tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post4659132361181109007..comments2024-03-10T23:01:51.493-05:00Comments on Stupid Motivational Tricks / Bemsha Swing: Thoreau on the 1st personJonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-21213241319276549152013-11-08T20:47:10.477-06:002013-11-08T20:47:10.477-06:00well, thoreau did have a weakness/proclivity for p...well, thoreau did have a weakness/proclivity for punnyness and paradox which he acknowledged to sometimes hinder understanding.<br /><br />i would also connect the remark quoted to the bit (in walden?) about never knowing a worse man than himself, and to the bit about forgetting/losing himself (e.g. while 'traveling' between village and home), and to the parts about the self in 'j.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09002699528461726304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-73226760603929155722013-11-05T00:49:20.621-06:002013-11-05T00:49:20.621-06:00I started a response to this and abandoned it, but...I started a response to this and abandoned it, but j. makes me reconsider. What's irritating about Thoreau's comment is that it's an evasive debating trick, designed to make the interlocutor look dumb. Yes, we all understand that every writer knows herself best of all. That doesn't get us very far in grasping why some writers use the first person and some do not.Vance Maverickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07477306994564623348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-285506226055308592013-11-02T12:32:23.328-05:002013-11-02T12:32:23.328-05:00i've taught that book, and focused a lot on it...i've taught that book, and focused a lot on its 'i', but because i was just reading elsewhere about novels, it suddenly occurs to me to test the last remark there against the novelist's typical practice.<br /><br />there's a lot of material in thoreau circling around the idea of myth-making and poetizing as something that puts a person into contact with the cultural fund of j.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09002699528461726304noreply@blogger.com