A New View on Writing

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For centuries, views of the world and its inhabitants have been expressed through various ways of art or philosophy. These views can often be related to the seeking of truth to the creation of life, politics, or the problems of the world from before, now, and after. Accordingly, it is by paintings, books, or music, that words or images have an abundant effect on people. Society indicates that knowledge is power, so then why are we sometimes burdened with the errors of generations before? The quote, “writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why,” by James Joyce; points out that any novelist, historian, or author writing about our previous failures as humans in history affects any reader in a way that brings up painful memories and leaves the reader with past knowledge. To be honest, I had to grab a chair and think for what seemed like hours before I could actually comprehend what the quote was saying. I thought to myself, “How can writing about the past bring pain to the reader? I understood how writing can bring knowledge to a person, but how can it affect anything in the present?” As Vladimir Nabokov said, “In reading, one should notice and fondle details.” So, I opened up my mind and started to analyze the quote. Then, suddenly it clicked! In The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, Machiavelli has a similar style to this quote in which he explains that any prince should not select anything else for study but the art of war. He declares through studying the histories of the art of war, “A prince will learn of many illustrious men’s causes for victory or defeat; therefore, avoiding the latter and imitating the former.”(Machiavell...

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...s about certain things. Vladimir Nabokov writes about making connections to his reader and creating something new of what already is. Niccolò Machiavelli wrote about leadership, how to act like a leader, and to learn from the mistakes of the past. My final thought about the quote and the two books was that history can affect people, but choosing what to do with the prior knowledge is our choice. Whether we feel angered from an article about the holocaust or feel encouraged by a speech that reminds us of mistakes from the past; to better the world we must continue writing about the sins and mistakes generations have made. All of this in hope that future generations will resolve our problems and redeem us; to leave a better example through history and to correct what was done wrong in the past. The quote by James Joyce has opened my eyes to the way I look at writing.

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