1) There is a Season by Patrick Lane
- This memoir by Patrick Lane is a reflection on a lifetime of addiction and depression. Although it did not necessarily affect my original piece in terms of its content, Lane's writing style is unique and descriptive, and helped me be more thorough in the way that my piece was written. This is an interesting story because of the struggles that Patrick Lane faces during his lifetime, living in various areas of British Columbia. Lane has ways of keeping the reader interested through his descriptions of the excess of alcohol and cocaine that he was consuming every day for 45 years, and also through his reflections on his life and the scenery in his garden on Vancouver Island.
2) Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
- This memoir is a Pulitzer Prize winning account of a an impoverished childhood in both Brooklyn and Ireland. Similar to the first book I studied, "There is a Season," Angela's Ashes is a depressing tale of alcoholism and death. McCourt loses siblings, and the other members of his Irish-Catholic family are severely troubled in some way or another. McCourt successfully evokes sympathy from the reader, because of his terrible living conditions that he experiences as a child. My original piece is about injuries that I have sustained, although my goal was not to evoke sympathy but to induce laughter from the reader. Regardless, this memoir played a small part in influencing my writing style and diction in my original piece.
3) On Writing by Steven King
- "On Writing," a memoir written by Steven King about his life, but more importantly, about how and why he writes. King discusses his childhood and attempts at writing at an early age, and discusses the process behind writing several of his books. This book was useful to me not only because it is a memoir written by an established writer, but it is also a how-to guide of how to write any genre of books. Similar to the first two books, King reflects back on some of the darker points in his life, which include addiction and a near-fatal motorcycle crash. This is an interesting memoir because it is split up into a number of different parts, each of which discuss something different, whether ir be autobiographical or a guide at how to be an effective writer.
4) Cutty, One Rock by August Kleinzahler
- Unlike my previous three books that I studied, Cutty, One Rock is a lighter memoir, about a bizarre childhood. The first chapter is about Kleinzahler's dog, and immediately attracts the reader with its quirky humour and entertaining descriptions of the dog, and the rest of his family. This book was fairly influential to my original piece because I was able to try and relate to the humour that the author uses, albeit not quite as bizarre. Since my original memoir was about my childhood at my first school, Rosedale Public, I tried to provide comical descriptions of my own situation, as well as those of others, in a manner similar to Kleinzahlers. Obviously, my childhood was completely different from that of the one described in Cutty, One Rock, but it was still a useful reference for my original piece.
5) Growing up Stupid Under the Union Jack by Austin Clarke
- This memoir is good because it details Austin Clarke's childhood, and is more of a feel good story than many of the previous ones. Each memoir that has been discussed thus far incorporate some form of adversity, which is important to include in any memoir to keep the reader interested. Reading a part of this book was useful for me because of Clarke's writing style, and his ability to include humour when describing his days at Combermere. This relates directly to my memoir in terms of its content, because my own personal memoir talks about my days at my first school, and so Clarke's descriptions of his peers and school life were useful for me to write my own piece. This is a very peaceful memoir, and has a much lighter tone than that of some of my previous works stated, which helped me a lot in the completion of my piece.
6) Barrelhouse Kings by Barry Callaghan
- This book is somewhat similar to King's novel "On Writing" as it talks about writers, primarily Barry's father and distinguished writer, Morley Callaghan. Many of the memoirs that I have discussed have been autobiography's, which was interesting and useful because in many cases, it discusses the lives of famous writers and the difficulties that they endured to get them to where they are. Many of these writers, especially McCourt's memoir, have extremely interesting (and in some cases, depressing) stories from their early years, and this type of writing can prove to be very interesting given the right situation. In terms of my overall piece, this was useful because of Callaghan's ability to describe so many characters in such detail. The first few memoirs I discussed were not as light hearted as the last few (especially Cutty, One Rock), mainly because my original piece is meant to induce laughter more than anything else, even though it tells the story of several of my most painful memories from my time in elementary school.
7) Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
- This is a very bizarre, but in some ways funny, description of a troubled childhood. Burroughs describes his ridiculous family life, and being sent to a psychiatrist named Dr. Finch, who's son he ends up having a sexual relationship with. It is difficult to relate such a unique account of one's childhood to my original piece, which is comparatively normal, although it is always useful to study the writing style of these authors, especially in this case because of how distinguished this particular memoir is. It is obvious that Burroughs was a troubled young man, and it did not help that his parents were fairly detached from what he was doing. The descriptions that he provides are often quite funny, especially regarding his psychotic mother and the way that he is treated by her. My childhood may have been completely different than this, but it is useful for me to try to mimic the humour that he uses.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
30 Days in Sydney by Peter Carey
1) "A great plateau of sandstone which has been eroded and extended with successful landfills. Foresaken nineteenth century prisons and barracks still occupy its crown. Down on the southern waterfront a desolate direct-current power station, its walls lined with mercury vapour flasks, sits waiting for its Frankenstein or Spielberg. Two huge dry docks, where apprentinces dived and swam in boiling Sydney summers, lie abandoned."
In this passage, Carey describes Cockatoo Island, and is unique because unlike the rest of the book that discusses Sydney's beauty, this talks about a shadier side of the city. I like this particular passage because unlike plenty of other travel writing which sometimes seems too complimentary of an area, this makes Sydney seem like plenty of other exotic destinations in terms of the contrast between what he describes here, and the scenic parts of the city. The imagery that Carey uses, like saying "its walls lined with mercury vapour flasks, sits waiting for its Frankenstein or Spielberg," is extremely useful when you're trying to get a sense of what the scenery is like and what the overall atmosphere of the area is like.
2) "Above my head the clouds are racing, but I am in a sort of ecstacy where everything means something and I am awash with the giddy thrilling feelings that must come to schizophrenics when all the secrets of eternity are laid bare."
Carey claims that at this point, Sydney is "his," which is making him so excited. He uses plenty of analogies to help describe things in this novel, which is evident in this passage where he claims he is "awash with the giddy thrilling feelings that must come to schizophrenics when all the secrets of eternity are laid bare." The sheer excitement that he is feeling at this point is enough to make you want to go to Sydney, even before he further describes the landscape and the physical beauty of the area around him. Another thing Carey does to keep the reader interested in the city is describing the history of the city, and the significance of various monuments that he finds during his travels.
3) "As every tax accountant must concede, you cannot write about water without eating fish and you cannot get better fish in Sydney than at Neil Perry's Rockpool Restaurant and that was where Kevin and I were, eating the most perfectly tax-deductible pearl perch, when Clara called."
The inclusion of food and good restaurants is necessary in any travel story, but describing it in an appealing way is important when trying to attract potential tourists. Peter Carey uses the analogy of a tax accountant to describe his pearl perch, which is somewhat bizarre but clever at the same time. Carey weaves notable locations and monuments into his writing, which otherwise focuses on his experience and relationships during his time in Sydney. Here, he describes his favourite seafood restaurant in a way that he describes many of his other favourite landmarks.
4) "Down there is the birthplace of modern Australia, but you wouldn't know it. The expressway is like a steel wall, cutting water off from earth, slicing like a knife across the moment of our birth."
Carey, an Australian, not only provides insight through the eyes of a tourist, but also passes along useful historical information about the country, Sydney in particular. This is uncommon in travel writing, because so much of it is written through the eyes of someone who is visiting a location for the first time, not someone native to the country. Combining Carey's sensory detail and vast knowledge of the country's roots and origins allows for a much greater understanding of what the country is really like. He effectively uses rhetorical devices (like the simile of a "steel wall") to enhance his descriptions of the scenery, the history, and the local custom, which is essential in any writing.
5) "It is a terrifying exposition of hell and I tried to escape it, to find some more pleasant place for my mind to rest. Typically I imagined the ocean but the Australian ocean was no escape. It was endless, relentless, merciless, and it washed against the sandstone cliffs out at the end of Old South Head Road."
This passage is unique because normally, one would want to provide an appealing description of something as monumental as the ocean, something that, by itself, would be enough to make many people want to visit Australia. From a personal point of view, every ocean-side location I've ever been to has been soothing, partly because the climate is usually very warm, but the sound of waves crashing up against the beach is usually a calming experience for many people. This, however, is Carey's own personal opinion on what the ocean is to him, as many people who visit the country probably enjoy the Australian ocean as much, if not more, than any other they had previously been too. Normally, I wouldn't approve of a travel writing piece that provides such a frightening description of the ocean, but this particular case is consistent with the rest of his writing, which provides his own personal view on various Australian landmarks.
6) "How can I hope to convey to any reader my idea of Sydney? I have seen nothing to equal it in the way of landlocked scenery, in the particular relationship between the races, in the easy tolerance of crime and corruption, in the familiar mingling you can witness on the footpath outside Bar Coluzzi any morning..."
Carey reflects on his time spent in Sydney, and tries to pass along his own personal feelings on what the city means to him. His scenic, romantic portrayal of Sydney throughout the course of the book is enough to attract anyone to Australia, but this passage leads one to believe that his own personal idea of Sydney goes much deeper than that. The opening sentence of this passage intrigues the reader to want to see Sydney for themselves, and to have their own personal experience just to see what exactly Carey is talking about. It makes Australia seem like a welcoming place to visit, and a place that is very difficult to leave at the same time.
7) "I remember the road now, and i began to recall why I had come here so rarely. It was not that I ever failed to be thrilled and astonished by the extraordinary drama of the Blue Mountains: The sublime vistas, the plunging waterfalls, the teetering stairs, the dizzy ledges, but this road always made me despondent."
It seems as though everyone who writes about their travels does it in their own unique way, and this is a good example of Carey's style; he uses adjectives to describe scenery like "dizzy ledges" and "teetering stairs" that aren't necessarily conventional, but still make sense to the reader and provides an interesting description of his surroundings. This passage is another example of his ability to describe parts of Sydney that the reader may not be familiar with (Sydney Harbour Bridge, etc.) but are still significant nonetheless.
8) "But at other times when there has been heavy rain - and Sydney is subtropical so 12 inches in 3 days is nothing to us - then all that weight of water gathers in the Hawkesbury and this brown liquid spews itself out into the ocean and if this happens at a time when there is a strong easterly gale blowing against the tidal stream and if it happens that the tide is also running out, then it is a place of ultimate evil."
Though this is not an appealing passage in terms of the beauty of Sydney, it is an appealing piece of writing because of how easy it is for Carey to describe every aspect of Sydney in such great detail. He is able to explain seemingly insignificant locations in Sydney through the eyes of a local, and his familiarity with the area makes everything easy to understand. Despite his love for the city as whole, he is not afraid to say that the Hawkesbury River can be "a place of ultimate evil." Obviously, every city has its ugly side, something that is often excluded from travel writing, so this is an interesting touch to Carey's journey.
9) "Late rising kangaroos lingered along the dirt track. Honeyeaters fluttered through the trees. Bushwalkers, some carrying babies on their backs, strode off in search of local attractions such as Mount Cloudmaker, Big Misty and Dance Floor Cave."
Carey's ability to provide multiple descriptions of his surroundings is essential when allowing the reader to envision the wildlife. Including descriptions of wildlife is important for travel writing regardless of where you go, but it is especially important in a place like Australia where so many species of animals are foreign to almost anywhere else in the world. Carey is able to instill an image into the readers' mind of what every scene is like, which makes this such an interesting narrative.
10) "So we drove back into the city across the bridge, which caused me not the least anxiety when someone else was driving, and in half an hour, having made a stop for the Diet Coke which Sheridan was now drinking in terrifying quantity, we tooled along the charmless de-natured landscape which is the Parramatta Road."
Carey's entire novel is not entirely devoted to describing Australian scenery; there is a story within his travels, and this particular passage provides some comic relief. Carey has many good friends in Sydney, but this particular character worries him and tries to explain that this road is Sydney's "spine". I found that by including one's own personal relationships in travel writing, you can allow the reader to envision what their own experience might be like should they travel to that location. This is a very unique account of Carey's travels, and is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in travel writing.
In this passage, Carey describes Cockatoo Island, and is unique because unlike the rest of the book that discusses Sydney's beauty, this talks about a shadier side of the city. I like this particular passage because unlike plenty of other travel writing which sometimes seems too complimentary of an area, this makes Sydney seem like plenty of other exotic destinations in terms of the contrast between what he describes here, and the scenic parts of the city. The imagery that Carey uses, like saying "its walls lined with mercury vapour flasks, sits waiting for its Frankenstein or Spielberg," is extremely useful when you're trying to get a sense of what the scenery is like and what the overall atmosphere of the area is like.
2) "Above my head the clouds are racing, but I am in a sort of ecstacy where everything means something and I am awash with the giddy thrilling feelings that must come to schizophrenics when all the secrets of eternity are laid bare."
Carey claims that at this point, Sydney is "his," which is making him so excited. He uses plenty of analogies to help describe things in this novel, which is evident in this passage where he claims he is "awash with the giddy thrilling feelings that must come to schizophrenics when all the secrets of eternity are laid bare." The sheer excitement that he is feeling at this point is enough to make you want to go to Sydney, even before he further describes the landscape and the physical beauty of the area around him. Another thing Carey does to keep the reader interested in the city is describing the history of the city, and the significance of various monuments that he finds during his travels.
3) "As every tax accountant must concede, you cannot write about water without eating fish and you cannot get better fish in Sydney than at Neil Perry's Rockpool Restaurant and that was where Kevin and I were, eating the most perfectly tax-deductible pearl perch, when Clara called."
The inclusion of food and good restaurants is necessary in any travel story, but describing it in an appealing way is important when trying to attract potential tourists. Peter Carey uses the analogy of a tax accountant to describe his pearl perch, which is somewhat bizarre but clever at the same time. Carey weaves notable locations and monuments into his writing, which otherwise focuses on his experience and relationships during his time in Sydney. Here, he describes his favourite seafood restaurant in a way that he describes many of his other favourite landmarks.
4) "Down there is the birthplace of modern Australia, but you wouldn't know it. The expressway is like a steel wall, cutting water off from earth, slicing like a knife across the moment of our birth."
Carey, an Australian, not only provides insight through the eyes of a tourist, but also passes along useful historical information about the country, Sydney in particular. This is uncommon in travel writing, because so much of it is written through the eyes of someone who is visiting a location for the first time, not someone native to the country. Combining Carey's sensory detail and vast knowledge of the country's roots and origins allows for a much greater understanding of what the country is really like. He effectively uses rhetorical devices (like the simile of a "steel wall") to enhance his descriptions of the scenery, the history, and the local custom, which is essential in any writing.
5) "It is a terrifying exposition of hell and I tried to escape it, to find some more pleasant place for my mind to rest. Typically I imagined the ocean but the Australian ocean was no escape. It was endless, relentless, merciless, and it washed against the sandstone cliffs out at the end of Old South Head Road."
This passage is unique because normally, one would want to provide an appealing description of something as monumental as the ocean, something that, by itself, would be enough to make many people want to visit Australia. From a personal point of view, every ocean-side location I've ever been to has been soothing, partly because the climate is usually very warm, but the sound of waves crashing up against the beach is usually a calming experience for many people. This, however, is Carey's own personal opinion on what the ocean is to him, as many people who visit the country probably enjoy the Australian ocean as much, if not more, than any other they had previously been too. Normally, I wouldn't approve of a travel writing piece that provides such a frightening description of the ocean, but this particular case is consistent with the rest of his writing, which provides his own personal view on various Australian landmarks.
6) "How can I hope to convey to any reader my idea of Sydney? I have seen nothing to equal it in the way of landlocked scenery, in the particular relationship between the races, in the easy tolerance of crime and corruption, in the familiar mingling you can witness on the footpath outside Bar Coluzzi any morning..."
Carey reflects on his time spent in Sydney, and tries to pass along his own personal feelings on what the city means to him. His scenic, romantic portrayal of Sydney throughout the course of the book is enough to attract anyone to Australia, but this passage leads one to believe that his own personal idea of Sydney goes much deeper than that. The opening sentence of this passage intrigues the reader to want to see Sydney for themselves, and to have their own personal experience just to see what exactly Carey is talking about. It makes Australia seem like a welcoming place to visit, and a place that is very difficult to leave at the same time.
7) "I remember the road now, and i began to recall why I had come here so rarely. It was not that I ever failed to be thrilled and astonished by the extraordinary drama of the Blue Mountains: The sublime vistas, the plunging waterfalls, the teetering stairs, the dizzy ledges, but this road always made me despondent."
It seems as though everyone who writes about their travels does it in their own unique way, and this is a good example of Carey's style; he uses adjectives to describe scenery like "dizzy ledges" and "teetering stairs" that aren't necessarily conventional, but still make sense to the reader and provides an interesting description of his surroundings. This passage is another example of his ability to describe parts of Sydney that the reader may not be familiar with (Sydney Harbour Bridge, etc.) but are still significant nonetheless.
8) "But at other times when there has been heavy rain - and Sydney is subtropical so 12 inches in 3 days is nothing to us - then all that weight of water gathers in the Hawkesbury and this brown liquid spews itself out into the ocean and if this happens at a time when there is a strong easterly gale blowing against the tidal stream and if it happens that the tide is also running out, then it is a place of ultimate evil."
Though this is not an appealing passage in terms of the beauty of Sydney, it is an appealing piece of writing because of how easy it is for Carey to describe every aspect of Sydney in such great detail. He is able to explain seemingly insignificant locations in Sydney through the eyes of a local, and his familiarity with the area makes everything easy to understand. Despite his love for the city as whole, he is not afraid to say that the Hawkesbury River can be "a place of ultimate evil." Obviously, every city has its ugly side, something that is often excluded from travel writing, so this is an interesting touch to Carey's journey.
9) "Late rising kangaroos lingered along the dirt track. Honeyeaters fluttered through the trees. Bushwalkers, some carrying babies on their backs, strode off in search of local attractions such as Mount Cloudmaker, Big Misty and Dance Floor Cave."
Carey's ability to provide multiple descriptions of his surroundings is essential when allowing the reader to envision the wildlife. Including descriptions of wildlife is important for travel writing regardless of where you go, but it is especially important in a place like Australia where so many species of animals are foreign to almost anywhere else in the world. Carey is able to instill an image into the readers' mind of what every scene is like, which makes this such an interesting narrative.
10) "So we drove back into the city across the bridge, which caused me not the least anxiety when someone else was driving, and in half an hour, having made a stop for the Diet Coke which Sheridan was now drinking in terrifying quantity, we tooled along the charmless de-natured landscape which is the Parramatta Road."
Carey's entire novel is not entirely devoted to describing Australian scenery; there is a story within his travels, and this particular passage provides some comic relief. Carey has many good friends in Sydney, but this particular character worries him and tries to explain that this road is Sydney's "spine". I found that by including one's own personal relationships in travel writing, you can allow the reader to envision what their own experience might be like should they travel to that location. This is a very unique account of Carey's travels, and is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in travel writing.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Josef Penninger
Mary Rogan's article on Austrian scientist Josef Penninger is an interesting, in-depth account on the incredible advances in medical science, a lot of which can be attributed directly to Penningers' genius. Rogan has met and interviewed Penninger on a number of occassions, and the knowledge she has gained has allowed her to provide a detailed description of not only the research Penninger has done, but also the medical problems he is looking to fix. Rogan also spoke with those close to Penninger, including one of his professors Georg Wick, who was fascinated with Penninger's brilliance. Her ability to speak with all of these scientists allowed her to clearly explain the cause of several diseases, and what Penninger is doing to provide a cure to those affected.
Rogan's unique style also contributes to the incredible accomplishments of Penninger, and to the overall enjoyability of the piece. For instance, she changes between first and second person (marked in italics) to outline Penningers early life and his own personal experiences. She also asks rhetorical questions throughout the piece to help emphasize Penninger's brilliance, and uses the metaphor of a bicycle to describe his progress throughout this whole ideal. When writing on such a serious, influential subject, it is important for the reader to know just how important these discoveries are, and why what he is doing is so impressive, both of which Rogan describes very well.
Rogan's unique style also contributes to the incredible accomplishments of Penninger, and to the overall enjoyability of the piece. For instance, she changes between first and second person (marked in italics) to outline Penningers early life and his own personal experiences. She also asks rhetorical questions throughout the piece to help emphasize Penninger's brilliance, and uses the metaphor of a bicycle to describe his progress throughout this whole ideal. When writing on such a serious, influential subject, it is important for the reader to know just how important these discoveries are, and why what he is doing is so impressive, both of which Rogan describes very well.
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