interpretation(s)

Hello Gentle Reader

Lately all I have done via this blog is review books. Since finishing "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet," I found that there are still books that I own and should read. So the other night or rather last night I cracked open "The Savage Detectives," by Roberto Bolano -- he died in 2003 at the age of fifty (50). It should be noted that Roberto Bolano thought of himself primarily as a poet not a novelist. "The Savage Detectives," however is a novel. So any how I got to page forty-six, and I just shut the book. I thought to myself. Why, why am I reading this? It fails to capture me somehow. I can't explain why but it just fails to capture me. Not saying that at page forty-six is the correct amount of pages to judge a book, but this was my second try and it felt tedious or failed to keep me interested in what happened. So I close the book for the second -- and perhaps last time. Maybe I'll give it to a friend of mine along with all those old mass market paperback "Dragonlance," books that I never really liked.

But anyhow, since I don't feel like reading any of the books I have at the moment, I decided that I'll just blog with a couple of my own thoughts and ideas. I know for starters I'll probably go back and re-read a few novels a few of them being: "The Waves," by Virginia Woolf as well as "To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf," as well as "The Gormenghast Series," by Mervyn Peake. I feel like I didn't do those books any justice when I read them the first time around, and now it is time for me to re-read those books in the future and review them and hopefully do some justice.

Anyhow today's blog comes from something funny I saw on a website called:

"http://9gag.com,"

and I thought to myself when I saw the picture (here it is following):

http://9gag.com/gag/49672/


That is was just funny. I mean in English Class -- when I went to school; we had to learn poetry. I have little respect for poetry or rather appreciation for poetry, may I add so humbly. There is something about that is just, beautiful yet enigmatic and or obscure. Poetry also usually follows strict rules and form. Sonnets, Haiku's, Ode et cetera. So I have little patient for poetry. I have little, very little patient for poetry, if it cannot reveal its meaning to me, with some clues, other than oblique rhymes then I have no point in giving a two damns about it. This leaves poetry open for interpretation. However in English Class the student interpretation, is useless, compared to the teacher. Let’s face it, the teacher went to "X," amount of years of school in university studying literature and poetry and all that fun stuff, so what on earth would some ignorant student know right? So in hind-sight the only true interpretation in a English Class -- be it High School or Junior High School, is that of the teachers. The students are to squawk back the meaning like trained parrots.

But this is something I found interesting in a recent interview I read by the Nobel Laureate of 1985 in Literature Claude Simon. For the duration of this blog I'll use his words as well as a fictitious example to prove my point on how literature can be interpreted by anyone in any form. Because we all have different eyes, and different thinking patters, and that is what makes the interpretation of any work of literature amazing and beautiful.

in The Paris Review, The Art of Fiction No. 128 - Claude Simon Interview (link following)

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2096/the-art-of-fiction-no-128-claude-simon

In the interview the Interviewer (Alexandra Eyle) asked Claude the following:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

INTERVIEWER

"Symbolism seems important in your writing. In The Grass, for example, a T-shaped shadow grows and shrinks as it passes across the room in which Marie lies dying, representing the passage of time and the inevitability of death. How do you decide on such images?"

SIMON

"I am not a symbolist. I saw the light drawing a T that moved slowly across the floor and the furniture of a room. The T suggested to me the word temps and the march of time. It seemed like a good image."

INTERVIEWER

Trains appear often in your novels—what do they symbolize?

SIMON

Nothing but trains.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

So in an English class the English Teacher assigns "The Trolley," by Claude Simon. (this is a book that I have on a list of books right now by authors that I want to read) and she asks the students: "What does the train/trolley symbolize?" (now we all know that Claude Simone had said quite frankly that the trains symbolize exactly what they are. They are trains.) One student says the train/trolley in the novel by Claude Simone symbolizes the cycle of life and death. Birth, Childhood, Adulthood, Old Age, and Death. Another student says that the train simply symbolizes the beginning and ending of a journey. Another student, says that the trains can't possibly symbolize anything, other then trains. Needles to say the student that spoke Claude Simon's words, failed.

But what can a student know? Did they go to University for "X," amount of so many years, and study Literature and Literary Theory and all that? No, so how could an ignorant uneducated mind, possibly know what Claude Simon himself -- One of the twentieth century’s greatest writers (among many others); know? Nothing as far as the teacher is considered.

It appears that English Classes are not asking their students what something symbolizes or is interpreting it, but rather what the teacher says. English class is not opening the students minds to think for themselves, but rather hindering the growth of the mind of the students to see the world of Literature in an entirely new way. It is sad, and it is true, but we must always face the fact that this is what we call "English Class," unless you are special.

Take Care Gentle Reader
Thank-you So Much For Reading This Blog Gentle Reader
And As Always
Stay Well Read

M.Mary