I’m Just Sayin’

I’ve never been able to commit to memory the differences between “left brain/right brain” functions; which is kind of ironic since my strong suit is exactly the kind of thinking (right brain?) that would enable me to do that.  Where I usually fall pitifully short is in non-linear, abstract (left brain?) thinking. This is most obvious (to me) when I need to orient myself relative to east, west, north and south positions.  The only way I can keep this kind of stuff straight is to envision a map of the U.S. and use that as a reference.  This means that I often have to stand on my head to get the directions to coincide with that image.

Another area where my brain lets me down is when language is used in a way that doesn’t follow the norms that I’m used to.  For example, occasionally when I’m talking to my friend, Nod, we have a disagreement in our recollections.  At that point, Nod is quick to pull out a quote from William Faulkner’s Light In August, “Memory believes before knowing remembers”.  And each and every time I hear this, I have no f**k’in’ idea what it means.  Although I love the way it sounds –and I wish that I was the one who had written it—  I remain clueless as to its meaning and Nod has to explain it to me.  We repeat this exercise from time to time. (I’ll pass on his email, cell # and social security number if you’d like an explanation.)

Another good example of my deficiency with abstract language is a quote that I read a while back in an interview with Philip Roth in the New York Times Book Review. He had just announced that he was no longer going to be writing.  Coincidentally, I had just informed my readers that I was going to be writing even more and, at the time, I thought that dovetailed quite nicely with Mr. Roth’s proclamation; that there might be a seamless transition between our two offerings and I would inherit his mantle.  I would have been happy to do that even while knowing I would be accused endlessly of  extreme misogyny.  A small price to pay, I thought.

Then I read his interview and realized that I was beyond delusional . . . that my (right?) brain functions were a small fraction of his. In an off the cuff way, he responded to his interviewer with an incredibly erudite analysis of his writing and his critics, all the while using literary references most of which are unknown to me.  I guess that’s why I write blogs and he writes masterpieces

Towards the end of the interview, when Roth is asked to explain what kind of writer he is, he answers, ” I am who I don’t pretend to be.” I’ve read that sentence over and over, and though I’d give anything to have been the one to say it, I still have no idea what it means. I think I may have to give Nod a call.

 

Tags: left brain, philip roth, right brain, william faulkner