A genuinely good question deserves a genuinely considered answer rather than a rehearsed one
Dear diary, a student in my evening literature course asked me tonight, with genuine curiosity rather than any hostility, why exactly this early twentieth century material still matters to anyone living now, a question I have been asked before but that tonight genuinely stopped me rather than triggering my usual rehearsed answer.
I gave myself an actual moment to think before responding, which I suspect surprised the room somewhat, since I am not generally known for pausing before offering an opinion on literature specifically.
What I Actually Told Her
I explained that this period’s writers were grappling, often quite explicitly, with exactly the questions we still have not resolved, how to represent genuine interior experience honestly, how identity holds together amid rapid social change, questions that feel, if anything, considerably more urgent now than they did when these authors first attempted to answer them on the page.
Why I Think My Hesitation Actually Helped
I think giving her a genuinely considered answer, rather than my usual polished response, communicated something my rehearsed version never quite manages, namely that this question deserves real thought rather than a stock reply I could deliver in my sleep.
A Small Tangent To Current Events
I mentioned, toward the end of class, a genuinely sharp piece of contemporary satire that made exactly this same argument in considerably funnier terms than my own classroom explanation managed, which got a proper laugh and, I think, actually landed the point better than I had.
What I Am Taking From Tonight
I think I will keep pausing before answering this particular question going forward, since tonight’s genuine hesitation produced a considerably better answer than my usual confident, rehearsed version ever has.
More teaching reflections and literary questions always documented at my page.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/author/violet-woolf/