Thylias suggested that we could begin by crossing out things we didn't want read, and highlighting things we wanted read, or wanted to emphasize in the text. So, I started by highlighting lines and words that I liked. This was slightly difficult, as I had never read the book before (so I didn't really know what to look for), but that made the project even more interesting - I was judging the text on an individual word and sentence level, not as a whole, which is an unusual way to view a book.
The first words I highlighted were the first two words of the book: "Excuse me." I really liked that the book started this way; it seemed like a catchy, captivating introduction and made me want to read more. I also highlighted other words on the first page that I thought seemed interesting and important, such as "piano lessons." I did not find any words on the first page that I wanted to cross out or obscure.
The first page of Vive la Paris
By page three, I had decided to start crossing words out as well as highlighting them.
Page 3 of Vive la Paris
When I arrived at page four, I noticed that the words I had struck through on the previous page appeared as different crossed-out words on the next page. It was as though I had accidentally obscured words on page four.
Page 4 and 5 of Vive la Paris
Sometimes I would cross out words that would appear on the next page as just blue lines (since the Sharpie I was using was blue). This happened when there were no words on the next page where I had struck through on the previous page, like these pages below.
The two photos above are of pages 7 and 8 of Vive la Paris
It was very interesting to examine which words had been purposefully crossed out and which words were accidentally obscured. Sometimes I would think about striking through a word (or group of words) on one page, then go to the next page and cross out some words. Once I turned back to the previous page, I found that the words I had considered crossing out had been obscured by the strike-throughs on the next page. Here is an example of this below. On page 120, I crossed out "some words in squiggly letters" (near the top of the page), which inadvertently crossed out "You're lucky to be alive" on page 119. I had previously considered crossing out "You're lucky to be alive," but had decided against it. Interestingly, crossing out other words on the next page also crossed out these words.
Pages 119 and 120 of Vive la Paris
I found this process of working through the book and crossing out certain words fascinating and enlightening. I will continue to work with this book during and between future classes - perhaps even tearing out a page and leaving it outside at the mercy of the elements, and seeing how that changes the experience of the book as a whole. For now, the book will remain in the library cabinet while I go on vacation for Spring Break.
No comments:
Post a Comment