Essay The Authorial Voice - 1229 Words

Writing from the soul about one’s own life experiences can take on a much different feeling than any other style of writing. There is an intrinsic, gut-churning feel of risk within the process of telling the truth. A risk that gives a certain adrenaline rush, all while allowing one to reflect. The adventure of sharing ones own story can feel scary and relieving, both chaining and freeing. Harriet Jacobs and John Edgar Wideman undergo this while telling their stories, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Jacobs) and Our Time (Wideman). Each author is self-conscious throughout their stories. Both authors speak about a minority in their stories; Jacobs speaks of the female slave and Wideman speaks of the African-American gangster. Because†¦show more content†¦But Jacobs is not only making this point clear to the reader; she is making it clear to herself. In writing her story, Jacobs comes to terms with herself. Wideman, similar to Jacobs, employs the use of questioning the reader. While struggling with the issue of telling his brothers story without making it his own, he asks the reader a string of numerous questions: And if I did learn to listen, wouldnt there be a point at which Id have to take over the telling? Wasnt there something fundamental in my writing, in my capacity to function that depended on flight, on escape? Wasnt another persons skin a hiding place, a place to work out anxiety, to face threats too intimidating to handle in any other fashion? Wasnt writing about people a way of exploiting them?(Wideman 709). Wideman, who seems uncomfortable with his relationship between his brother, the text, and himself, makes his problems obvious. He does this in order to make the reader’s ask themselves the same questions then put themselves in his place. This bombardment of questions delivers the reader into a state of confusion and frustration similar to that of Wideman. The questions in this case, are an extremely effective rhetorical method because the answer is split, and makes the reader feel the same conflict that the writer struggles with. While it is inevitable that the story, being a product of the Wideman, must incorporate Wideman himself, hisShow MoreRelated Children’s Literature through an Americanized Scope1232 Words   |  5 Pagesnon-west by the west. Stewart claims the importance of being conscious of appropriation, authorial ideological agendas, and the Americanized narrative in representations of the non-west by westerners. Products of nationhood, these factors can create a skewed sense of the other in order to comprehend international texts that fall outside of the western perspective. Stewart illustrates the lack of international voices in children’s literature with statistics of the published authors’ nationality and non-whiteRead More Toni Morrisons Beloved - Identity Essay1171 Words   |  5 PagesReview of Beloved: A Question of Identity  Ã‚   In her essay Beloved: A Question of Identity, Christina Davis discusses the issue of identity from an historical perspective, a textual perspective and an authorial perspective. She looks at the text in comparison to the slave narrative, explores how the text itself expresses issues of identity and describes Morrisons choices of authorship and their contribution to identity. Her exploration of the theme of identity calls upon the treatment ofRead MoreStylistic Features in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Essay1174 Words   |  5 Pagesexception. She employs a number of styles in her book, the story of an Hour. Just like any author she achieves storytelling in a simple and straight forward manner. 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The fictional memoir is a combination of both authorial and figural narrative situations: the heterodiegetic narratological structure provides distanc e, a remove from the subject, but through psycho-narration we, as the implied reader, are provided limited perspective within the adolescent representationRead MoreReading between the Lines: Use of Space and Body Language in Caryl Churchills Top Girls1364 Words   |  6 Pagestheory emphasises authorial control and allows performers little opportunity to interpret the text for the audience. A competing view is that a play is a complete entity only when performed, aiming for a collaboration between playwright, director, performers, and audience. Churchill is often thought to take this collaborative approach to her plays, leaving a great deal of space for actors to interpret her text for their audience. This represents a partial abdication of authorial control. It isRead MoreConflicting Perspectives - Hughes1429 Words   |  6 PagesConflicting Perspectives. Ted Hughes’ poetry gives his account of a tumultuous part of his life whilst Christine Jeff’s film portrays a different point of view than that given by Hughes’. It is through looking at Salinger’s novel, that the role of the authorial voice in contrast to the protagonists can create a conflicting perspective between the protagonist and the audience. All these texts explore the concept of one person’s ‘truth’ in relation to another’s. The collection of poems constituting BirthdayRead MoreEssay The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time969 Words   |  4 PagesIn Mark Haddons contemporary novel, The curious incident of the dog in the Night-Time, the protagonist, Christopher Boone, does seem completely unsuited to narrating a novel, as he takes on his authorial voice, thus demonstrating symptoms of his disability, Aspergers Syndrome. This is a syndrome that enables him to see the world only through his limited perspective, which is closed, frightened and disorientated - which results in his fear of, and inability to understand the perplexing worldRead MoreModule a Clemmance - Distinctive Voices Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender1687 Words   |  7 PagesHSC STUDY BUDDY 1 Module A –Distinctive Voices Essay Question: Compare the ways distinctive voices are created in ‘The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender’ and in ONE other related text of your own choosing. As language lies at the core of communication, composers are given the opportunity to use and manipulate written language through the vehicle of distinctive voicesshaping meaning and understanding of the wider world and people within a text. A great range of language techniques are used in my prescribed