EoE011 Reading Guideline for Ecce Homo
EOE Reading Month
2016 August
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Background and Objective:
Read Friedrich
Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo and try
creative writing.
Why philosophy? Because
after 10 weeks, we’re tired of the Economist. Time to refresh our brains with
some philosophy. In fact, economy and
philosophy are not unlike each other. One economist once wrote a book on Adam
Smith and named it ‘Adam’s Fallacy: A guide to economic theology’. My point is, economics and philosophy both are
based on ‘beliefs’, and none of them should be singled out as a ‘subjective’
discipline.
In that sense, literature can join the league as well.
Actually, my plan is to understand philosophy using literary
devices. In fact, Wonkyung
used one of them during our session today: metaphor.
“I think the author
is using a lot of metaphors like
‘lemon’ and ‘peach’,” Wonkyung said.
http://www.economist.com/news/economics-brief/21702428-george-akerlofs-1970-paper-market-lemons-foundation-stone-information
According to Wiki’s
definition of literary devices, metaphor
is known as:
Metaphor
|
Evoking
imagination by means of using figurative language.
|
Her tears
were a river flowing down her cheeks.
|
So, why not
understand philosophy through literature? Literature will empower our
philosophy, and this in turn will strengthen our understanding of economics.
After all, they are
all in ‘letters’. Yoo Simin once said in his book ‘My Youth-time Reading’:
“The core of
cognitive revolution is language”.
So I suggest we do
this exercise to better our control of English to be agile, flexible minds.
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Methodology:
Read one chapter from
the book, and ‘replicate’ it. It is a ‘creative’ writing process.
Why? Often one reads
best when he has to write something about it. And “imitation is the mother of
creation”.
Here, we are
replicating Nietzsche’s writing. The goal is adopt his ‘style’ and ‘structure’.
Because literature is all about style and structure. From haiku to sonnet,
every work is structured to create style.
Let me show you an
example of a Nietzsche-inspired writing. I will rephrase ‘Background and
Objective’ in Nietzschean style.
First,
here is what Nietzsche wrote:
[EXAMPLE]
Now, before writing
anything, let us do a quick analysis of the excerpt. Look for ‘style’ and
‘structure’. See if you can make three points.
è
Usage of italics
to highlights important points. (STYLE)
è
Quotation
added to specify the point made earlier. [STRUCTURE]
It takes up roughly 1/3 of the entire
excerpt. Good strategy if you want to write new things less. Just recycle old
your old writings or borrow other
people’s.
è
“The highest evil belongs to the highest
good”: this is a usage of ‘paradox’. [STYLE]
Now, go back to WIKI to look up the word.
Paradox
|
A phrase
that describes an idea composed of concepts that conflict.
|
"It
was the best of times, it was the worst of times." (A Tale of Two
Cities)
|
So far, we have
discovered two styles and one structure.
Now, the final step
is to use the stylistic and structural features to create your own writing.
Good luck.
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