09-26-2013, 03:59 AM | #1 |
Fledgling Demagogue
Posts: 2,384
Karma: 31132263
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: White Plains
Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.
|
Writer Only Teaches Books by "Guys. Serious Heterosexual Guys."
The original interview by author and part-time instructor at Victoria College, David Gilmour:
http://www.randomhouse.ca/hazlitt/bl...trong-stomachs Holger Syme's amusing response to the interview: http://www.dispositio.net/archives/1688 Gilmour's piece about Virginia Woolf: http://the-toast.net/2013/09/25/davi...irginia-woolf/ My take: If Gilmour can’t identify with authors who are superficially unlike himself, then, logically, he can’t identify with characters who are unlike him, either. That makes it hard to believe he could be a decent fiction writer or know enough about characterization to teach literature. Sample quote from Gilmour's interview: "Usually at the beginning of the semester a hand shoots up and someone asks why there aren’t any women writers in the course. I say I don’t love women writers enough to teach them, if you want women writers go down the hall. What I teach is guys. Serious heterosexual guys. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chekhov, Tolstoy. Real guy-guys. Henry Miller. Philip Roth." |
09-26-2013, 08:46 AM | #2 |
cacoethes scribendi
Posts: 5,809
Karma: 137770742
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Australia
Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650
|
I can see why you didn't mention anything about practical humility in the subject line of this thread.
I've never done a literature course (beyond high school English classes), but I didn't think the point of studying literature was to study only that which you love (or, in this case I think it may actually be: that which reinforces or inflates your own self image). I don't expect to easily identify with every character, or even the main characters, in every book I read - that is part of the challenge. Holger Syme says: "The exact opposite of Gilmour’s point is true: good teaching requires empathy — an effort to understand things, ideas, and people totally unlike you. Some of those people are your students." And isn't this a large part of why we read, to see things differently? Well, apparently, that doesn't apply to everyone, but I did think it would apply to those that study literature beyond high school. If a teacher can't see beyond those things that instantly appeal to themselves then how are they going to help students to look beyond the obvious? Most of the best teachers I had were ones that made learning an exploration, and they did that by making it seems as if they were exploring as well. In many subjects this requires a certain amount of acting on their behalf, as they've obviously heard most of it before, but in the study of literature that exploration should never have to end. I guess a writer doesn't have to have empathy for others, we've all read books like that, and they have their place. But I do think that those I consider good writers do have that empathy, or, like good teachers, are good enough at acting that it does the same job. |
Advert | |
|
09-26-2013, 08:55 AM | #3 |
Fledgling Demagogue
Posts: 2,384
Karma: 31132263
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: White Plains
Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.
|
There's not much for us to discuss just yet, gmw -- I think we're in agreement!
|
09-26-2013, 09:13 AM | #4 |
cacoethes scribendi
Posts: 5,809
Karma: 137770742
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Australia
Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650
|
Damn, I knew I was doing something wrong.
|
09-26-2013, 09:40 AM | #5 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,745
Karma: 83407757
Join Date: Mar 2011
Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Lenovo Duet Chromebook, Moto e
|
Oh my goodness! I am amazed that he got as far as he did in his career when he doesn't seem to get the whole point of stories, or at least one of the main points, which is to create empathy and understanding of those unlike ourselves.
I would also like to point out that it was a young woman who won a very famous "scary story" contest in the 19th century... |
Advert | |
|
09-26-2013, 03:09 PM | #6 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,745
Karma: 83407757
Join Date: Mar 2011
Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Lenovo Duet Chromebook, Moto e
|
Book Riot has a response in GIFS...
|
09-26-2013, 03:44 PM | #7 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 71,406
Karma: 305065800
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
|
|
09-26-2013, 06:23 PM | #8 |
Zealot
Posts: 104
Karma: 2175016
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: rural Illinois, USA
Device: Kindle
|
So, I am unwelcome? Drats and blast. I read books written by men. Are not men willing to read books written by me? Well, perhaps that is unfair. Of course, my writing is not representative of my gender. But of all female writers, only Virginia Wolf is worthy? Ugh, say it ain't so, Joe.
|
09-26-2013, 06:37 PM | #9 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
It ain't so jo, but there will always be cliques and bigots.
|
09-28-2013, 08:57 AM | #10 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
|
09-28-2013, 09:00 AM | #11 | |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
Quote:
|
|
09-28-2013, 03:53 PM | #12 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,388
Karma: 14190103
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Berlin
Device: Cybook, iRex, PB, Onyx
|
Of course this is just silly but on the other hand he teaches good writers. If the college assures that the students have other literature classes too with a greater diversity of writers I can't see such a big problem. It's another thing if this is the only literature course.
|
09-28-2013, 04:32 PM | #13 | |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
Quote:
|
|
09-28-2013, 05:12 PM | #14 |
Fanatic
Posts: 556
Karma: 3531054
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Germany
Device: In use: Pocketbook InkPad 3, Kobo Glo, iPad Air 2
|
That, exactly, is the core of it. In essence, there is no difference, but those that you mentioned are accepted, while a focus on works by heterosexual men is seen as chauvinistic and homophobic. I feel that they are all equally narrow minded.
Last edited by Mivo; 09-28-2013 at 08:42 PM. |
09-28-2013, 05:53 PM | #15 |
Is that a sandwich?
Posts: 8,186
Karma: 100500000
Join Date: Jun 2010
Device: Nook Glowlight Plus
|
Thinking back to my high school and college days I only remember reading one female author: Mary Roberts Rhinehart.
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
A warning for Linux users: slow "Add Books", "Unknown" title and Author | rolgiati | Library Management | 8 | 07-24-2013 04:36 PM |
KT "Ghost covers/files" again at 670 books, "stale" image entries in firmware | VirgoGirl | Kobo Reader | 4 | 04-06-2012 02:10 PM |
High Court teaches meaning of "public domain" to heirs of author | JeffElkins | News | 3 | 12-21-2008 08:59 PM |