William Kennedy- Kennedy's writing captures the struggle of writing. Every good writer needs a better editor. Kennedy shows the three types of editors in my mind.
First, there's his mother: the "oh this is wonderful because I love you" editor. They will accept any piece of work, because the writer can do no harm in their eyes. Most mothers fall under this category.
Next he describes the Banjo Teacher. The Banjo Teacher said "Very good" instead of his typical "very very good". This is the sugarcoating editor. They will praise the writer but offer subtle hints to work on it, so the writer doesn't have their ego bruised.
Lastly, Kennedy goes to his father with his work "Eggs". His father criticizes it to the point of saying "is this what you learned in school?". Kennedy does a good job describing the narrative between him and his father, with back and forth responses. Kennedy's father is the best editor, one who cares about his writer enough to let them know when their writing needs actual revision.
The thing I can take from this Egg related short story is that, my work could always use revising and it's best to find a good editor for that. Somebody who cares about you enough to let you know you suck.
Pat Conroy: This short story differs from Kennedy's due to its serious tone. Conroy captures emotion with his word choice of growing up with fighting parents. Throughout the story the reader is struck with shock. For example Conroy includes "the miscarriages were the lucky ones". Conroy does a good job of getting to the reader in short and concise sentences. "Blood got on me, my sister." is a powerful example.
The last line of the story really drives it home in my opinion. "My father made a mistake. He was raising an American novelist and an American poet-and we wrote it down." That line continues the trend Conroy had through the whole story of impacting the reader with as little as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment