When thinking about this question
it dawned on me on just how much where I
am from has impacted my reading and writing life. The culture I
have grown up in and its influences which have greatly affected not only what I
read but how I write.
Like many my favorite books
to read growing up were the Harry Potter books. It wasn't so much the
characters (I hated Harry with a passion) that gripped me but the fantasy world
in which the universe is based in and the magic of it (yes the pun was intended).
To this day my favorite narratives are that of fantasy and adventure
usually involving sci-fi and supernatural elements (Zombie films especially)
with own writing usually incorporating these elements. However if I would have
grown up in a culture where religious fanaticism was predominant and magic and
mystical powers were demonized I would view these texts in completely
different light?
It is fair to say that Emily
Dickinson and John Cheever are both products of where they are from. Dickinson
grew up in a culture with very repressive attitudes towards women and dominated
with Christian ideology. As a result many of Dickinson’s poems reflect a desire
to escape with biblical references. Cheever’s work usually involves the
duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a
character's decorous social persona and inner corruption. Given how he lived
during World War II and fought in it this style of writing concerned with the
ugliness of human nature can be seen as a similarity.
How has where you are from affected what you read and write about?
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