Anne Carson
Kiersten Baxley
Professor Shirokova
English 1102
12 September 2012
Anne Carson’s Lessons
Anne Carson is a very intelligent and well rounded writer. When I first read Anne Carson’s “Short Talks”, I was seriously confused. At first, I thought she was an abstract writer that wrote just to write. But then I took a second look at her work and realized there was much more to it than just crazy jumbled ideas. “Short Talks” is a mixture of many elements. It has argumentation, facts, personal opinions, and an unconventional way of writing.
As I was rereading the “Short Talks”, I noticed names, facts, and a lesson to go along with each “Short Talk.” This persuaded me to do some research so the stories would start to make more sense. After completing my research, I have come to the conclusion that “Short Talks” has been created to teach the reader a lesson, teach them about a historical figure, and to enable the reader to think outside of the box. I do not like reading something and have no idea what is being discussed; and that is what I liked about Anne Carson’s “Short Talks”, she prompts the reader to think in a critical manner thus persuading them to want to learn about what they are reading. For the reader to fully understand this style of reading, one needs to research Anne Carson’s background. Next the reader needs to research the main topics of each short talk. Anne Carson truly enables the reader to think outside of the box when she uses this less conventional way of writing since most authors do not use this style of writing. Most writers use a more “normal” approach to their writings.
“Short Talks” seem to teach the reader some sort of lesson when they read them. Take the short talk “On Major and Minor” for example, Anne states, “ There are more major things than minor things...” I believe that she is portraying that there are people all around the world that turn very small things into much larger issues than it should be (Bartholomae and Petrosky
Professor Shirokova
English 1102
12 September 2012
Anne Carson’s Lessons
Anne Carson is a very intelligent and well rounded writer. When I first read Anne Carson’s “Short Talks”, I was seriously confused. At first, I thought she was an abstract writer that wrote just to write. But then I took a second look at her work and realized there was much more to it than just crazy jumbled ideas. “Short Talks” is a mixture of many elements. It has argumentation, facts, personal opinions, and an unconventional way of writing.
As I was rereading the “Short Talks”, I noticed names, facts, and a lesson to go along with each “Short Talk.” This persuaded me to do some research so the stories would start to make more sense. After completing my research, I have come to the conclusion that “Short Talks” has been created to teach the reader a lesson, teach them about a historical figure, and to enable the reader to think outside of the box. I do not like reading something and have no idea what is being discussed; and that is what I liked about Anne Carson’s “Short Talks”, she prompts the reader to think in a critical manner thus persuading them to want to learn about what they are reading. For the reader to fully understand this style of reading, one needs to research Anne Carson’s background. Next the reader needs to research the main topics of each short talk. Anne Carson truly enables the reader to think outside of the box when she uses this less conventional way of writing since most authors do not use this style of writing. Most writers use a more “normal” approach to their writings.
“Short Talks” seem to teach the reader some sort of lesson when they read them. Take the short talk “On Major and Minor” for example, Anne states, “ There are more major things than minor things...” I believe that she is portraying that there are people all around the world that turn very small things into much larger issues than it should be (Bartholomae and Petrosky
Cited: Bartholomae, David, and Anthony Petrosky. Ways of Reading An Anthology for Writers. 9th. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin 's, 2011. 264-270. Print.