Tuesday, October 18, 2005

What did the English teachers say?


So I'm reading "Big Sur" by the most famous of all "beat" writers, Jack Kerouac, and can't help but smile at the thought of what his school teachers must have said. The scolding he must have received. I mean, the paragraphs can be one sentence, even better, the guy could write a sentence to fill an entire page. Not to say he rejects the use of a period, but it so rare and almost always interrupted by a long series of commas that when it's used it is almost startling. So I suppose it is made more effective. Of course "On the Road" is held up as the American classic, as it should be, but so far "Big Sur" is just as enjoyable. Inspiration for anyone who likes to write and was told by an English teacher they have horrible grammar. Read this, it proves that grammar is relative to style. I checked it out from the library due to my low funds and it's $13.99 cover price. Read it. If you have time. And if you're not a sixth grade grammar teacher. Better yet, if you are a sixth grade grammar teacher, read all of Kerouac's books. And don't read my blog. I hate being corrected.

1 Comments:

Blogger -from hell said...

*ahem*
On line three, you incorrectly....

;)

j/k


Honestly - that's why I love the English language (and not just because it's the only one I know) - the rules are really just guidelines. Once you really know them all, you are allowed to go ahead and break the hell out of them.

In grammar school, if you begin a sentence with And Or or But, you get hit in the face by the teacher's mallet (what - that never happened to you?!?!) - but in a novel, you can use that, and other "errors" to set the tone in your work.
All these rules - the best works of literature regularly break them.
Grammar teacher be damned!!!
(except for the one i had in 3rd grade... she was coo.... oh, and in 4th, too - she was pretty....)

2:20 PM  

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