The Pillow Book, Rewriting, S/Z

Maybe it’s just my lack of concentration, but of the 50some pages of reading assigned, the one that came to mind first when I started to write this blog was the page accidentally scanned dog-eared from The Pillow Book. But maybe I can interpret that as my tendency to focus on the out-of-the-ordinary when it comes to written works? We'll go with that. I am much more drawn to books and poems that have an atypical structure or an especially unique voice. This reasoning may be why I enjoyed most of the second excerpt from The Pillow Book. I like Shonagon’s use of lists, and how, while simply categorizing stated observations, there is an underlying commentary about each item. The structure of Harris’ Rewriting is what initially caught me. Rather than naming the sources he uses in a bibliography at the end of the book, he puts his methods to a more visual use by incorporating them in the text. The excerpt from Barthes’ “S/Z” kind of threw me, but a line from the section 'How Many Readings?' that I found somewhat relatable was “rereading is no longer consumption, but play (that play which is the return of the different)” (16). This connects directly to Harris’ idea of “rewriting”, not only taking literature and absorbing the text but also seeing what you can do with it. Since literature is written to be read, having the audience put a little bit of themself and their thoughts only seems to abide by the author's intentions.