As much as I love writing as a process; I love reading aloud to an audience even more. Sharing your words and thoughts and feelings with a group of people is a beautiful and freeing thing, especially if those people understand your process.
In this way, I thoroughly enjoyed the poetic, lyrical videos created by Claudia Rankine. I have talked to her in person during a small group discussion, so I have heard her voice as she talks about her writing. She, like anyone else, expresses emotion in her everyday words but as she reads emotion drains from her voice. She becomes monotone and stoic with a rhythm and depth that speaks to the soul of the listener.
Her writing does that as well but with writing, the reader can stop. The reader controls the rhythm even in writing that seems to have a set rhythm. The reader controls more than the writer does once the writer gives his/her audience the piece. For me, in order to truly tell your story in the way that you want it to be told, you need to give to be the one to share–to read it.
It is so beautiful, so powerful to listen to the author read their work as they intended for the reader to hear it. I know, personally, I love reading my own writing. It allows me to have more control even once the story has been told. I can give the listener more emotion when the emotion is needed and I can pull away as the character or persona pulls away. Authors can give more than I believe hearing the author read would take away.
For the most part, hearing the author read their piece can (even if done badly) only give you as the reader more perspective on the author’s mindset as they were writing. As hearing the author allows the reader to focus on meaning and mindset instead of words on a page. It gives the reader a chance to take a step away and listen rather than read, and I find that I can take away more from a reading done by the author rather than a reader.
Of course, I will agree that some people write better than they read. Those authors could ruin a piece for a potential reader by opening their mouths and giving a reading that doesn’t connect. In that case, the reader must take into consideration that the author sees their piece in that way. It might goes against or not even touch what the reader originally took away from the writing but that is how the author sees his/her piece.
I don’t believe that the written essay will ever die, at least not completely. This new multimedia essay will open doors for others who wouldn’t enter into essays if they were strictly written. Video essays might be a little more prevalent in schools as an option rather than the written essay, but I don’t believe they will be the only form offered.
Timeless English 