tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post6969273689553287007..comments2024-03-27T07:14:36.800-04:00Comments on <b>Dawn Potter</b>: Dawn Potterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-74031988600469435102009-03-31T18:59:00.000-04:002009-03-31T18:59:00.000-04:00What I am is a fan of hanging out with Paul on the...What I am is a fan of hanging out with Paul on the couch. Basketball is the couch-hangout destination du jour.Dawn Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-7044434225015553142009-03-31T17:35:00.000-04:002009-03-31T17:35:00.000-04:00You are the real deal. No worries. Didn't know you...You are the real deal. No worries. Didn't know you were a b-ball fan too. AAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-13427129356690800232009-03-31T06:47:00.000-04:002009-03-31T06:47:00.000-04:00Sheila, you're so sweet, and I know you're right. ...Sheila, you're so sweet, and I know you're right. I am the first to castigate my ambivalence as silly. But then class anxiety, in whatever form it takes, doesn't always have much rational basis. My father dislikes Henry James because he wrote about rich people. Though I might disparage that attitude, in this situation I can be as unreasonable as my dad. (And even my dad, who doesn't trust novelists who write lovingly about rich people, has a Ph.D. Sigh.) I suppose I'm trying, on this blog, to be as honest as I can about what helps and hinders not only my writing per se but my confidence as a thinking human being. In other words, fret, fret, fret.Dawn Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-64312413876336337332009-03-30T20:53:00.000-04:002009-03-30T20:53:00.000-04:00You don't have a thing to worry about. Many times,...You don't have a thing to worry about. Many times, academics strive for an answer in literature, rather than reading for pleasure or discovery. Skim to find the literary elements, note the irony, characterization, broken narrative, write the paper, forget the book. <BR/><BR/>I found the conference online. It looks fascinating. I read "To the Lighthouse" last summer, up in the woods. And of course Mrs Dalloway. But people look at you funny when they find out you actually like to read that stuff- what? with no grading? Why would you read it if not to have someone evaluate your reading? <BR/><BR/>I've read Joyce, Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor,Kingsley Amis, and all the poetry I can get my hands on for fun. And it is. Fun. <BR/><BR/><BR/>Your way of reading- reading to write, with no agenda or evaluatory piece looming on the horizon- gives literature and poetry what you have taken away- admiration, well-turned phrases, meaning constructed from truth. <BR/>And, a more honest appreciation of the work.Sheila Byrnenoreply@blogger.com