Sunday, January 27, 2008

King of the Brittons, or Why I Loved that Man

I gotta tell ya, I loved Britton. The concept of a continuum between transactional and poetic discourses with expressive discourse a shady fluid center is beautiful. Just these three little (humongous) categories cover what we do in all our communications. The description of poetic discourse really nails the dichotomy: “And poetic discourse is the form that most fully meets the demands associated with the role of the spectator, demands that are met, we suggested, by MAKING SOMETHING with language rather than doing something with it.” (VV 158) With expressive capability and purpose as the wellspring from which both transactional and poetic discourse are birthed, Britton makes the assertion that expressive writing is a way in which we both wish for a state affairs and advertise or relationship to that state of affairs.

This isn't dead, cold, dessicated production of literary study objects. It's the making of worlds! Everyone needs to find their place in the world, continually. With this need as a motivator, writing becomes one of the best ways to make the world and me fit. All the other uses to which writing can be put will come about when they are desired as the best method to getting what we want, whether that is the aesthetic chills brought on by powerful fiction or a clearly explained set of instruction for bomb defusing.

One last thing about Britton's example of Clare. The little chart on page 167 about story length, age and T-unit length is powerful evidence for the influence of reading on writing, not just in subject matter or “feel,” but in level of sophistication as well. It's good to see it confirmed in someone else, I was starting to worry that I was the only one prone to “write snooty” after reading a bunch of theory.

1 comment:

Mary Elizabeth said...

Love the title! I would have to agree that writing is about connecting "you" with "the world".
The only question I have about your "snotty writing" is are you allowing for alternative compositional techniques? I wonder how you connect the formal tradition writing with the new informal technological writing? While texting, etc. may be outside the scope of teaching composition, do we need to examine the ethics and truth in that technique of composition?