Final Course
Reflection
The
question is: why is it important to be a reader (and writer) in the
twenty-first century? This question was mentioned at the beginning of
Contemporary Literature way back in August and it is fitting that for the final
project of Contemporary Literature we are coming back to this question and
answering it for the last time. It is important to be a reader and writer in
the twenty-first century because we are able to understand what is happening in
a rapidly changing world and where we stand in that rapidly changing world. I
will be discussing that exact question in the four books (five if you count the
extra credit book) that we have covered throughout the year. Through reading
and writing in the twenty-first century, we are also able to learn about new
things from different perspectives where we would probably not have learned
about them. As seen through The Art of
Racing in the Rain. This is why it is so important to be a reader and
writer in the twenty-first century.
Gath
Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain
does an excellent job of getting a story from a different perspective as well
as understanding things from a different point of view. In this example, it is
that of a dog named Enzo. If it was not for Stein’s impressive and intricate
way of telling this story from Enzo’s point of view while making it believable
that this could happen at some point, the story would not have the appeal that
it did with this impressive storytelling by Stein. The description of Enzo as
he get older and starts to experience the aches and pains as his body ages are
hilarious and believable because of Stein’s descriptions in his writing. As
seen in this scene with Enzo, “The morning after Eve’s funeral, I could barely
move. My body was so stiff, I couldn’t even stand, Denny had to [help] me”
(Stein 215). Through this description of the pain that Enzo is in, the reader
feels sorry for him. If it was not for the descriptive writing of this scene,
the reader would not necessarily feel that way. The writing style of Stein is
also one of the reasons that after The
Art of Racing in the Rain was published there was a high influx of similar
novels taking the point of view of an animal. Stein had successfully started a
sub-genre through his vivid descriptions of what happens in the novel. This
novel is just a great example of the benefits of learning about new things from
different points of view by reading and writing in the twenty-first century.
The infographic project that went along with this novel did an OK job of
representing that but the book was a better example of what it means to truly
be a reader and writer in the twenty-first century.
Erin
Morgenstern’s The Night Circus also
represents a different point of view similar to Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain but it is as different as it is
similar. Unlike all of the other books that we read in Contemporary Literature
where they could be set in the present time and it would be a “believable” book,
which would not be possible for The Night
Circus. It is because it takes place in the 1800s and there is magic.
Besides those two factors in the book, Morgenstern’s vivid and descriptive does
a great job of making the book believable and a joy to read. As seen in the
description of the fire, “flames lit up in yellow, ripe pumpkin, red, …”
(Morgenstern 120). While only a few colors were included in the quote out of
the twelve in total that are mentioned, the beauty of the story that
Morgenstern constructs is second to none. The perspectives in the book help to
also allow the reader to understand more about what they are reading. Marco
learns in solitude while Celia learns with the help of her father. These are
two clearly different ways of learning and preparing for a competition but love
ends up getting in the way. This the only book that (I will be writing about)
has an overwhelming theme of love. Sure, there are other books that we read
that have love briefly mentioned but they are not as strong as a central theme
as it is in The Night Circus.
Morgenstern’s shows how an individual’s judgment can be clouded by love, which
is not a bad thing, but the reader is able to get a different experience
through reading this book than they would get through reading the other books
this year. Since this one is the only one that really was in the past and had
magic in it. This perspective that the reader gets from The Night Circus shows how important it is to be a reader in the
twenty-first century.
Robin
Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
is a literary masterpiece and by far my most favorite that we read for
Contemporary Literature (beside Lone
Survivor for Extra Credit). What Sloan does better than any other author
that we read this year (besides Luttrell) was create very vivid descriptions of
the different settings in the novel as well as just being very descriptive in
everything that happens pertaining to the novel. The Waybacklist as well as Mr.
Penumbra’s actual 24-Hour Bookstore are so descriptive that they are believable
that the store could actually be in San Francisco. The description of the
Reading Room is one such example, “...Wide
steps curl down into the darkness. The ceiling is crisscrossed with heavy
wooden beams. ...The floor is bedrock ...smooth like glass” (Sloan 143-44). With
this description of the Reading Room, the reader is successfully able to
picture themselves walking besides Clay and experiencing the Reading Room right
along with him. Sloan is able to do what
many authors try to do but are rather unsuccessful. He is able to intertwine
technology with literature, books in particular. The Unbroken Spine is situated in the modern
and ever changing world; however, there roots are still situated in the ancient
form of print—word on paper. The rest of the business is run with copyright
suits using the most high-tech and modern technology. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is the epitome what it means to be
a reader and writer in the twenty-first century. The blend of technology and
literature clearly shows that and makes this book a perfect example of what it
truly means to read and write in the twenty-first century.
The
final book that we were required to read was A.S. King’s Please Ignore Vera Dietz since the writer of this paper did not
like the book and found it a pathetic example of what literature is (just my
opinion), the writer of this paper will instead focus on the project that went
along with the reading of this book, the TEDxCL project. The TEDxCL project was
a great culmination to finish out Contemporary Literature. The project was also
quite successful in making sure that the participants of Contemporary
Literature clearly understood what it meant to be a reader and writer of the
twenty-first century since both of those skills were used through finding
research about the topic that was chosen for the participant’s TEDx talk as
well as understanding what they were researching so that the information could
be written out to properly convey what the reader had learned from their
research. The topic that the writer of this paper chose for their TEDxCL talk
was, The Benefit of Getting Enough Sleep. The writer of this paper feels that
they were able to successfully present what they had learned from researching
this topic in an environment that was not hostile and was very accepting. This
is a plus. Did you know that “getting more sleep can lead to a better sex life?”
(WebMD). This is just one of the interesting tidbits of information that writer
of this paper found that helped to move the presentation along without losing
the audience’s attention for too long. Overall, this was the best project that
was presented and executed upon in Contemporary Literature. The writer of this
paper hopes that it will never go away as this project really helped to answer
the question about what it means to be a reader and writer in the twenty-first
century.
Everything
that was covered in Contemporary Literature, have it be a book, article, or
even a project. They were all geared to answering the question of what it truly
means to be a reader and writer in the twenty-first century. A reader and
writer in the twenty-first century is someone that is able to successfully
attain information from different points of view, make sense of what they
learned, and write it down so that others will be able to learn about the new
information as well. The writer of this article is happy that they took this
class since they were able to learn more about getting information from books
that were published in the twenty-first instead of just reading biographies. However,
I have never had as much homework in one class before taking this class. This
is my own personal opinion. For a comparison, I am taking three AP classes this
semester, one which is online through JVLA, and the amount of homework from
those three AP classes does not even compare to what I received from this
class. Now getting homework is not a bad thing, I do understand that it was the
first year that this class was offered, but maybe next year the homework load could
be lightened a little bit. Concerning the choices of books, they were all good
except for Please Ignore Vera Dietz.
How possible would it be to replace Vera
Dietz with Lone Survivor? I feel
that Lone Survivor would be a more
interesting book to read. All of the projects that we did were good, especially
the TEDxCL project. If you were going to change one or spruce it up, I would do
that for the Infographic project. Overall, a good class and hope that people
will continue to take it.
