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May 19, 2005
theory and the ibsc*
karen burke lefevre (invention as a social act) calls them part of an "internal dialogic."
psychiatrist harry stack sullivan says "the formation of the self depends in part on a dynamic process in the individual, involving internalized others," some of whom form "supervisory patterns" who "often take the form of internal critics--readers of one's own writing, listeners to one's talk--who may help or hinder a person" (lefevre 57).
"'it is as if there were two people,' sullivan says, 'one who actually utters statements, and another who attempts to see that what is uttered is fairly well adjusted to its alleged purpose.' such constructs continued to evolve through one's life. they may be derived from actual people one has known, from 'eidetic' or imagined people, or from a blend of both. especially pertinent to composition is sullivan's example of the effect that one of his own supervisory patterns, that of 'reader,' has on his writing:
he's a charming pill, practically entirely responsible for the fact that i almost never publish anything. he is bitterly paranoid, a very brilliant thinker, and at the same time an extraordinarily wrongheaded imbecile. thus when i attempt to use the written language to communicate serious thought, i am unhappily under constant harrassment to so hedge the words around that most bitterly critical person will be unable to grossly misunderstand them, and, at the same time, to make them so clear that this wrongheaded idiot will grasp what i'm driving at.
like sullivan, w. h. auden talks of an inner critic. auden's 'internal censor' of his poetry provides helpful correction and is more like a 'censorate': 'it should include, for instance, a sensitive only child, a practical housewife, a logician, a monk, an irreverent buffoon and even, perhaps, hated by all the others and returning their dislike, a brutal, foul-mouthed drill sergeant who considers all poetry rubbish'" (lefevre 57-8).
novelist anne lamott suggests the following:
close your eyes and get quiet for a minute, until the chatter starts up. then isolate one of the voices and imagine the person speaking as a mouse. pick it up by the tail and drop it into a mason jar. then isolate another voice, pick it up by the tail, drop it in the jar. and so on. drop in any high-maintenance parental units, drop in any contractors, lawyers, colleagues, children, anyone who is whining in your head. then put the lid on, and watch all these mouse people clawing at the glass, jabbering away, trying to make you feel like shit because you won't do what they want....then imagine that there is a volume-control button on the bottle. turn it all the way up for a minute, and listen to the stream of angry, neglected, guilt-mongering voices. then turn it all the way down and watch the frantic mice lunge at the glass, trying to get to you. leave it down, and get back to [work]. (lamott 27)
for the ultraviolent, lamott adds: "a writer friend of mine suggests opening the jar and shooting them all in the head. but i think he's a little angry, and i'm sure nothing like this would ever occur to you."
*ibcs = the "itty-bitty-shitty-committee" that lives inside your head & tells you your writing is CRAP. as far as i know, it's paul heilker's term; if he's passing it along from somewhere else, i don't know where.
listening to:
(xp to compositionism)
Posted by ttobryan at May 19, 2005 10:24 AM