Nerdin’ it up over Break

Nerdin’ it up over Break

Charlotte K, Copy Editor

I just woke up from a two-hour long nap with my cat (which my grades can’t really afford), and as I sit here trying to find something to write, all I can think about is winter break. I’m not going anywhere, not doing anything wild and crazy––but I have this looming metre-high stack of books on my nightstand I can’t wait to get to.

 

So here, I’m going to give a little plug for winter-reading. I’m just as keen on Netflix as the next person, but reading can give you something unique. Winter break is oftentimes one of the only parts of the year we have for non-school activities, so use it to learn about the things you want! Use break to expand your understanding of the books you read in school, and the ones you read for pleasure.

 

Literature is rife with allusion, and by reading for context you a) get to read for fun and b) are expanding your literary-horizons. Some authors are explicit about their allusions. In Annie Dillard’s American Childhood, for example, she mentions Kerouac’s On the Road and Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. For me, understanding those books was essential in shaping my understanding of Dillard’s memoir.

 

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been a sucker for allusion. It’s addicting––because it’s just ever-so-slightly laced through a work, taunting you with the prospect of revolutionising your understanding of the book at hand, and offering a whole new story, a whole new set of allusions, in a never-ending web of words.

 

 

 

Here’s an example of an allusion chain, using the books mentioned above:

 

An American Childhood by Annie Dillard

–> which alludes to On the Road by Jack Kerouac

–> which alludes to The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

–> which alludes to A Book of Prefaces by H.L. Mencken

–>which Richard Wright alludes to in Black Boy

–> which alludes to The Castle by Franz Kafka

Which may lead me to another allusion, and another after that.

Keep the allusions coming, because I will keep reading.