"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, first line.
I spent hours today trying to figure out a writing technology I could "invent" without using anything that was store-bought or man-made. I tried to crush dandelions into a paste to write with; I thought about writing on my 18-year old's back. It was literally giving me a headache. Finally, I decided that I would go all "cave man." I found a stick in the back of my yard and I used a store-bought lighter (there was no time to rub two sticks together) to light the tip. I found two pieces of wood in my garage and I painstakingly alternated between lighting the tip of the stick on fire and forming the letters on the pieces of wood. (I'm actually not sure if cave men ever even wrote anything).
When I was considering the portability of my writing project, I thought about Manguel's essay and the evolution of the book. Barron's essay made me think of how grateful I am for the technology of today's writing utensil's that I can go to my local Walgreen's and buy. I do not think I would have enjoyed living in the time of the inkwell.
1 comment:
It's interesting you picked a famous quote to write here. I wonder what your thinking was behind that, and that might be something good to write about in your essay, too.
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