[stylist] So Long, Mr. Stevens?

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

As a child, I loved fairytales and classics like Oliver Twist and Little
Women. I'm not as into romanticism anymore, and when I pick up Little
Women now, I'm not sure why I was so enthralled as a kid. Traditional
fairytales have lost a lot of their magic, but fractured fairytales,
new, creative twists, can't get enough of them.

And I must admit, I prefer more realistic endings nowadays than the
romantic endings I loved as a child and teen. In my teens, I started
writing a lot of dark stuff, but I was also dealing with a lot of dark
stuff in my life.

I enjoy novels that make you think, that evoke something inside you. For
me, the darker stuff, existentialism, is what makes me think.

I also never read nonfiction much except history books. Now, I gobble up
nonfiction, especially new nonfiction, or creative nonfiction.

As with anything else, I think our reading nature grows and evolves as
we get older.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of William L
Houts
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 3:33 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [stylist] So Long, Mr. Stevens?


HI Chris,

I take your general message here --don't feel too bad about your current

choices because they're different from your former choices.  But in 
truth, I don't feel very sad about it at all. Wallace Stevens did work 
for me back in my twenties which he can't do for the middle aged man I 
am now.  I'm fine with all of that, just a little surprised.  I simply 
found myself reading a Stevens collection and thinking, "What the hell 
is this man talking about?  Why all of the obscure, ten dollar words?" 
Like my friends here,I've got an IQ of about seven bazillion, but 
Stevens just isn't doing the work for me that he used to do. I plan to 
look up Robert Frost and see if I like his work any better now than I 
did twenty years ago.  It would be kind of hilarious if Wallace Stevens 
and Robert Frost have switched places in my personal pantheon.



--Bill







On 4/17/2014 5:37 AM, Chris Kuell wrote:
> Bill,
>
> We grow, we change, we age. It's all part of the journey. As kids, we
> loved cotton candy. As adults, you couldn't pay us to eat it. When I 
> was a boy, I loved the Hardy Boy mysteries. When my son was around 10,

> we read one, and it was awful. Offensive in fact, since they always 
> made fun of the fat kid. In my twenties, I loved Jack Kerouac, and 
> even smoked a joint by his grave. But I'd never want to read him 
> today, because I feel certain the magic would be gone. He's frozen in 
> time, and I'm a different man. And like it or not, that's just the way

> it is.
>
> My advice? Embrace the journey, and all that has made you who you are
> today.
>
> chris
>
>
>
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-- 
"Let's drink a toast now to who we really are."

           --Jane Siberry


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