read them all

College next. Freshman writing. We’re reading a Hemmingway short story; the prof is criticizing the staccato dialogue between husband and wife. When I defend it as appropriate to this exchange, Professro Fehrenbach responds, “ALL of Hemingway’s characters talk that way.” And the world suddenly opens up for me into a maze of texts. I realize that, to speak with authority about this one story, I need to read them all. (Dalke 119)

This is exactly how I feel! I feel like I need to read all texts to be an authority on one. Which is perhaps why I feel like I never have enough authority to write a paper, because I don’t have enough of a cacophony in my head? Of course, it is an impossibility to read everything every written on a subject, but it’s something to aspire to?

Source:

Dalke, Anne French. Teaching to Learn / Learning to Teach: Meditations on the Classroom. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.