S/Z, Rewriting, The Pillow Book

While reading the S/Z essay, the part I found the most interesting and the part I could grab onto the most was when he started talking about re-reading texts. I’ve found myself before re-reading things numerous times because I didn’t understand it the first time. After a few times of reading it back to myself and out loud, I find things within it that I didn’t be. For example, when reading a book for the first time, you don’t catch everything you do when you read it a second or third time. Every time you re-read a text or re-watch a movie, you catch parts that you didn’t notice before. I found this part of the text the most interesting because it made me realize that I’m not crazy for doing it or wasting my time but in the long run, its really helping me and only making me understand the text better.

The Pillow Book, S/Z, and Rewriting

After reading the excerpts from these three works I found myself a bit confused, but also a bit amused and knowing exactly what I was reading. I know this may sound a little like opposite things but this is because I felt differently about these works. After reading the second excerpt from the pillow book I thought that it was an interesting concept of writing like a diary for the public about your everyday observations. One thing that I noticed in this work was that in a few consecutive 'days' or entries the author was making lists of things. After reading the excerpt of S/Z I found myself knowing what this author was talking about, but wondering why we were reading it. The thing that I found interesting about this was that one of the main points in this was that there are many different interpretations of writing. I actually looked up what this entire book was about before reading it because I had never heard of it and wondered if the letters in the title meant anything in particular.

"The Pillow Book," "S/Z," and "Rewriting"

I found S/Z by Roland Barthes a bit difficult to get through, but after reading it over and thinking about it, I found that it was basically about how works of literature have more than one meaning or “plurality.” The authors also talked about how there is not a specific formula for a work of literature since they are all different. It is also mentioned that it is important to know the denotative meaning of words when reading a classic text. This is most likely because the connotations change over time and in different cultures. Especially when a work is translated, the culture and time that it is done in will probably affect the translated work a great deal, adding another layer of meaning. Rewriting was an easier read than S/Z. It had some useful strategies that I can try to incorporate into my own essays. The second excerpt from The Pillow Book was similar to the first. It was written in the same form and style and again showed the importance of poetry in the writer’s culture (people would send poems as messages and to test people). This made me think about how the work was translated (as was mentioned in class) and how much of an impact the translation had on the text, especially the poetry and poetry-like parts. It seems like it would be nearly impossible for the original flow and style of the poem to remain after the translation.

"The Pillow Book," "S/Z," and "Rewriting"

In "The Pillow Book" second excerpt we read, she continues to talk about her daily observations as a court lady to the Empress. With the second excerpt, she illustrated once again the importance that literature had in her culture. Reiterating the importance of literature was shown again in both "S/Z" and "Rewriting." In "S/Z" it talked about the importance of re-reading literature, because we often get distracted and don't look at classic texts as closely as we need to in order to fully understand the meanings they were trying to convey. In "Rewriting," it introduced that we are going to learn through the book to look more closely at critical writings in order to take away the full meaning and significance of them while applying those same principals to our everyday life.

The Pillow Book, S/Z, Rewriting

I really enjoyed the second excerpt in "The Pillow Book". I like how she notices everyday things like the dew dangling from a spider web. I especially liked the line "The tears they shed on parting will turn to dew when morning comes." I just thought it was really beautiful. In the S/Z essay I found it hard to understand some parts but it helped me realize some things about reading literature that I never thought of before. I liked it when he talked about re-reading texts. That's the best thing to do (which people often don't do); to read a really good book, lend it out to a couple of people, then when you get it back you re-read it yourself and maybe find something new and exciting that you didn't catch the first time around. The intro to "Rewriting" was fine I suppose, we're going to learn about writing critical essays and try to compare literature to our everyday experiences.

Three Classic Books

One of the biggest differences I saw between the three stories we read this week is the style in which they are written. The Odyssey is written as a poem, The Pillow Book is more of a diary, and One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of stories. Each style causes a different tone for each book. If any of these stories were written in a different style, their message and portrayals would be completely different.

So why are these stories classic? The Odyssey is an excellent adventure story that shows a lot about Greek mythology. One Thousand and One Nights has so many different stories, its hard to find one that you don't find interesting, especially with so many of them turned into movies. The Pillow Book has such a personal tone to it that its hard not to dive into the stories that are being told.

Week II Readings

Each of the excerpts we read (The Odyssey, 1001 Nights and The Pillow Book) were heavily centered on ideas of faithfulness and judgment. Many of the stories were cyclical, with the roles of accused and accuser, victim and offender frequently changing between characters. The phrase 'no good deed goes unpunished' was often apt. Unlike most modern stories, however, the adjudicators of divine law are tangible. The gods walk amongst men and impose their will directly. The excerpt from The Odyssey opens with the gods discussing this, upset that mankind passes all of their blame onto their deities but refuses to follow their rules and warnings. Despite this frustration, however, the stories we read often were focused on just this issue: Divine interference in mankind's affairs and man's subsequent attempts to wield cleverness and deception to keep a step ahead.