This is such a beautiful and elegant appraisal of an idea, and I have yet to read the Doty - doing that now, but it also reminds me of Celia Hunt's work - and her definition of 'reflexivity' and how creative writing is inherently contradictory because it is deeply personal and yet it involves moving away from the self and becoming impersonal. As a writer we kind of move between the two - and I see a similar thing here in what you describe. Close attention transporting us to a deeper place in ourselves, where we become untethered to what is material.
This is what Celia Hunt writes about reflexivity ‘Reflexivity involves creating an internal space, distancing ourselves from ourselves, as it were, so that we are both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ ourselves simultaneously and able to switch back and forth fluidly and playfully from one position to the other, giving ourselves up to the experience of ‘self as other’ whilst also retaining a grounding in our familiar sense of self.’
Thank you for such thoughtful reading, and I'll certainly look out for Celia Hunt. Is this from the book with Fiona Sampson? I love Mark Doty's essays, and his poetry, and he has written some gorgeous memoirs too.
This is such a beautiful and elegant appraisal of an idea, and I have yet to read the Doty - doing that now, but it also reminds me of Celia Hunt's work - and her definition of 'reflexivity' and how creative writing is inherently contradictory because it is deeply personal and yet it involves moving away from the self and becoming impersonal. As a writer we kind of move between the two - and I see a similar thing here in what you describe. Close attention transporting us to a deeper place in ourselves, where we become untethered to what is material.
This is what Celia Hunt writes about reflexivity ‘Reflexivity involves creating an internal space, distancing ourselves from ourselves, as it were, so that we are both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ ourselves simultaneously and able to switch back and forth fluidly and playfully from one position to the other, giving ourselves up to the experience of ‘self as other’ whilst also retaining a grounding in our familiar sense of self.’
Thank you for such thoughtful reading, and I'll certainly look out for Celia Hunt. Is this from the book with Fiona Sampson? I love Mark Doty's essays, and his poetry, and he has written some gorgeous memoirs too.
Yes, that one. It’s the most interesting