Check out Joshua Prager, 'Half-Life' on Amazon and click on the 'look inside'. It's interesting to see the decisions he made in re-focusing his book to make a shorter point and how he used the parts of his story.
I appreciated Joshua Prager's story so much more in written form. The descriptions, narration, and voice emphasized his point, instead of drawing away from it through distraction. I think when a story of personal growth is told, one has to be careful not to be too simple OR complex. Verbally, his story came across as long and monotonous, but on paper it was just the right balance. I enjoyed this a lot.
I agree with Emily. The story sounded like an essay. The sentences tended to err on the side of being long and complex sounding. Had I had the opportunity to examine an entire sentence, start to finish, on a page, however, I wouldn't have even noticed. The sentences were by no means run-on; however, they sometimes lacked the concision which a verbal speech demands. His references to psychiatry, classical literature, etc. would have been better served to be written on a page because the reader could have gone through at his or her own pace, rather than being dragged through it on the speaker's terms.
I also think that the story would have worked better as an essay; rather than, as a lecture. What came across from the story were the undertones of his discontent, which could be hear in his voice and could be seen through his facial expressions as he told the story. However, I thought the important themes of the story, and the overall message of being proactive and moving on from tragedy would have been best suited to an essay. A concept that I thought would have better expressed through writing was the theme of justification. How as human beings we find ways to justify our actions, free ourselves of guilt, and thus how become ignorant through our own failure to examine our true nature. He might have subtlety expressed this better than I had thought, but since it was not written down I found it difficult to keep track of the individual references he was making as he was speaking.
I appreciated Joshua Prager's story so much more in written form. The descriptions, narration, and voice emphasized his point, instead of drawing away from it through distraction. I think when a story of personal growth is told, one has to be careful not to be too simple OR complex. Verbally, his story came across as long and monotonous, but on paper it was just the right balance. I enjoyed this a lot.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily. The story sounded like an essay. The sentences tended to err on the side of being long and complex sounding. Had I had the opportunity to examine an entire sentence, start to finish, on a page, however, I wouldn't have even noticed. The sentences were by no means run-on; however, they sometimes lacked the concision which a verbal speech demands. His references to psychiatry, classical literature, etc. would have been better served to be written on a page because the reader could have gone through at his or her own pace, rather than being dragged through it on the speaker's terms.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the story would have worked better as an essay; rather than, as a lecture. What came across from the story were the undertones of his discontent, which could be hear in his voice and could be seen through his facial expressions as he told the story. However, I thought the important themes of the story, and the overall message of being proactive and moving on from tragedy would have been best suited to an essay. A concept that I thought would have better expressed through writing was the theme of justification. How as human beings we find ways to justify our actions, free ourselves of guilt, and thus how become ignorant through our own failure to examine our true nature. He might have subtlety expressed this better than I had thought, but since it was not written down I found it difficult to keep track of the individual references he was making as he was speaking.
ReplyDelete