I originally started this online journal seeking to examine how authors’ personal biographies leaked into their writing, and to see how these connections also transferred unto TV shows and films. However, I realized that exploring the significance of an author and his/her literary work, and finding the same/similar connection between a work and a TV show or movie, was not a strong enough connection to stir deep reflection and conversation.
Yes, I could draw similar comparisons, but so what?
I struggled to find a reason or purpose for the connections I was drawing. Therefore, I decided to focus more on the author and his/her personal biography. By understanding authors more underneath the surface (e.g. how they grew up, what they believed in, what they went through, etc.), I may be able to more clearly see the reason for the literary work, or the purpose of the literary work.
Hopefully my posts have been developing in a way that has been encouraging deeper contemplation on not just the themes of the work, but questioning the connection between those themes and the authors’ personal biographies– and why they may be significant.
Thanks for reading along with me!
Peace, I enjoyed reading your reflective essay on the blog writing experience, and I really agree with what you say there: the blog took off, in terms of the energy and originality of the posts’s reflections on the literature, when you dropped the popular culture angle. that was a good way to develop the blog: to focus exclusively on the texts and the author’s biographies, and asking yourself those questions you list in your reflective essay about what the author was trying to say and what bias or experience of the author was being reflected in the text. The post of Man of La Mancha stands out in this regard, for instance. That post made me think of the story in new ways, made me reconsider the main characters–and such rethinking and new insight were major goals for this project. It’s a great, thought-provoking post. It’s too bad that you got a slow start on the blog; perhaps, with more regular and more earlier writing,you might have found this tighter focus sooner. For me, this lack of regular and more regularly-spaced writing were a drawback , making it harder to get into and follow your blog. And I missed you at the final!
CS