On Being Profound

[jeffford2010]

Don't worry.  I haven't lost my mind.  I know I posted that non-advice thing on FaceBook the other day, and here I am back with yet more gruel that could be considered advice.  It just so happens that this essay I wrote for publication was recently (within the last couple days) declined due to the editor already having something very similar.  So I

Comments

[ext_807896]

Thanks for writing this, Jeff. Teachers asking "What does it mean?" ruined classic literature for me. I could never just read for the pure joy of story, I had to labor over it to catch all the deep profundity. To this day, I'm woefully under-read when it comes to classics. I'm the poorer for it.

Jeff P.

[jeffford2010]

Jeff: I'm not so much down on literary analysis. I think there's a place for it, obviously, when done well. A lot of the professors I had in college did lead me to think some profound thoughts about the works, but I do think it's true that the job of the fiction writer is very different than the task of analyzing fiction. They require very different kinds of intelligence.

[southernweirdo]

Well said!

[dyvyd]

This answers some of the questions I had about craft. With a masters in Comparative Literature it can be hard to turn off the analytic engine while writing. The processes are not necessarily compatible or reversible. The writing is like letting the story flow like water to its final resting place. The analysis is like trying to make the story backwards by pushing the water uphill. See what happens when you use the word "profound?" But I swear I didn't force this analysis... much...

[birdhousefrog]

Wow. What a lot of words to say what Greg has told me you say to students: "Just tell the F***ing story!"

:D

Oz, who liked this a lot

[jeffford2010]

HA! Hi, Oz. Hope all is well with you.

[birdhousefrog]

Editing a story, which is the part that takes forever. BUT, also big changes coming. Were you a south shore or north shore brat? Sound or ocean?

[jeffford2010]

South shore, of course. Don't give me that Sound business. That ain't real.

[birdhousefrog]

yes, but I can get a ferry to New London from the north shore. But kid's tutor is also south shore rat with family property on fire island. job is in Bohemia, which is, apparently, not the place to live. Suggestions?

[jeffford2010]

Bohemia is South of Ronkonkoma. If you can afford it, live near the shore. Both the Sound and the Ocean are beautiful out there. The thing is, it's incredibly expensive to live anywhere on Long Island now. I think. I could be wrong.

[birdhousefrog]

No choice about living on LI. A survey of available real estate yielded scads in our approx. price range within 20 miles of Bohemia, but we've never been to LI so we're still shooting in the dark. It's also expensive to live in the metro DC area so no sticker shock. And OMG real BROADBAND! We have 10 acres here, but we don't want 10 acres ever again. Wading River keeps coming up with houses we like. I'm also pushing to look near a college town because I grew up near college towns and I like the atmosphere.