The following is an email that I sent to one of my students today. This particular student tends to ask me tough questions. I appreciate it, and as I was writing this email I found myself inspired like I have not been in quite some time. That being said I thought I should share the email. I believe that it has some very important things in it.
"Regarding Oscar Wilde, among other things"
"Regarding Oscar Wilde, among other things"
Let's begin with The Importance of Being Earnest. Yes, it is a small amount of space for you to be using quotes so I would offer two pieces of advice. Choose wisely, and use sparingly. In other words make sure that you find pieces of evidence that do not need to develop over 5-6 lines. Rather, find pieces of evidence that are immediate and clear cut. You can even reference longer passages for the reader to refer to outside of your text.
Quick random paragraph. The video we watched in class was Apricot. You can find it on Vimeo and Youtube.
Concerning, the play, its intent, and its topic. Well that is complicated. You are right. On the surface level it does not deal with love. Rather it deals with 4 idiots that think they love each other, but probably could not have a mature relationship if they tried. But, let's look beyond that surface. Which I know you probably have. At it's heart this play is absurd. It runs the gamut from funny, to painful, to searingly true, yet absurd, and the absurdity is the most important point. Love is absurd, is it not? From a natural, evolutionary standpoint, it is not at all necessary to the survival of the human race. From an emotional standpoint it is painful, confusing, ridiculous, absurd, sad, happy, complicated, drawn out, fulfilling, and so many other things. Wilde intends to make that point and he does so without ever being serious. But wait, let me take that back. He is serious, very serious. He is serious about the idea of love, and the attempt, in Victorian society to formalize, and structurize (i know its not a real word) love into something that is planned out, organized, and easy. He is serious in his belief that this is wrong. It does not work and it cannot work. Even if it works in appearances. That being said. There may not be much to gain overall. That, is up to the reader. (in retrospect I could have referred also to the elements of anarchism and individualism here)
Regarding formatting. It is something that I sometimes forget to touch on. My fault. Still, when you get to college you will find that certain teacher will ask you to write using APA, MLA, Chicago, etc. To be locked into one style in high school and told that it is the only correct way is dangerous. It makes the collegiate adjustment a bit harder.
Now, on to this idea of the internet as an idea space. While I agree. Which I really do, i still have reservations and some other thoughts. First of all, this idea space was not created with the internet. Rather it was exposed, enhanced, and in some ways degraded by the very thing that could have enhanced it. In fact, this idea space has existed for many centuries. It has existed in cafes in Paris, pubs in Ireland, and coffee shops like Alley Cat in America. It has existed in High school Classrooms and University Lecture halls, churches and synagogues, mosques and think-tanks, and it has been lying in wait. The question that I would like to express is this: the internet has given this idea space a new way to spread and grow and evolve, but have we truly taken advantage of it? My answer would be no, and here is why:
Considering the amount of information we have access to we should be way more adept at solving problems, thinking outside the box, and inventing new ways of doing just about everything. Yet, progress has slowed in many ways. I need only point to the fact that the human race has not been back to the moon. Why not? I believe a major factor is the fact that this info-sphere that we live in has dulled our sense of adventure and our longing for understanding. Why go to the moon when I can look at wikipedia and learn everything about it? (that was rhetorical, but I am going to answer it anyway) We go to the moon because the substance of life is not made up of pixels forming words on a computer screen. We go to the moon because we are human and we want to feel. We want to experience things first hand and we want to touch that void. We go to the moon because, at our heart, we are explorers. We go to Wikipedia, because, it has taught us that convenience is King. We live in the information age, and that is well and good, even beautiful at times, but we must remember that information can only tell us so much. We have to go out and do at some point.
In essence, I believe the conversation has always been taking place. This information sphere has existed throughout the ages and among all religions, creeds, races, and cultures, and it has extended to the internet, where it has both flourished and decayed. That brings us to the next point: literature.
Literature is the great conversation. It reminds us that others in distant times and places were not so different from ourselves. In that same instant it allows us to add to a conversation that has been going on for thousands of years, and may continue for thousands of years after our deaths. Literature, poetry, both are the substance of life. They build, destroy, explain, befuddle, and curse us, just as we curse them. And we continue to live. In the end, it does not matter if anything we have written was ever seen. We added to the conversation simply by reading, maybe understanding, and even questioning the perspective of the people that came before us, and the people that have lived with us.
In closing, Ubuntu: I am; because of you. Is this not the very definition of literature, of poetry? When you find a text that resonates with your soul do you not say, "I am, because of you." Is it not the definition of the human race? We exist. We exist in concert, hardly as individuals. Literature is the necessary history of that quest for an understanding of the abstract. It is the necessary history of the messiness of human emotion, understanding, fear, love, and passion. That may be the most important thing to remember. There are two histories at work in this world (that we know of). One is that of facts and date, numbers and statistics, events on timelines and photographs of life. The other is rich in all of its complexities and daringness. It provides insights, that although painful, save us, worry us, enlighten us, make us smile, make us weep, and force us to reconsider just who we are and why we are.
Both histories are important, but one can change more than the other ever will.
Last, this:
-Mr. Rein
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