June 5, 2012

Allusion

No story is complete without references to other works of art, right? Allusion happens to be one of my favorite literary elements, because I love to see connections. I also love to feel smart, and catching an obscure allusion to Greek poetry or whatever reassures me that I am well-read. But that’s beside the point.

In Allusion posts, I’ll be writing about different works of art, primarily literature, that I love. Having an English degree means I’ve written about literature a lot, but I’ve always had to use academic voice and keep “critical distance.” That’s always been hard for me, because I really can’t distance myself from what I’m reading. I’m excited here to just write of what I love. I thought long and hard about what to do for this first one, and I thought, what the hay, let’s start it off with a bang. So, my friends, I give you T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, a notoriously difficult but unspeakably beautiful series of poems.

• • •

June 2, 2012

Character

Usually, life change happens through relationship. I think God designed it that way. That’s why character is by far the most important element of any story.

• • •

May 30, 2012

An Aside

Over the last year and a half or so, I’ve become quite hip. It all started with an impulsive decision to buy skinny jeans. Then it was Toms and an iPhone. And now, here I am, blogging.

• • •

May 28, 2012

Prologue

“I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story, there is a story-teller.” – G.K. Chesterton

This is a blog about life. Not just my life, either — though I will warn you up-front that I tend to be pretty darn introspective. This is a blog about life in all its poetic, relational, musical fullness. About coffee and sunsets and books and love and cereal (especially cereal).

I think life makes most sense as a story. We don’t experience it as bullet points, after all. We experience it as narrative. If you think about it, all the elements of a story show up in our everyday experience: character, plot, dialogue, crisis, irony, just to name a few.

• • •
1 … 7 8 9