I don’t know when, but at a certain point I gave up
analyzing works. I mean yes we have to
analyze books, poems, letters, etc for class, but I really never cared for
things that were not pertinent to myself.
My Professor’s Pick novel (a program where the professor gave a free
book and we read it and discussed it with the professor) was “So Long, See You
Tomorrow.” For me, the book was the destruction of friendship as the two main
men slowly drifted apart until one kills the other. I was connected more with the inability of
humans to understand each other’s needs, but the Professor focused more on
class and gender relations.
I know how important
those are to American history, but pretty much every book we read in high
school the teacher pounded into our head to notice gender, class, race, all the
things that divide humans and talk about the culture of the time. I don’t know when I decided that I didn't
want to think about those, almost purging that part of analysis out of my mind,
but I think I have. I care to think
about those, so I didn't. I've pretty much have chosen to analyze what I feel
connected to in a novel, which is not usually how the book should be analyzed
because those other themes, even if I don’t want to analyze them, are very
important.
The reason why I feel that my way of analysis is wrong is
because of my Japanese literature class. The teacher explained the role of
“aesthetic distance.” She didn't want to hear our very personal, visceral
reactions but more on the fictional reality in the story. I am one who feels for the character too
much, which is good for novel read for fun, but not for analysis. The point of
aesthetic distance is to think about the protagonist's plight not only from the
reader's very personal experiences (which is very normal) but also from the
protagonist's worldview as Wilson Sensei puts it.
I've said before that it seems my reflections for novels and
poems seem like rants. This is that
visceral reaction that I need to learn to avoid (sorry Gus that you had to read
all that every week). This semester in my literature class I’ll need to
remember to keep some form of detachment from the characters. One still needs to feel for them, but not
enough that it would cloud the analyzing process. My mind gets clouded easily when I read so
I’ll work on honing my skills so I don’t sound like some ranting crazy
person. Just because I have something to
say about the literature, doesn't mean it is constructive to the topic.
