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January 30, 2005
quotable
Underlying this misconception of distinct, linear phases [in the composing process] is the idea that language is a muffin tin; that we have meanings, a kind of batter we then pour into molds. What we need, instead, are ways of thinking of language as an instrument, a means of seeing and articulating relationships. (Berthoff 25)
(from the making of meaning, or "the book of many 'm's," subtitled metaphors, models, and maxims for writing teachers.)
i don't have a home for this gem as of yet, but i didn't want to lose it. perhaps it will be pivotal some time down the road; perhaps it's already been so pivotal, in the 25 (ouch) years since its 1980 penning, that it's a commonplace i'll never need to pin-point. in either case, i like it, for its no-nonsense presentation of what jen wingard and i affectionately call "the scholarship of 'duh,'" and because she uses the word "muffin." c'mon, how often in the serious scholarship you're assigned do you run across the word "muffin"?
the question, though, because once i catch a good c.s. lewis line (this isn't it, but a tangential spin-off i want to come back to later) it's in my skin with permenant marker that takes years to rub off, cell by cell, is "is this a pupil's metaphor, or a master's?"
Posted by ttobryan at January 30, 2005 09:09 PM