Final Paper: Displaced Myth
Displaced Myth
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
- John Muir
As a sophomore in college I have come to the conclusion that by the time I graduate with a degree in English Literature I’ll be the best English Literature Trivial Pursuit player in the world (if there is such a thing, which I doubt) and that’s about it. Why do I study it then? Because I enjoy it, yes, but enjoying reading and literature definitely isn’t going to get me that house and car I need to have when I grow up. So I ask myself every day, why am I here? Why am I paying thousands of dollars a year to do something that may not pay me back? And every day, the answer escapes me. Then I was asked to write this paper and my thought process led me to something much more profound than “what I learned in English 212.”
“All literature is displaced myth,” has become a mantra running through my head in every one of Dr. Sexson’s classes. And although I am sure that I will never forget the saying, I never took the time to contemplate it’s exact meaning or impact on my life. After one of Dr. Sexson’s classes I went home to write a paper for American Literature and read Emerson’s The American Scholar. As I was reading, things started to click and I found the connection I had been subconsciously looking for. In his essay Emerson talks about the importance of books and says:
The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again. It came into him, life; it went out from him, truth…. It now endures, it now flies, it now inspires. Precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued, so high does it soar, so long does it sing.
This passage reminded me of the idea that all literature is displaced myth. Emerson seems to be accepting the same idea. He says that the world around the ancient scholars was taken in and “uttered again” to inspire others and be repeated for generations to come. The same idea is present in the classical Greek and biblical traditions. The world around the ancient Greeks and Israelites was accounted for and told so that it would never be forgotten. These ancient “scholars” represented their world so that it would inspire the world and scholars to come. All stories are a reflection or displacement of another, of the beginning of literature. I think that all literature is a reflection of the author’s surroundings and human relationships. And although all people are different, their interactions with each other are not.
As humans, we learn how to write and record our thoughts by reading and imitating the works of others. As Emerson said in his essay, “Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end, which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire.” We carry the practice of imitation through to our own writing by recording our experiences with others which have been repeated through each decade.
As I thought about this phenomena of repetition throughout the ages, I looked for it in my own life. When I was helping baby sit three young boys a few nights ago, they pleaded with me to watch Veggie Tales before they went to bed. I had never seen Veggie Tales before, so I agreed and was interested to see what it was. It turns out that Veggie Tales are a series of movies that use talking vegetables to tell biblical stories and teach lessons. This was obviously a very creative displacement of the biblical tradition. I realized that every story has some reference to something before it. Our British literature book constantly adds footnotes explaining the references made in the texts to ancient traditions. The stories of revenge like the Orestia and stories of helping others like those in Jesus’ parables are repeated over and over with only different characters and settings. Emerson says that the purpose of books is to inspire, but I think that it is the purpose of all literature to inspire. And it is the duty of all readers to take that inspiration and fly with it; to never question the limits of the imagination and to use the consistent themes present in all literature and portray them your own way. Every displacement is unique and yet every displacement carries a common thread. The displacement of myth was and is surrounding me in every creative aspect of my life.
So this brings me back to my original question. Why am I here studying literature? Why am I paying thousands of dollars a year to do something that may not pay me back? And maybe I have found part of the answer. In his essay, The American Scholar, Emerson says, “There is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise, when this poet, who lived in some past world, two or three hundred years ago, says that which lies close to my own soul, that which I also had wellnigh thought and said.” I also find this awe mixed with joy and surprise when I read something that triggers remembrance and repetition in my head. I realize the real importance of literature, to connect. Literature serves as a bridge that connects us all. I will never meet an ancient Greek or Biblical scholar, but I feel as if I know them. I understand the struggle of human relationships that every person must experience. I know the feelings and emotions that come with happiness and sadness. Although I will never know everyone in my world or even in my small state by name, I am connected with them through the words that flow through us all.
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
- John Muir
As a sophomore in college I have come to the conclusion that by the time I graduate with a degree in English Literature I’ll be the best English Literature Trivial Pursuit player in the world (if there is such a thing, which I doubt) and that’s about it. Why do I study it then? Because I enjoy it, yes, but enjoying reading and literature definitely isn’t going to get me that house and car I need to have when I grow up. So I ask myself every day, why am I here? Why am I paying thousands of dollars a year to do something that may not pay me back? And every day, the answer escapes me. Then I was asked to write this paper and my thought process led me to something much more profound than “what I learned in English 212.”
“All literature is displaced myth,” has become a mantra running through my head in every one of Dr. Sexson’s classes. And although I am sure that I will never forget the saying, I never took the time to contemplate it’s exact meaning or impact on my life. After one of Dr. Sexson’s classes I went home to write a paper for American Literature and read Emerson’s The American Scholar. As I was reading, things started to click and I found the connection I had been subconsciously looking for. In his essay Emerson talks about the importance of books and says:
The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again. It came into him, life; it went out from him, truth…. It now endures, it now flies, it now inspires. Precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued, so high does it soar, so long does it sing.
This passage reminded me of the idea that all literature is displaced myth. Emerson seems to be accepting the same idea. He says that the world around the ancient scholars was taken in and “uttered again” to inspire others and be repeated for generations to come. The same idea is present in the classical Greek and biblical traditions. The world around the ancient Greeks and Israelites was accounted for and told so that it would never be forgotten. These ancient “scholars” represented their world so that it would inspire the world and scholars to come. All stories are a reflection or displacement of another, of the beginning of literature. I think that all literature is a reflection of the author’s surroundings and human relationships. And although all people are different, their interactions with each other are not.
As humans, we learn how to write and record our thoughts by reading and imitating the works of others. As Emerson said in his essay, “Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end, which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire.” We carry the practice of imitation through to our own writing by recording our experiences with others which have been repeated through each decade.
As I thought about this phenomena of repetition throughout the ages, I looked for it in my own life. When I was helping baby sit three young boys a few nights ago, they pleaded with me to watch Veggie Tales before they went to bed. I had never seen Veggie Tales before, so I agreed and was interested to see what it was. It turns out that Veggie Tales are a series of movies that use talking vegetables to tell biblical stories and teach lessons. This was obviously a very creative displacement of the biblical tradition. I realized that every story has some reference to something before it. Our British literature book constantly adds footnotes explaining the references made in the texts to ancient traditions. The stories of revenge like the Orestia and stories of helping others like those in Jesus’ parables are repeated over and over with only different characters and settings. Emerson says that the purpose of books is to inspire, but I think that it is the purpose of all literature to inspire. And it is the duty of all readers to take that inspiration and fly with it; to never question the limits of the imagination and to use the consistent themes present in all literature and portray them your own way. Every displacement is unique and yet every displacement carries a common thread. The displacement of myth was and is surrounding me in every creative aspect of my life.
So this brings me back to my original question. Why am I here studying literature? Why am I paying thousands of dollars a year to do something that may not pay me back? And maybe I have found part of the answer. In his essay, The American Scholar, Emerson says, “There is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise, when this poet, who lived in some past world, two or three hundred years ago, says that which lies close to my own soul, that which I also had wellnigh thought and said.” I also find this awe mixed with joy and surprise when I read something that triggers remembrance and repetition in my head. I realize the real importance of literature, to connect. Literature serves as a bridge that connects us all. I will never meet an ancient Greek or Biblical scholar, but I feel as if I know them. I understand the struggle of human relationships that every person must experience. I know the feelings and emotions that come with happiness and sadness. Although I will never know everyone in my world or even in my small state by name, I am connected with them through the words that flow through us all.
posted by Sadie @ 4:52 PM
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