to having 'show don't tell' hammered into them from year 1, most of them can't see the trees for the wood, which is just as bad.
