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A World of Writers and Critics

I am completely fascinated with stories, and the stories that come to define and transform

our lives every day. Whether it is a small anecdote told by your co-worker, or your second

reading of Dante’s, “Divine Comedy,” our lives are completely and absolutely made up of all

these diverse and interesting stories. Each one may carry a different amount of weight within a

person, and I love the fact that everyone will not only be enchanted by different stories but also

their reading could be completely disassociated from another person’s reading of the same text.

What is even more fascinating, however, are the ways in which stories unequivocally make up

our understanding of the world. There is no doubt that life reflects the art that we as a society

create. Our literary cannon reflects that of which we exist in, and I have been profoundly

interested in understanding what makes a good story and why our existence depends on these

stories. This fascination dates back to the first crucial texts I read that peaked my interest in

studying English literature. Along with my love for literary studies, my writing has helped me to

better understand myself and the experiences and ideas of others that would have otherwise been

shielded away from me.

We see ourselves in art because it is we who create it, shape it, and reflect it. In Joan

Didion’s essay, “The White Album,” she states, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live… we

live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate

images, by the ‘ideas’ with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria – which

is our actual experience.” This quintessential sublime view of writing and literature is

representative of the collision between the aesthetic version of reality and the physical

manifestations of that idea. This quote specifically, and Didion’s work as a whole, is what has

largely impacted and inspired my own study of literature and writing. After I read her collection
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of essays in Slouching Towards Bethlehem, I found that her ability to comment on the social,

political, and cultural situation that existed in 1960’s California perfectly exemplified my own

interests in writing. Her brand on literary journalism typifies the ways in which stories do not

have to perfectly fall in line with the binary between straight-forward journalism or literary

fiction. She redefined what journalism and writing were at the time and made the experiences of

individuals from the counter-culture movement in California tangible to more people.

It is a beautiful idea to equate the essence of life with the stories that we are told. In many

ways, by studying English Literature, I have been studying the ways in which humans, more or

less, have existed in the world through a literary lens. I did not always have this academic

interest, but the book that really started my interest was Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian

Gray, which I read in my sophomore English class when I was in high school. At the time, I did

not have any specific interest in any one subject, but rather generally enjoyed and did well in

most. I found a lot of things interesting, but I do not think until that point that I had really had

one specific discipline really speak to me. What was so influential about this novel to my life

was that it was not only the first novel I read in school that I really enjoyed, but I also felt that

the story went even further beyond the text on its pages.

Broadly speaking, this novel deals with questions of youth, mortality, and the relationship

between art and culture. I found myself thinking about it even after we moved on from it in class,

and part of the reason for this was because it was the first novel that made me realize the

multifaceted nature of Literary studies. What is great about studying literature is that along with

conducting literary analysis, a student is also engaging with, and learning about so many other

things such as history, philosophy, and sociology. As a discipline placed within the humanities, it

does not limit itself in any way. Oscar Wilde started my obsession with English Literature, and
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countless other authors have perpetuated this. I revisited Wilde later in my undergraduate studies

when I read his essay, “The Decay of Lying,” which, four years after reading The Picture of

Dorian Gray, reminded me of why I find English literature so interesting. One of the concepts

coming from this essay is that “Life imitates Art.” This idea is communicated in a Socratic

dialogue between two individuals who are discussing aesthetics, and the role of art in society.

What is amazing about this essay is that it quite literally discusses the concepts and ideas at stake

in the essay through these two people. The conversation between them is representative of a

democratic view of art within society, where people are at liberty to discuss the importance and

purpose of art. I believe that this can be one of the greatest aspects of literature as an art. Its

accessibility and discussion provoking nature allow it to be a strong tenant of our society.

When I think about the “usefulness” of having an English degree, I point to examples

within the literary cannon such as texts by Wilde and Didion because they represent the ability of

the written word to reach out to people, provoke progress, create a dialogue, and to engage with

its audience in a unique way. As a humanities student, I have often times had to justify my

academic passion to people who can’t see past the idea that I “study old and boring books,” in

their opinion. There seems to be a suggestion of elitism and privilege attached to the study of

Literature, and I think that is one thing that I would love to be able to dissemble in my own

writing. Getting more people interested in Literature would allow for a resurgence of thinkers

and people within the field that would revolutionize the world of writing. I think that there are so

many people who have amazing stories to tell, but either do not have the tools to write those

stories or have not been introduced to literature in a meaningful way. Since I largely date my

own interest in writing to my studies as an English major, I want to give access to interesting and
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various stories to more and more people. The more people have access to, the more the world

can connect within the world through a certain text.

One of the ways in which I was able to practice this theory and put it into existence was

during my semester abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. While I was there I started an online blog

where I wrote about my experiences while studying and traveling abroad. As someone who had

never traveled outside of the country, I thought that my writing could inspire people to travel and

let people into my unique experience. Before going abroad, I felt that I had a duty to share my

experience, and now looking at it, I am so proud of what I created on my small platform. Even

just on a small blog I created by myself, I put into action my own dreams of not only writing, but

also creating something that could be read and related to by other people. Whatever stories I told

I knew there were people who probably had experienced similar things, and in there lies the

beauty of what writing has to offer to both authors and audience alike – a sense of community.

Beyond my own travel writing, there can be communities built around any text and any

author, living or not. Even though Oscar Wilde is not alive anymore, I still feel connected to him

through his work. There are texts that live on due to their universality, and it is that universality

that I want to exemplify and put into effect with others. I love writing because it gives me a

creative outlet for my thoughts and ideas. The placement of each word in a sentence has

meaning, and the practice of concocting and restructuring certain phrases can only be explained

as an empowering and graceful act. I write because it gives me a path towards change, and a path

towards a better-connected society. I take my inspiration from those that came before me, and it

is their work that inspired me to create new and interesting texts. The more stories a diverse set

of people share, the more people understand one another.