week 6- written discourse

Today's class was about how different cultural groups write differently, specifically in terms of sentence, paragraph and essay construction. While English writers tend to write in a straight-forward, linear and argumentative manner, putting forward a point as clearly as possible, oriental writers, such as the Chinese and Japanese use a circular writing style, so they start a topic by detailing the periphery, before gradually increasing the relevance and reaching the conclusion at the end. In most cases, the conclusion is not even an explicit one, and the responsibility is on the reader to understand the layers of meaning of a text.

Honestly speaking, I love the Chinese style of writing, and while it may not be the best choice of writing style in say, a business letter, especially in Singapore, where the emphasis on efficiency is so high we don't even bother with proper phone openings, I find it superior in creating a particular atmosphere that is necessary to convey the message. To me, one of the most important aspects of successful writing is that the reader feels a sense of connection to the author, and can experience what the author feels as he is constructing his text. Consequently, it makes a difference as to whether certain things are spelt outright or implied. Just like how Asian ghost stories are often scarier because of what is left unspoken, and what is not shown.

As an afterthought, I was reminded of the Japanese art form of Haiku writing, because it seems to fully represent the circular style of oriental writing. After searching on the internet for a bit, I found this rather interesting website about Haikus, the Japanese poem form with the 5-7-5 syllabic structure. I would like to quote a few poignant points from the site which seem especially relevant and might be generalised to all other oriental writings:

"The pain is to give readers the means to feel as the poet her/himself felt at the time, or maybe differently, without any explicit (and so directive) statements about actual feelings." [WOW this is almost exactly like what I had thought and mentioned earlier. Haha.]

"Haiku poets have an aversion to glaringly inventive metaphors, which they regard as intrusive, obliging the reader to accept the writer's personal view. They offend against the 'directness' which the writer wishes to achieve, "like jewels on a finger pointing at the moon". For the same reason, adjectives are sparse in haiku. A good rule might be to avoid descriptions that readers may easily imagine for themselves."

"The best haiku do not just recreate the 'moment' pictorially or in a narrative way. They hint at something beyond, they present a movement. This may be an unexpected twist, or it may be a movement in the mind as the images are registered. Haiku are 'open-ended' or 'half-said things', so there will be later realisations. "Haiku shows us what we knew all the time, but did not know we knew" (RH Blyth)."

Despite the lack of words, Haikus seem to convey a meaning beyond what is spoken, and like all poems, resonate within the reader much longer than a linear point is wont to do. Below are a few Haikus I really liked and clearly demonstrate circularity and implicit meaning, hope you enjoy them too!

I kill an ant
and realize my three children
have been watching.
(Kato, Shuson)

From a bathing tub
I throw water into the lake -
slight muddiness appears.
(Kawahigashi, Hekigodo)

First autumn morning:
the mirror I stare into
shows my father's face.

The moment two bubbles
are united, they both vanish.
A lotus blooms.
(both by Murakami, Kijo)