Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Why does place matter?
I found that, in certain parts of the chapter, Annie Dillard was a bit confused in finding her "place" of inspiration. There she was, sitting at a desk for endless hours with hardly anything to show for it when she said "if only I could concentrate. I must quit. I was too young to be living at a desk. Many fine people were out there living, people whose consciences permitted them to sleep at night despite their not having written a decent sentence that day, or ever." To me, this quote seems like a contradiction. Unlike Scott Russell Sanders, Dillard seems to accept and like the fact that writers need isolation to produce great work. In the quote above, however, she seems to feel like she does not belong stuck inside behind a desk, but rather wants to live "out there" with a free conscience and other people. Place matters because we call upon our surroundings (including past experiences) for inspiration in our work -- whether that work be writing, drawing, or communicating.
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I'm not a writer so I dont personally know what a writer needs to write. But i do agree that Dillard contradicts herself, because she wants to write so bad. But she also is torn between 'living' and writing. Its almost like if shes writing she thinks she is not living. It kind of gives you the sense she doesn't like writing but is forced to do it. Which makes reading her work no fun. But i think she later saves herself with the way she speaks to the reader in her writing
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