So Fish is trying too hard, huh, to write "good" sentences? Nice point in class from several people. I concur. The book is not unsmart, but the prose is self-conscious and sometimes overwrought. Yet his principles remain: good prose has to be part of a strongly held and powerfully understood purpose. In fact, in class we discussed how "purpose" and "context" are nearly synonymous. This parallel or synonymity (to coin a word) is in many ways Johnson's argument, too. Context makes (induces, elicits, promotes, supports, "under-stands") our discoveries. The papers you all wrote on Johnson make explicit connections between his book and writing -- again, it's interesting, but, more importantly, it is useful to find these metaphors and images and stories of "where good writings come from." One claim, for example, that came from class discussion, is that inspiration and insight is not nearly as important as the context and community that sponsors your "personal" discovery. Being in a stimulating environment (and what that means varies for everyone, but it seems to generally include conversation and reading) is important. We discussed also the ways that a commonplace book can serve as a form of "conversation" with oneself and one's influential authors.
On Thursday we will spend the entire time writing on our individual projects. At the end of class, we will post them, perhaps to Google Docs. Conferences are as follows next week (Taylor, you and I will hold our conferences on the phone). The point is to discuss your project's process.
9:00 Monday Elise
9:30 Heather
10: Sean
Richard 9:00 Wednesday
Taylor 9:30
9:00 Corey
9:30 Zack
10:00 David
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