I've previously explained my view that an author is largely doomed to include something of themselves in what they write. Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, though never finished, gives great insight into the society and mindset of medieval Europe, both from the subject matter and the author's attempts at satire. Either consciously or otherwise, any piece of writing has the potential to tell the world much about the author's opinions and agendas.
How much of what is given away is conscious and how much isn't? That's a hard question to answer, but I suspect that the less one is aware of one's influences, the more obvious they might be through one's work. Sitting down with the express intention of writing a piece meant to convince may, in fact, give away less of oneself than simply writing what seems the most straightforward. The message one hopes to convey and the interpretations your writing generates are, after all, under no obligation to conform to one another.
Perhaps, then, the most honest messages that our writing carries are those we never even realised were present?
I like how you involved Chaucer and agreed with your points
ReplyDeleteIt's a compelling argument that the influences that we are the least aware of are the ones that will be most obvious in our writing, however, I think at the same time that it's inescapable that the things which we consciously acknowledge as influencing our writing the most will be equally apparent, if not only because of how we might try to avoid making them so.
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