Though not providing much in the way of excitement, syntax is nonetheless rather fascinating to study. I don't mean this as though I'm lacking something more interesting to say about the topic, or attempting to hide my chagrin at having to learn about it at all by covering it up with false interest. But I never fully realized how the positioning of words within a paragraph, sentence, or phrase contributed to drawing the reader's attention and influencing how he or she read and absorbed ideas from the text. As I've absorbed every book I could get my hands on ever since I can remember, the ability to make ideas flow when I write seems innate. It's only been over the past couple weeks that I've solidified instinct into something that I can concretely explain with a solid level of confidence, and perhaps it's this evolution that I find most engaging.
In regard to Albee's American Dream, I already have numerous ideas orbiting through my analytical mentality, ideas that are probably fairly accurate as to the meaning and elements that contribute to such. These, like my abilities as a writer, have been accumulated over readings, papers, and understanding literary patterns- but rarely flushed out. I'm anticipating long hours of staring at Albee's words while I learn just how to fully pull out subtleties from the work-- and be able to explain previous instincts as solid theses.
Syntax is subconscious for native speakers, and I agree that its fun to learn to explain your own writing in a concrete way.
ReplyDeleteBeing a writer probably makes your style of analysis different because your are familiar with the writing process. As someone who is looking from the outside in as far as that goes, I feel pretty unfamiliar with a text this complex.
This is good. You're interacting with the material well and I can tell you see the hand in hand relationship with reading and writing which is at the heart of how we learn in school.
ReplyDeleteIn your second paragraph instead of "flushed" I believe you mean "fleshed". It's interesting that you struggle with the subtitles of literature. At first, I too thought this would be a challenge but now this process seems more natural. I hope that you'll reach this point too by the end of the year.
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