Comments on: Transparent, and Not Quite So http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2008/10/transparent-and-not-quite-so/ Ridiculous Pursuits, Solemn Matters Fri, 18 May 2012 16:24:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: John http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2008/10/transparent-and-not-quite-so/comment-page-1/#comment-717 John Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:21:12 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=1253#comment-717 <a href='#comment-716' rel="nofollow">@cuff</a> - Do you teach (creative) writing? That message has gotta be one of the most difficult ones for young aspiring writers to accept (and for their teachers to imprint them with) -- that they're really not as much in control of the writer-reader transaction as they'd like to be. @cuff – Do you teach (creative) writing?

That message has gotta be one of the most difficult ones for young aspiring writers to accept (and for their teachers to imprint them with) — that they’re really not as much in control of the writer-reader transaction as they’d like to be.

]]> By: cuff http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2008/10/transparent-and-not-quite-so/comment-page-1/#comment-716 cuff Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:02:35 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=1253#comment-716 I just had to explain to a student that same thing: authorial intent only takes you so far -- readers poke at it with their own forks. I just had to explain to a student that same thing: authorial intent only takes you so far — readers poke at it with their own forks.

]]> By: John http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2008/10/transparent-and-not-quite-so/comment-page-1/#comment-670 John Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:54:41 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=1253#comment-670 I love Billy Collins. No idea how he's regarded within either the Creative Writing or Literature camps; I can see that the easy-going, almost apoetical nature of his poetry might cause distrust. But this poem neatly captured for me the frustration of putting just about any sort of creative work "out there." Once you release it -- heck, just a blog entry -- into the wild, it always resists being just what you intended and no more. (It's almost as though the work itself is complicit -- as though it's hidden its meaning from its creator, subverting his/her intentions from the start.) I love Billy Collins. No idea how he’s regarded within either the Creative Writing or Literature camps; I can see that the easy-going, almost apoetical nature of his poetry might cause distrust. But this poem neatly captured for me the frustration of putting just about any sort of creative work “out there.” Once you release it — heck, just a blog entry — into the wild, it always resists being just what you intended and no more. (It’s almost as though the work itself is complicit — as though it’s hidden its meaning from its creator, subverting his/her intentions from the start.)

]]> By: cuff http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2008/10/transparent-and-not-quite-so/comment-page-1/#comment-654 cuff Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:42:53 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=1253#comment-654 "Introduction to Poetry"...very nice. There's the creative and then there's the analytical...I think the divide in English departments between the Creative Writing and the Literature types really breaks down when it hits the aesthetic components -- lit analysis is more about meaning, creative is more about invention, and aesthetics straddles the line. “Introduction to Poetry”…very nice. There’s the creative and then there’s the analytical…I think the divide in English departments between the Creative Writing and the Literature types really breaks down when it hits the aesthetic components — lit analysis is more about meaning, creative is more about invention, and aesthetics straddles the line.

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