Thursday, February 05, 2004
Grealy's "Masks"
Having lent EN 206's little essays on the siginifcance of Lucinda Grealy's "Masks" to a prospective adjunct for review as to how one professor of composition "corrects" and
prompts his students to revise and improve future writing attempts, I look them over once more before handing them back.
Most of these young writers grasp a concept from Lopate and apply its force quite well to Grealy's essay. I am quite pleased with the effort and focus of these early essays on the nature of the personal essay. Though not the alpha and omega of the personal essay, a theory and practice of what we mean by "masks" and by "masking" is essential to this course.
Students need to begin to understand and push the limits of the paradoxical energy of a mask--not so much in its literal, physical sense, though this remains critical--but in the symbolic and rhetorical senses: that masks both conceal and reveal in one effortless context; that issues of identity and anonymity are wrapped up(or wrapped around and within?) persona(e); that not only the "face" of the personal essayist, but his or her voice(s) and vision(s) are at large in acts of masking.
prompts his students to revise and improve future writing attempts, I look them over once more before handing them back.
Most of these young writers grasp a concept from Lopate and apply its force quite well to Grealy's essay. I am quite pleased with the effort and focus of these early essays on the nature of the personal essay. Though not the alpha and omega of the personal essay, a theory and practice of what we mean by "masks" and by "masking" is essential to this course.
Students need to begin to understand and push the limits of the paradoxical energy of a mask--not so much in its literal, physical sense, though this remains critical--but in the symbolic and rhetorical senses: that masks both conceal and reveal in one effortless context; that issues of identity and anonymity are wrapped up(or wrapped around and within?) persona(e); that not only the "face" of the personal essayist, but his or her voice(s) and vision(s) are at large in acts of masking.
Grealy's "Masks"
Having lent EN 206's little essays on the siginifcance of Lucinda Grealy's "Masks" to a prospective adjunct for review as to how one professor of composition "corrects" and
prompts his students to revise and improve future writing attempts, I look them over once more before handing them back.
Most of these young writers grasp a concept from Lopate and apply its force quite well to Grealy's essay. I am quite pleased with the effort and focus of these early essays on the nature of the personal essay. Though not the alpha and omega of the personal essay, a theory and practice of what we mean by "masks" and by "masking" is essential to this course.
Students need to begin to understand and push the limits of the paradoxical energy of a mask--not so much in its literal, physical sense, though this remains critical--but in the symbolic and rhetorical senses: that masks both conceal and reveal in one effortless context; that issues of identity and anonymity are wrapped up(or wrapped around and within?) persona(e); that not only the "face" of the personal essayist, but his or her voice(s) and vision(s) are at large in acts of masking.
prompts his students to revise and improve future writing attempts, I look them over once more before handing them back.
Most of these young writers grasp a concept from Lopate and apply its force quite well to Grealy's essay. I am quite pleased with the effort and focus of these early essays on the nature of the personal essay. Though not the alpha and omega of the personal essay, a theory and practice of what we mean by "masks" and by "masking" is essential to this course.
Students need to begin to understand and push the limits of the paradoxical energy of a mask--not so much in its literal, physical sense, though this remains critical--but in the symbolic and rhetorical senses: that masks both conceal and reveal in one effortless context; that issues of identity and anonymity are wrapped up(or wrapped around and within?) persona(e); that not only the "face" of the personal essayist, but his or her voice(s) and vision(s) are at large in acts of masking.
