Lately, it seems that I have been accused of being purposeless an inordinate amount of times. I mean, how often do you go around asking people what they're doing with their lives? I for one, rarely engage in such behavior. Well, just wait until you are a senior in college and then you might want to start a FAQ section on your facebook page dealing solely with your life goals, then you can just direct professors, family members, career councilors, strangers you meet on the street to that page and be done with the whole business. As an English and Theology double major (so useful, I know), my career options are endless and NO I do not know what I am going to do six months from now so don't bother asking. OK, but what does this have to do with Y.A. literature, you ask. Simple, it has been brought to my attention that my blog lacks a clear purpose. No one can discern from my entries who my intended audience is meant to be. Well, this is because I did not have one until now. I was just writing for whoever happened upon this page. So, I am going to make my audience explicitly clear. This blog is written for and dedicated to my six younger cousins--Alex, Erik, Sam, Ashley, Taylor, and K-dizzle. These six exceptional individuals all happen to be currently in highschool and at least three of them inherited, or so I like to think, my love of literature. So, I am writing to 15-18 year olds, one boy, five girls, all very intelligent young adults.
But why write, you know, other than for your class? I write because literature is magical. It allows us to enter into and understand the worlds of people drastically different from us. Through it, we who have never been slaves, or prisoners, or victims of plague, etc., can reach greater depths of empathy, of realization, that the limits of our self would otherwise deny us. Thus, reading literature makes us better people. Literature is also extremely powerful. James Baldwin said that, "You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way ... people look at reality, then you can change it." Literature can be radical. It can subvert power systems and ideologies, or conversly it can reinforce them. Either way, literature exerts an influence in our world that no one can deny. Therefore, it is important to engage it, to study it, and to critically analyze just what forces are at work in texts. So, my task is two-fold. 1. To inform my cousins about the great, entertaining novels I stumble across; the ones that are must-reads. 2. To help them recognize aspects of the text that perhaps are not immediately visible. In short, to help them become better readers, even as I try to become a better reader. And of course, because this is a blog, my own musings and tastes will surface as well.
So, now you have my intent, for now at least.
But why write, you know, other than for your class? I write because literature is magical. It allows us to enter into and understand the worlds of people drastically different from us. Through it, we who have never been slaves, or prisoners, or victims of plague, etc., can reach greater depths of empathy, of realization, that the limits of our self would otherwise deny us. Thus, reading literature makes us better people. Literature is also extremely powerful. James Baldwin said that, "You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way ... people look at reality, then you can change it." Literature can be radical. It can subvert power systems and ideologies, or conversly it can reinforce them. Either way, literature exerts an influence in our world that no one can deny. Therefore, it is important to engage it, to study it, and to critically analyze just what forces are at work in texts. So, my task is two-fold. 1. To inform my cousins about the great, entertaining novels I stumble across; the ones that are must-reads. 2. To help them recognize aspects of the text that perhaps are not immediately visible. In short, to help them become better readers, even as I try to become a better reader. And of course, because this is a blog, my own musings and tastes will surface as well.
So, now you have my intent, for now at least.
Are you sure you don't want to become an English teacher?!
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