annotated source 03.21

Prose, Francine. "Learning from Chekov." Reading Like a Writer. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. Print.

First of all, I wanted to point out how fantastic it is that the author's last name is "Prose." As an aspiring writer, I would die for a last name like that. Anyway, one of my professors recommended this essay to me  as we were discussing my upcoming prospectus and thesis, because I am going to be taking on the same themes about classical essay style, writing from a tradition, etc., that I will be working with for my field study project. Anyway, this essay talks about Prose's experience teaching the "rules" of fiction as she was reading Chekov's short stories. She writes that she would give her students a hard and fast rule of something never to do in fiction, and then as she read Chekov on the bus ride home, she would find that he broke the very same rule she was giving to her class, successfully writing against the rules she was prescribing for her students. It's an interesting discussion about the rules of writing, and how writers prescribe them and break them, and I will keep this essay close as I am exploring the "rules" of essay writing.