A great amount of piquant ground covered today, resulting appropriately enough from Shaman Sexson asking questions about the contents of everybody's blogs. One of the first observations that came up was that 'originality' is a plot of the print culture, which frowns upon cliches. In oral storytelling cliches were a valuable aid, epithets for characters(ie. 'fleet-footed Achilles') a case in point. We've apparently been assigned to think up an epithet for someone else in the class.

There was also Zach's story of his high school teahcer turning off the lights in the room and 'performing' Plato's allegory of the cave. This notion of 'performing' is an important one in oral teachings, rather than simply telling someone something. This is something Kane is certainly aware of. It was observed that Kane's book actually has something of the "Noble Savage' idea in its romanticising of the oral history. So Kane would be more apt to line up with Jean Jacques Rousseau than with Hobbes(the misanthropic philosopher not the quietly wise tiger)? This is potentially heavy-duty territory of philosophical debate, which I choose simply to pass over right now.

Than there was Carly's interest in an idea from a Dutch writer with an unpronouncable name regarding the inaccuracy of auto-biographical memory. This posits that memory is defective, or (more positively perhaps) active imaginative construction. This is something that ought always to be kept in mind with aut0-biographical writings, however objective they may strive to be.

There was a literary critic named John Ruskin who coined a term called the 'pathetic fallacy', the giving of human characteristics to creatures that don't have them. This lead into(for me) a delightful and charming story from Chris about her three rats, James Roger and Tony, who travelled with her in the car from New York to Montana, and how Roger was disconcerted because it was a longer drive than was usual for when he and Chris would go and visit her rabbi's house. Chris, I've gotta say: this could make a great children's book.