On of the reasons that I wanted to study literature was because it exposed everything. Writers looked for secrets that had never been mined. Every writer has to invent their own magical language, in order to describe the indescribable. They might seem to be writing in French, English, or Spanish, but really they were writing in the language of butterflies, crows, and hanged men.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the transformative power of literature and the unique language that writers create to convey deep, complex emotions and ideas.
Heather O'Neill reflects on the true essence of literature, emphasizing that writers dig deep into the human experience to unearth hidden truths and convey them through a distinctive form of expression. This 'magical language' transcends the conventional use of words, tapping into emotions and nuances that resonate on a profound level, allowing readers to connect with the deeper aspects of existence.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of literature in revealing human truths.
Cinema is not about format, and it's not about venue. Cinema is an approach. Cinema is a state of mind on the part of the filmmaker. I've seen commercials that have cinema in them, and I've seen Oscar-winning movies that don't. I'm fine with this.
If a story doesn't give you a hard-on in the first couple of scenes, throw it in the goddamned garbage.
Art is about trying to find the good in people, and making the world a more compassionate place.
People expect things from art that are horrible for us who make it! They put the things we make in these restrictive places called 'museums,' then don't want to hear another word from us.
A poem, as a manifestation of language and thus essentially dialogue, can be a message in a bottle, sent out in the –not always greatly hopeful-belief that somewhere and sometime it could wash up on land, on heartland perhaps. Poems in this sense too are under way: they are making toward something. Toward what? Toward something standing open, occupiable, perhaps toward an addressable Thou, toward an addressable reality.
Visual art and writing don't exist on an aesthetic hierarchy that positions one above the other, because each is capable of things the other can't do at all. Sometimes one picture is equal to 30 pages of discourse, just as there are things images are completely incapable of communicating.
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