I've noticed over the last few years that the closer it gets to summer, the less I want to go to sleep at night. It's not really due to increased energy or anything -- I just hate going to sleep. By the time July rolls around, it's usually a sort of strange insomnia; we'll have to see if that will develop this year.
I want to do something crazy and reckless.
Like write a book.
Or start smoking.
Or get into a spontaneous relationship without commitment.
Life is just too bland, predictable, and not edgy. I've chosen to be part of the system...but I can still lament the individuality and freedom that has to be lost in the process. With freedom comes great responsibility, and I have too much on the line right now -- but in another universe, I wouldn't have cared one bit.
Not even a smidgen.
I've been reading The Hours by Michael Cunningham for class. It was inspired by Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and references it so often that many of the characters directly mirror those of Mrs. Dalloway, and there's a storyline that features Woolf during her writing of the story.
And one thing I've noticed is that modern stories don't know how to do drama right anymore. Our idea of drama is that everything that can go wrong, should go wrong; that mental illness, disease, disillusionment with the past, and questioning sexuality should exist multiple times in relation to a single group of characters.
In art, you have both positive and negative space because it accents and compliments both.
In literature, the same applies. You have good situations complimented with bad situations, or at least the dramatic tempered with the mundane.
It's not a bad book. It's just ridiculous and a little hard to take seriously. Not everyone constantly laments every single person they've ever met as a lost love. Not everyone is connected to a very prominent and depressing picture of mental or physical illness.
And even those that do have good days every once and a while.
Where did all the good literature go? Kinda makes me wish I lived in the 20s with the Lost Generation.
ReplyDeleteAnd my sleeping schedule's pretty much constant- if I've got a schedule in the day. If not, it's pretty much chaos in a can.
I totally think the recklessness is a good idea, though. I've been feeling that way lately, so I'm taking up parkour.
I guess the only important parts are being safe and being happy, right?
~C
I do really enjoy literature from the 20s. One of my goals this summer is to read some decent books -- I have some culturin' I need to do.
ReplyDeleteAnd safety and happiness are important I guess :B I was thinking about taking up slightly vandal-esque art projects, but I don't think that would be received well by the general public. Maybe I'll just be a hippie...or play Smash Bros.