Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Perspective is Key
It is hard for a person to come up with an idea that is completely original because there are so many people in the world. No one can ever know for sure whether or not someone has already thought the same thoughts that they have. This happens all of the time for writers. They write about love, relationships, friendships, sex, etc. No matter what concept a writer chooses to write about, someone else has also written about it. They may have a different perspective, but the idea itself was not an original one. Readers grasp onto concepts that give them the most pleasure while reading. Foster says that people feel "delight at recognizing a familiar component from earlier experience." This explains why some people prefer reading romance novels while their friends may prefer to read mysteries. They like seeing other writer's perspectives on topics that they connect with and understand the most. Readers also pick up new concepts as they read the genres that they most enjoy. For example. a reader may fall in love with reading about love due to a romance that bloomed within their go to science fiction story. This opens a door for them to explore all sorts of concepts that they can form their own opinions on that contribute to "one big story." Writing, reading, and expressing ideas about the same topics helps to supply the world with a variety of ways to learn about and appreciate what others are thinking.
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Familiarity is absolutely a symbol of comfort to a majority of people. Because they recognize a concept, idea, or event, they tend to find themselves reliving their own previous experiences. Foster discussed the ability to recognize patterns and thus other patterns being seen became familiar. He expressed that people who did numerous connect-the-dot activities had a tendency to notice the images in a two dimensional dot drawing significantly faster than he was able to because connect-the-dot activities produced images that were familiar to him. Familiarity gives people ability to pick out details or patterns much faster than their unconditioned counterparts. Indulging in familiar activities and plot lines allows for improvement in recognizing future patterns; this indulgence acts as a sort of practice.
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ReplyDeletePerhaps there is so little originality in literature because there are only a handful of ideas to truly explore. Yes, authors manage to twist these ideas into an infinite supply, but there is surely a finite number of experiences that humans share. Like Alyssa mentioned, authors often write of love, relationships, friendships, sex, etc. Being the social creatures we are, these interactions are some of the core experiences virtually all humans can relate to on some level. There are also introspective struggles that people tend to share, such as guilt, struggles with faith, and fear. However, like the previously mentioned social subjects, these too come in a finite amount. Therefor literature is ultimately transforming this finite supply of familiar subjects into an infinite supply of stories that people can share among themselves.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be plenty of blogs that mention the idea of how scarce originality is, including numerous people who will more than likely agree to these comments and blogs even if they did not write about it. As Alyssa mentions, authors can easily spark the desires and ideas of other authors through their writing. This seems quite reminiscent of Foster's writings in the first chapter of his book when he writes about journeys. The title that Alyssa gave this work is "Perspective is Key," while Foster's main point in the first chapter is about how self-knowledge is key since it is the real journey in life. Perspective and self-knowledge are both key in literature because people must have an open mind while reading in order to enjoy the beauty of what is being said whilst also keeping an eye out for concepts that light the torch of creativity.
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ReplyDeleteAlyssa, I refer you to the Original Thought Theory, a claim that all thoughts and ideas have already been conceived by humans in the past. Its basic tenet proves what the beginning of your response states on the scarcity of originality. After reading your blog, I personally questioned the notion that the only variance one might have on a topic stems from difference in perspective. Yet, after further consideration, I can not find any other variables that could have this effect. Environment, culture, time period, and age are factors that clearly make a difference; however, they could all be enveloped under the greater scope of what you call “perspective.”
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, I refer you to the Original Thought Theory, a claim that all thoughts and ideas have already been conceived by humans in the past. Its basic tenet proves what the beginning of your response states on the scarcity of originality. After reading your blog, I personally questioned the notion that the only variance one might have on a topic stems from difference in perspective. Yet, after further consideration, I can not find any other variables that could have this effect. Environment, culture, time period, and age are factors that clearly make a difference; however, they could all be enveloped under the greater scope of what you call “perspective.”
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