In "Writing Personal Essays: On the Necessity of Turning Oneself Into a Character" Lopate highlights several common questions, themes, and ideas that we have found ourselves revisiting week after week in class: characterization, shame, author-reader relationships, and reconciling our experiences in writing and the infamous "I"--to name a few.
Beginning immediately with a discussion of "I" and the ways that people and authors worry or hesitate to use the word and include themselves in any writing, Lopate turns to the ways authors of the personal essay must embrace "I" for themselves and their audiences. He highlights, "The problem with 'I' is not that it is in bad taste, but that fledgling personal essayists may think they've said or conveyed more than they actually have with that one syllable. In their minds, that 'I' is swarming with background and a lush, sticky past, and an almost too fatal specificity, whereas the reader, encountering it for the first time in a new piece, sees only a slender telephone pole standing in the sentence, trying to catch a few signals to send on" (Lopate 38). This is his launch into the ways that authors can create a character from the "I" in ways that the author is aware of (thus aiming to eliminate the angst and shame that comes with placing oneself in the open on a page by choosing certain aspects of self to highlight or downplay) as well as the audience (by writing about oneself in a way that readers are interested in and amused by enough to continue reading).
The main argument of Lopate's piece is, as indicative by the title, turning oneself into a character. While reading I took notes of the suggestions for thinking and writing (I chose to separate pondering and what seemed like more action-based suggestions as I read, but both lists are similar) a character.
Thinking about characterizing oneself:
- distance from yourself
- see yourself from the ceiling
- take inventory of yourself
- dramatize yourself
- choose a personal conflict
- "mining our quirks" (41)
- explaining identity and background
- finding self-amusement and self-curiosity
- expressing your opinions and thoughts
- showing actions and choices (along with thoughts)
Writing about oneself:
- start with quirks
- properly position oneself
- remove inessentials
- emotional preparedness
- recognize the charm of ordinary and life's mysteries
- create an author-reader relationship
- eliminate self-hatred
- give "I" something to do
For this week's prompts I have several questions about Lopate and Kreider's pieces. Feel free to answer whichever seem most immediate or interesting to you. Even though the readings were short there is a great deal of information, suggestion, opinion, and content to sort through. Because of the density if these questions don't do it for you (or if there was something extremely important to you that isn't touched upon by the below questions) please respond to a self-generated question or quote.
1. Lopate places shame as an enemy of successful personal essay writing, "I," and suggests "outgrowing shame" (44). Shame has come up in class several times, and this essay gives us an opportunity to write about it. Do you agree or disagree with Lopate? Do you feel as though shame holds no place in essay writing, or is shame a somewhat necessary aspect of writing about oneself? How does shame (or lack thereof) play a role for you as both a reader and writer of cnf?
2. "But first must come the urge to entertain the reader. From that impulse everything else follows" (Lopate 43). Surrounded by suggestions about being self-amused and curious, driven by life's mysteries, we find this quote. Do you feel as though reader entertainment fits with Lopate's message or contradicts it? If you were to look at your own writing and purposes of writing and rank purpose and goals, where does reader entertainment fit? How do you reconcile your own experiences, the way your feel and write, and audience when writing? And/or how does reader entertainment function within yourself and your "I"?
3. Do you by into Lopate's suggestions, ideas, and piece as a whole? Why or why not? What makes sense to you? What feels uncomfortable or excessive to you? Complete the sentence and elaborate: As a personal essayist, turning yourself into a character is _________.
4. Choose one or more of the bulleted suggestions. Write about it in terms of cnf, your experiences (writing, reading... living), and your opinions. Why did you choose what you did and what role does it play in your understanding of personal essay writing and cnf? Do you feel that the suggestion holds validity? Why or why not?
5. Kreider launches into his essay immediately with an "I" (as A Man, from the title, assumably) and links this sense of self to His Cat (also from the title and many people's working knowledge of "Cat Ladies," pet enthusiasts, and so on). Does this work for you as a reader either familiar or unfamiliar with him/his work? After finishing the essay does this starting place and framing work?
6. How does Krieder turn himself into a character? What methods does he use? What would his character be, if you had to explain it in a sentence or two? Do you think the character he employs is effective or not?
7. Apply one of the bulleted suggestions from Lopate's piece to Kreider's piece. Analyze his ability or inability to implement the chosen suggestion.