PART VII: Public Space; Chapter 26: Saying Something
As one who usually writes academic nonfiction, I really connected with this particular chapter. In it Maisel points to the illusion of neutrality in creative production. He reminds us that everything we write is a decision to include one thing and leave out something else.
Everything that is or isn't there on the page is a choice. And every choice speaks.
"Writing is interpretation. You are obliged to offer yours. If you want to say nothing, offend no one, tell a happy little tale, and otherwise act the innocent, that choice is available to you. Just remember that even then you are saying something and that we are watching" (169).
I love that. It's something that I teach my students out the starting gate: there is no such thing as neutral representation, whatever form you're dealing with.
As Maisel says,
You can play it safe or you can speak your mind. Why venture into the public sphere of readers and audiences if your goal is to keep your real thoughts private? If you are bothering to write, say what you mean. (169)
(Didn't Lewis Carroll do a riff on this theme in Alice in Wonderland? If I could locate it easily, I would ...)
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