From Houdini to T.H.E.M.
This time around I will begin with the LEFT BRAIN tip: (for a very clear example of what LEFT Brain thinking is, go to the link on the right about a Maths thinking skills game - Sudoku)How do you start a Lit. essay?
To answer this, I have to make some assumptions. First there is a question posed on an idea or opinion about a text and in this case, let's assume it is either a short story or a novel. The question can either be about
themes (somewhat like main story ideas often stated as nouns like "GREED" or "REVENGE"),
characters (singly but often more interesting in contrast with another)
plot (the sequence of events and sometimes dovetailing of the motives and personal journeys of different characters)or
historical significance (especially works written against a backdrop of world-changing events).
Now let's think about how we approach the question - is there any difference from the way we write other essays?
Forget the PSLE A or A* you got in Primary 6 - the Composition there was story-writing or scenario development. Narration is not the main skill required in writing the Lit. essay. Most times, what you are expected to do is to allow the question to tease out a point of view from you, then you are expected to present your view of the matter with accompanying evidence from the text.
So first things first:
Never ever offer a conclusion at the beginning of your essay however tempted you may be. Treat the question as if it was bringing up the most important issue about the text. Turn the question on its head and consider the reason for asking - if it is about a character, is it any different in real life? If it is about a theme, what does the story really tell us? Ask yourself why such a question and if the points in it have never occurred to you, choose another question. Conversely, if you recognise the argument in the question and you can RECAll EVIDENCE from the text quite quickly to support or refute it, you have obviously done your homework. All the THINKING must come before the planning and the writing. It is as simple as that. You can't think as you go along.
Some LEFT BRAIN thoughts about a RIGHT BRAIN experience (watching a TV pilot)
MS Tan S.T. my old friend asked a good question - is "Lit. as cool" really necessary - isn't passion more important? I grew up on that too. I would love to think passion is what's most important too. Then something on the telly just made me realise why "cool' is so important nowadays.
Anyone who is not a Baby Boomer (post 1965) belongs to a more tired generation - tired of unending world feuds, tired of media manipulating celebrities, tired of unresolved environmental damage, tired of false faith and fake figures. Very little entertains them for long. People have talked about the phenomenal changes in information technology in the last two decades. But let me focus on magic shows and magicians. We all know Houdini and the impact he created with his ability to escape from locks and strait-jackets. Then David Copperfield brought Las Vegas magic to the Wonders of the world. And now we have "street magic". Suddenly the genre has switched from cabaret to concert to reality show and boy band. We now have really good young magicians like a group called Totally Hidden Extreme Magic, T.H.E.M. These young dudes have created a Black Eyed Peas of a group of magicians. They are hip, outrageous, multi-ethnic, and pretending to be the people beautiful. They don't even have to introduce themselves. They just have to "be" like regular young people. By taking their acts to sets like dressing rooms in boutiques and the queue in front of a hot and happening LA night joint, they have successfully appropriated the familiar settings of the young but tired and presented themselves as relevant. They have managed to involve an audience that was essentially nobody's, an audience that no longer cares to watch magicians in tuxedos performing on stages created by their production crews. Being populist and popular is no sin but it gets very tough if you can sing but nobody wants to hear your songs anymore.
"Popular" is good business.Charles Dickens was extremely popular in his time. He perfected the cliff-hanger chapter ending that you see in all soap operas,and any serialised television drama. Shakespeare was hot in his time. He borrowed shamelessly from so many literary sources, then entertained the rowdy crowds with lines so bawdy you have to read them yourself to believe they are there (told my prepubescent RI boys to find them right in the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet). All writers hope to be "cool' first to their own generation; the great ones manage to speak to future generations and to other cultures as well. So I guess we get passionate about what's "cool" first, then one day that "coolness" disappears and all that is left is some other artist or writer spinning off new material inspired or invigorated by the old "cool". You think so?
To answer this, I have to make some assumptions. First there is a question posed on an idea or opinion about a text and in this case, let's assume it is either a short story or a novel. The question can either be about
themes (somewhat like main story ideas often stated as nouns like "GREED" or "REVENGE"),
characters (singly but often more interesting in contrast with another)
plot (the sequence of events and sometimes dovetailing of the motives and personal journeys of different characters)or
historical significance (especially works written against a backdrop of world-changing events).
Now let's think about how we approach the question - is there any difference from the way we write other essays?
Forget the PSLE A or A* you got in Primary 6 - the Composition there was story-writing or scenario development. Narration is not the main skill required in writing the Lit. essay. Most times, what you are expected to do is to allow the question to tease out a point of view from you, then you are expected to present your view of the matter with accompanying evidence from the text.
So first things first:
Never ever offer a conclusion at the beginning of your essay however tempted you may be. Treat the question as if it was bringing up the most important issue about the text. Turn the question on its head and consider the reason for asking - if it is about a character, is it any different in real life? If it is about a theme, what does the story really tell us? Ask yourself why such a question and if the points in it have never occurred to you, choose another question. Conversely, if you recognise the argument in the question and you can RECAll EVIDENCE from the text quite quickly to support or refute it, you have obviously done your homework. All the THINKING must come before the planning and the writing. It is as simple as that. You can't think as you go along.
Some LEFT BRAIN thoughts about a RIGHT BRAIN experience (watching a TV pilot)
MS Tan S.T. my old friend asked a good question - is "Lit. as cool" really necessary - isn't passion more important? I grew up on that too. I would love to think passion is what's most important too. Then something on the telly just made me realise why "cool' is so important nowadays.
Anyone who is not a Baby Boomer (post 1965) belongs to a more tired generation - tired of unending world feuds, tired of media manipulating celebrities, tired of unresolved environmental damage, tired of false faith and fake figures. Very little entertains them for long. People have talked about the phenomenal changes in information technology in the last two decades. But let me focus on magic shows and magicians. We all know Houdini and the impact he created with his ability to escape from locks and strait-jackets. Then David Copperfield brought Las Vegas magic to the Wonders of the world. And now we have "street magic". Suddenly the genre has switched from cabaret to concert to reality show and boy band. We now have really good young magicians like a group called Totally Hidden Extreme Magic, T.H.E.M. These young dudes have created a Black Eyed Peas of a group of magicians. They are hip, outrageous, multi-ethnic, and pretending to be the people beautiful. They don't even have to introduce themselves. They just have to "be" like regular young people. By taking their acts to sets like dressing rooms in boutiques and the queue in front of a hot and happening LA night joint, they have successfully appropriated the familiar settings of the young but tired and presented themselves as relevant. They have managed to involve an audience that was essentially nobody's, an audience that no longer cares to watch magicians in tuxedos performing on stages created by their production crews. Being populist and popular is no sin but it gets very tough if you can sing but nobody wants to hear your songs anymore.
"Popular" is good business.Charles Dickens was extremely popular in his time. He perfected the cliff-hanger chapter ending that you see in all soap operas,and any serialised television drama. Shakespeare was hot in his time. He borrowed shamelessly from so many literary sources, then entertained the rowdy crowds with lines so bawdy you have to read them yourself to believe they are there (told my prepubescent RI boys to find them right in the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet). All writers hope to be "cool' first to their own generation; the great ones manage to speak to future generations and to other cultures as well. So I guess we get passionate about what's "cool" first, then one day that "coolness" disappears and all that is left is some other artist or writer spinning off new material inspired or invigorated by the old "cool". You think so?
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