Re: read OR write
Paul Kennedy (kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca)
Tue, 27 Jul 1999 12:14:52 -0400 (EDT)
Scottie:
My great compatriot Northrup Frye devoted his entire erudite life to proving
the impossibility of writing without standing on the shoulders of all the
writers that wrote before.... (I know this begs some sort of question about
a priori proofs of God's existence, but I won't go there just now. I'm
probably reading too much Descartes these days.)
Should shrinks systemmatically avoid the collected works of St. Sigmund, the
better to sharpen their personal psychiatric insights?
Too many 'modern' writers have clearly failed to do their homework--which is
one reason why so much contemporary literature is actually illiterate
(...and I'm not referring to grammar and punctuation, spelling and
capitalization, now....)
Only book-burning barbarians would urge ANYbody not to read EVERYthing!
Cheers,
Paul
PS--I'm with you on the reference books.... I've often thought that my
enrollment-offer Book-of-the-Month-Club OED would be a wonderful volume for
that mythical desert island. I inevitably get lost for long and very
pleasant hours every time I venture into the fine--and I do mean
FINE!--print. It's hard to believe that there was a time when I didn't need
the magnifying glass that they've thoughtfully provided in the slipcase.
PPS--Could you even conceive of the Salinger canon if JDS hadn't spent many
hours immersed in "all that David Copperfield crap"?