Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Read this!

Writing about reading (or not reading) about books about writing (or not writing) about reading (or not reading) about books about writing or reading (or not writing or not reading) is so totally the new writing about reading about not writing about not reading. Camera one, camera (with meta bonus points) two.

3 comments:

amcorrea said...

This immediately brings to mind the old undergrad trap of relying on secondary sources rather than primary ones. (Don't read Petrarch, read a book *about* Petrarch.) Actually, it wasn't until I spent four months in England that I realize I could actually read Petrarch for myself, understand him, and have something intelligent to say. So it's funny that both of these articles are in a UK periodical--although the second is written by a north American (don't know about the first).

Online writing is usually a response to one's own reading--and at least Freeman mentions Anderson and the idea of community. (John Donne is still right, after all.)

Erin O'Brien said...

Can I just have a drink?

Darby M. Dixon III said...

Amcorrea: My undergrad experience was good; we spent most of the time reading books, not about books. It made senior research paper time interesting in that it was this sudden large-scale engagement with academic critics. I feel I could read more criticism these days, but, eh.

Erin: Oh, you know you can.