Poshy Washy

John Green's tumblr: Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work and Whether It Was Intentional

justmargaret:

mentalflossr:

It was 1963, and 16-year-old Bruce McAllister was sick of symbol-hunting in English class. Rather than quarrel with his teacher, he went straight to the source: McAllister mailed a crude, four-question survey to 150 novelists, asking if they…

On a much smaller scale, I was introduced to the futility of haughty-English-teacher-find-the-man-behind-the-mask freshman year of highschool when we needed to read Life of Pi. I will remember the exchange I had with my teacher for my entire life.

(I don’t recall the exact story details toward the end, but the impression I got was as follows) In the end of the book, after Pi is done recounting the story, the book leaves of where the read can go in two different trains of thought: That the tiger on the boat with Pi was actually a man, and the entire trip was of Pi trying to cope with the monstrosities the man did by turning him into a tiger in his mind. The other option was that the tiger was simply a tiger, and Pi went on a wholly unbelievable and fantastical voyage with it.

The teacher told my class that it was “up to us” to decide which one we thought was the “real” story, and that “either one” could be “real.” (Note the excessive use of quotation marks) When she had finished setting the class up, she asked us our opinion on how the story ended. In an uncharacteristic act of not-being-the-quiet-reserved-nontalking-girl, I raised my hand. She asked me how I thought the book really was, and I told her I decided that I liked the story taken as a fantastical voyage of a boy and a tiger. She smiled at me, patronizingly, and told me I should rethink that, because it’s actually the story of a boy and a terrible man. I then reminded her that she just said it could be taken either way, and she gave me that well-you’re-a-cute-kid-who-doesn’t-understand-literature-like-I-do look. Sigh.

In the wise words of Puddleglum: 

” But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we haveonly dreamed, or made up, all those things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.”

John Green's tumblr: Why Aren't You on TV?

fishingboatproceeds:

I’m asked every day why Hank and I haven’t tried to create a TV show.

We’ve been approached many times to do TV shows, but while we’re happy to listen and discuss ideas with people, we’ve so far turned down these opportunities, even the very tempting and lucrative ones. Here’s why:

1. When you…