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Curtain Rising - Curtain Rising Magazine - Volume 1, Issue 20 - September 11, 2007 - Index

Curtain Rising
September 11, 2007
CHRIS' CALL
I was wondering lately about the art and science of
writing and let my thoughts take me to the study of
English Literature. The academic side of the language
has a great deal to answer for in terms of the way
writers have been treated in the Western World, and
it comes down to this...how much can you study a
person's work?
Every university has a literature department
concentrated on its dissection and analysis of English
Literature. Academics have made writing a science
not an art. They have removed the passion to leave
in its place a skeleton of other people's thoughts and
interpretations.
There are literally hundreds of books that purport to
show us the real Shakespeare. When I studied his work
for English A-level it struck me that their reverence
makes the myth of the Bard's brilliance irrefutable! His
use of metaphors, his clever use of verse, his amazing
plot structures...the drooling is resounding and leaves
the student in abject awe of a human being that stands
a genius colossus above all men.
Too many people and organizations have a vested
interest in keeping the art of writing a mystery beyond
mortals. Professors, especially, can find meaning and
depth where there is nothing but their hot-aired
reputations! As a consequence, people are frightened
to write as they believe they haven't got the ability.
Students should be shown how to write and be
encouraged by the greats...not put off by them. Give
writing back to the writers. Take it out of the ivory
towers of artistic pretence and let it breathe in the
world of art along with the composition of music, the
creation of visual art, acting and dance.
Chris Savery
CEO
Plays On The Net
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
The Plays of William Shakespeare, by Sir John Gilbert, 1849. The works that many writers are still evaluated against today.
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