Blog RPS

I’ve been thinking about writing about writing lately.  (That makes sense actually.)

In the age of “tweets” and “texts;” of emails and keyboard prose, we are all running the danger of losing something precious – writing as communication, as conversation, as a textual interplay between human beings.

Write an email and chances are only 50 / 50 that your recipient will understand what you are trying to say.  We’ve forgotten how to express ourselves through writing.  We’ve forgotten the subtle nuance of expressing in written words what seems so easy verbally.

We’ve lost sight of those who stand as shining examples of this:  Abraham Lincoln in his letter to Mrs. Bixby. (Read it and let it “speak” to you:  The man could write!  Or think about how these 10 sentences could be remembered as one of the most important speeches in history.)

We need not to lose our connection to these teachers.  People like Milton, Melville, Twain and Whitman need to speak to us today as much as they did to our forbears.

Like Kurt Vonnegut does in his last book, “Armageddon in Retrospect.”  As I read it, I can’t help but keep repeating to myself, “Oh, if I could WRITE like this man could write!”

Especially worth your time in a post 9/11 world:  His essay “Wailing Shall Be in All Streets” – an account of his first-hand experience of the fire-bombing of Dresden in World War II.

This book is worth three or four times the price HERE.  And I’ll say it again:  “If I could write like this, I could make people understand!”

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.