I was thrilled when I saw this happy accident on my nightstand. It illustrates perfectly what I strive for in being a woman: intellect, independence (sexual and otherwise) and literacy. I am a feminist and thus I believe the world to be an all-inclusive place made up of equality. Of course, this is a slight pipe dream but believing this is what matters for me as I have enough delusion to believe I can make change in the world.
That delusion makes me a writer. I know, I know. How does lit change the world and truth be told it doesn't - at least not immediately. I think of the written word as being a type of time bomb. It's a little piece of power that if read over time by the right people can effect the change it intends. I've seen it happen through poetry. While taking a class on eco-poetics I saw the words of poets effect the way the readers saw the world and current events. It was almost as if the wheels started turning faster and all of a sudden - click.
It's this click that has lead me to take on Henry Miller's rule of writing five pages a day. It won't illicit change but at least I'll be writing towards the click (maybe). Henry Miller's notes were once neatly laid out for me on a desk at the University of Virginia. I poured over them acting as if I had just discovered them under the floorboards when really it was the nice librarian who had pulled them out of the archives for me. It was an incredibly intimate experience as I read the words from Miller to his lover, notes from the editor and parts of the Tropics we were never meant to see. Even though I was sitting next to two of the greatest people I know (pouring over Faulkner's archives) it felt as though I was in a sepia-toned dome and it was Henry and I - alone - putting together his life and process. I left the University feeling a little heavier and yet light headed.
It is through my relationship with Miller that I will borrow the process.
It's the intellect, independence and literacy that will lead me to the click (maybe).
That delusion makes me a writer. I know, I know. How does lit change the world and truth be told it doesn't - at least not immediately. I think of the written word as being a type of time bomb. It's a little piece of power that if read over time by the right people can effect the change it intends. I've seen it happen through poetry. While taking a class on eco-poetics I saw the words of poets effect the way the readers saw the world and current events. It was almost as if the wheels started turning faster and all of a sudden - click.
It's this click that has lead me to take on Henry Miller's rule of writing five pages a day. It won't illicit change but at least I'll be writing towards the click (maybe). Henry Miller's notes were once neatly laid out for me on a desk at the University of Virginia. I poured over them acting as if I had just discovered them under the floorboards when really it was the nice librarian who had pulled them out of the archives for me. It was an incredibly intimate experience as I read the words from Miller to his lover, notes from the editor and parts of the Tropics we were never meant to see. Even though I was sitting next to two of the greatest people I know (pouring over Faulkner's archives) it felt as though I was in a sepia-toned dome and it was Henry and I - alone - putting together his life and process. I left the University feeling a little heavier and yet light headed.
It is through my relationship with Miller that I will borrow the process.
It's the intellect, independence and literacy that will lead me to the click (maybe).