Across and Beyond 007: Technicians of Ecstasy
[Sunday Sketches by Christoph Niemann]
Christoph Niemann is a masterly technician of ecstasy (Mark Levy’s term). His visual playfulness forces me to think about how I see objects, which in turn forces me to think about how I use language.
Why do I use the pronoun I ?
For years I’ve been struggling to write a series of memoir-like essays about being transsexual. The genre, of course, dictates the use of the pronoun I.
So I wrote with that pronoun. For years. And the whole lot of them never worked. They came out cloying or shrill and always wrong.
On a whim and crescendo of energy I changed the I to You.
You now narrate these essays, and apparently have quite a bit to say. More than I every could, apparently.
On the basis of one of these newly revised essays, I was recently accepted into an advanced workshop at the Key West Literary Seminar 2020.
You got the job done.
This will be my first, in person, rich 3D, writing workshop, ever.
Whether I or You should be scared or nervous or both, we can’t say. We are, however, very chuffed and more than a little proud.
My adventures in difficult reading continue with Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings. I’m feeling a lot of wow about this epic work of fiction, even as I struggle to understand all that is happening. A quarter of the way through the book and the results favor naming James as another technician of ecstasy.
What I thought about this morning gardening:
Leave good evidence of yourself. Do good work.
– Gary Rogowski
Jay