His writing style is light-hearted but informative, in part because of its confessional style. The first two pages of the piece are dedicated to background information about him and his struggles in the school system as someone dubbed with "a learning disability", telling the reader that because of this, "I had suddenly become the village idiot in my house". Even someone who wasn't sent to the "special" classes can relate to people making you doubt your intellectual ability and the debilitating effect that it can have on a person.
It is this confessional aspect and admission to his slightly bumbling difficulty with communication in general that makes the piece relatable. It may not come across as authoritative but there are so many other travel pieces that are almost overwhelmingly authoritative that it was kind of a breath of fresh air to feel like the article I was reading was truly written by someone who dealt with the same language barrier problems as me.
I think the fact that this piece was still informative about the people, language and culture is an important thing to note, articles don't always need to talk down to their readers or try to impress them with fancy language to make them feel legitimate. In many ways I found this piece certainly much more enjoyable than many others I've read but I thought there was something endearing and honest about his blunt and open writing style. And clearly he's become a very successful writer, so much for being the village idiot.
Sent from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment