[stylist] What you experience verses What you read?--blindness and joy

Sun Apr 19 04:49:34 UTC 2009

boy,
my last post exhibited more than usual air between the ears!
I was glad to see that and I think it was in the context of the 
protests against the authors guild if I remember right.

that referred back to the need to pair blindness with joy, and did 
not connect with the immediately preceding statement decrying the 
length of this month's release!

please resume all normal behavior.

jc

Jim Canaday M.A.
Lawrence, KS

At 11:36 PM 4/18/2009, you wrote:
>just a note and Helene's post reminded me, though this is not really 
>a writing topic.
>
>in this month's presidential release, President Mauer briefly 
>discussed the importance of countering the stereotypical association 
>of blindness with sadness and loss.  and instead to pair blindness with joy.
>
>I will also add this release was way over 30-minutes long and most 
>definitely too long!
>
>I was glad to see that and I think it was in the context of the 
>protests against the authors guild if I remember right.
>jc
>
>Jim Canaday M.A.
>Lawrence, KS
>
>
>At 08:59 PM 4/18/2009, you wrote:
>>Hi John,
>>Thanks for the incouragement.
>>Their are a few books with blind characters that I like. For example
>>'Annerton Pit' about an independant blind boy who goes with his
>>brother who is being held captive by eco terrorists. The blind boy in
>>that is really mobile and independant.
>>
>>However, for deafness, it doesn't seem like their are any mainstream
>>books with deaf characters since most writers seem to portray the deaf
>>even more as sad characters then the blind do and their isn't too much
>>about deafblind at all. There is nothing at all about a deaf person in
>>a fantasy setting. Which is why I felt the need to fill the nich.
>>
>>"A deafblind girl" is differant in another way too. Part of it is set
>>in Darthrilia. A country that is run by Dragons. In the fact the
>>opening scene is described from the point of view of a dragon. He over
>>hears this wizard making a curse to make his ex wife and all her
>>future generations deafblind and female so their are actually several
>>female deafblind characters in the novel.
>>
>>Helene
>>
>>On 19/04/2009, John Lee Clark <johnlee at clarktouch.com> wrote:
>> > One reason I keep on encouraging writing about blindness is because, right
>> > now, there is not much precedence in English language for describing the
>> > blind experience.  True, the lexicon is rich in words and 
>> phrases related to
>> > sounds and music, and hearing blind people certainly have a lot 
>> to draw from
>> > if they want to express and describe voices and things like that, but
>> > there's very little for tactile stuff and other aspects of 
>> blindness.  This
>> > is a wonderful opportunity to do truly creative writing and make 
>> significant
>> > contributions to English literature as a whole.  Not only the content is
>> > cool and interesting because it's different, but your breaking new ground
>> > will help sighted people appreciate things they have never noticed
>> > before--you're giving them a new language and a new way to understand
>> > themselves and the world around them.
>> >
>> > So, no, it's not easy writing.  But if it was easy writing, your work
>> > probably would be less significant, less original, and more like many, too
>> > many other books.
>> >
>> > One possible technique is to use common verbs and nouns but in 
>> new contexts.
>> > Take the word purr.  Most people would use that for a cat, maybe 
>> a car.  But
>> > you can use it in a tactile context for something totally 
>> new.   Or take the
>> > word sing.  Most writers would use that strictly for music, but 
>> maybe a few
>> > other things.  But if, for example, you have a sex scene, you can say that
>> > one body sang to the other.  You can even play with color words but not
>> > actually to describe color.  For example, there is this great 
>> bit in Himes's
>> > classic novel If I Holler Let Me GO: "His tongue tasted 
>> brown."  Nothing to
>> > do with the actual color of his tongue, but everything to do with the
>> > connotations of the color brown previously established in literature but
>> > this time used in a new way.
>> >
>> > One good rule is not to overdescribe.  Understatement is great.  Just a
>> > touch and move on with the story.
>> >
>> > John
>> >
>> > No virus found in this outgoing message.
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>> > 9:55 AM
>> >
>> >
>> >
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