I happened to come across this link about an essay posted to The New Yorker by Michael Chabon. If you know who the author is, the man is a brilliant writer who writes complex novels. He' s even won the Pulitzer Prize for The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay. The man must be a walking dictionary because I don't know half the words he uses most of the time. Also, he loves, and I mean loves, superheroes and the mythology surrounding them. His essay is titled, "Secret Skin: An essay in unitard theory" and is about how superhero costumes can never be realistically possible because they would look too ridiculous to ever be taken seriously. He approaches this with a scientific eye and analyzes each part of the costume, including the hood, mask, gloves, boots, trunks, everything. It is amazing how much analytical detail he goes into. It's like reading a scientific journal article about how cholosterol leads to heart disease. It's just written in such a tone. However, upon finishing it, you will realize that the whole essay is total B.S. because who really cares about the functionality of a superhero's cape. You still have to admire the writing style of the man, though. He's brilliant but full of crap, which makes for an enjoyable read. Check it out:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/10/080310fa_fact_chabon
If only our students could write so well.
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2 comments:
Thanks for sharing that article! Enjoyed reading it
I think some of my students would probably enjoy his writings. I will have to get a copy of both the article and book and make it available for them to read.
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