Essay and community
This is one of the most extraordinary essays I have encountered this year (decade?). It may not work for everyone, because it appeals specifically to a tiny community. . . and yet because it has such a firm understanding of that targeted audience, it's able to pull out all the stops.
Interesting: the relationship between _essay_ and _community_. Plenty of outstanding writers insist that they have no audience in mind, they write just for themselves, trying to write to a specific reader would compromise the art. (Plenty of business and technical writers focus very specifically on their audience, but don't aspire to literary substance.) Yet communities -- the most extreme example being fan clubs -- seemingly arise around the most allegedly self-absorbed of such authors.
Or did those communities always exist, needing only the skill of the right author to unlock their potential? That author was immersed in that community and (perhaps unconsciously) writing for it. When the writer lands on the magic blend of theme and technique, example and theory, language and love, it's like a plant getting the right blend of sunlight and water.
Because I've worked both sides of the literary/technical fence, I'm inclined to seek ways to demystify the artistry, to believe that audience responses are similar in the different forms. There's a certain freedom to this view, because it means you don't have to be born an artistic genius, you just have to learn the right techniques. (I'm thinking of structure, metaphor, anecdote, character, and voice. . . though that's by no means an exhaustive list.)
That's one of the reasons I love St. Antoine's essay: extraordinary technique. Second-person opening, anecdotal memoir, specifics that connect to the audience, a sudden intellectual twist presented as an epiphany, images and specifics that support the new notion, and an inspirational wrap-up. I'll keep a hardcopy for future study.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks...
Interesting: the relationship between _essay_ and _community_. Plenty of outstanding writers insist that they have no audience in mind, they write just for themselves, trying to write to a specific reader would compromise the art. (Plenty of business and technical writers focus very specifically on their audience, but don't aspire to literary substance.) Yet communities -- the most extreme example being fan clubs -- seemingly arise around the most allegedly self-absorbed of such authors.
Or did those communities always exist, needing only the skill of the right author to unlock their potential? That author was immersed in that community and (perhaps unconsciously) writing for it. When the writer lands on the magic blend of theme and technique, example and theory, language and love, it's like a plant getting the right blend of sunlight and water.
Because I've worked both sides of the literary/technical fence, I'm inclined to seek ways to demystify the artistry, to believe that audience responses are similar in the different forms. There's a certain freedom to this view, because it means you don't have to be born an artistic genius, you just have to learn the right techniques. (I'm thinking of structure, metaphor, anecdote, character, and voice. . . though that's by no means an exhaustive list.)
That's one of the reasons I love St. Antoine's essay: extraordinary technique. Second-person opening, anecdotal memoir, specifics that connect to the audience, a sudden intellectual twist presented as an epiphany, images and specifics that support the new notion, and an inspirational wrap-up. I'll keep a hardcopy for future study.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks...
