Chapter 43 Writing about Literature
Writing permits me to experience life as any number of strange creations.
There’s no question about it: writing about literature is a different experience than reading it. Reading, as you no doubt realize by now, is not a passive activity, and yet when we pick up a book, it does feel that someone else has done the hard labor and we’re enjoying the fruits of it. Writing is, of course, work, but it is also a pleasure when it goes well — when ideas feel solid and the writing is fluid. You can experience that pleasure as well, if you approach writing as an intellectual and emotional opportunity rather than a chore. When Alice Walker speaks of “strange creations,” she’s referring to possibilities. Writing allows her to reframe reality, sensation, and perception. This idea does not apply only to fiction, poetry, and drama. The writing you will complete in response to the works in this book also has the capacity to liberate your mind and to demonstrate your intellectual power.
Just as reading literature requires an imaginative, conscious response, so does writing about literature. Composing an essay is not just recording your interpretive response to a work because the act of writing can change your response as you explore, clarify, and discover relationships you hadn’t previously considered or recognized. Most writers discover new ideas and connections as they move through the process of rereading and annotating the text, taking notes, generating ideas, developing a thesis, and organizing an argumentative essay. (These activities are detailed later in this chapter.) To become more conscious of the writing process, first consider the ideas we articulate in the sections below, then study the following questions specifically aimed at sharpening your response to reading and writing about literature. Finally, examine the case studies of students’ papers that take you through writing a first response to reading, brainstorming for a paper topic, writing a first draft, revising, and writing the final paper.