Monday August 1, 2022; 10:38 AM EDT
- Stephen Kuusisto distinguishes between stories told about oneself and stories told about a group: "My own take is that creative writing culture is essentially without sincerity. It's a 'me first' podium from which singular stories of abjection and resilience are emoted but without any awareness of class warfare."#
- Kuusisto also shares a far-reaching theory from Giles Deleuze: “We will never find the sense of something (of a human, a biological or even a physical phenomenon) if we do not know the force which appropriates the thing, which exploits it, which takes possession of it or is expressed in it.” (In Nietzsche and Philosophy.)#
- Taken together, these two passages urge us to see our lives not just as solo efforts or private lives but also as expressions of the broad patterns of our society that are given as benefits or barriers by the unfolding of history.#
- If this is so, then improving our lives is both a solo effort and a matter of class struggle. A matter of cultivation of oneself and a matter of organizing a community, both.#
- Steve also wrote Have Dog, Will Travel: A Poet's Journey, a beautiful book about learning how to live again, with and thanks to Corky, his first guide dog. #