Introductory Reading Assignment

Hey everyone, I am sorry for the late response! I just switched into this section. I am taking this course because it was assigned for me to take. However, I do enjoy writing and believe it will help me in my career, so the only reason that I think I should not be taking this course is that I may not be a sufficiently difficult class, and as a result my writing skills will not improve. However, this may certainly be refuted if the class is indeed difficult enough and it improves my writing skills. Time will tell.

Thinking about the quote, “to use writing as a way of thinking new thoughts,” I believe it means almost literally what the words are saying: that one ought to use writing to come up with and express new thoughts and ideas. Basically from reading and examining other works, one becomes inspired to come up with their own ideas and create writing of their own.

I believe the quote at the beginning of the “Reading and Writing About the New Humanities” exemplifies the NHR quite well: “We wanted to put in your hands a book that would let you think for yourself... Environmental breakdown, rapid culture change… these are just a few of the issues we address” (xxi). This quote essentially states what the editor’s goal is: they want one to learn to think for themselves while studying issues related to modern times.

The term “shared horizon” is the connection between one piece of writing and another. This connection can be of almost any form. It is important because it allows one to create original ideas, that is, it proves the inspiration for new ideas and writing. Another term that I believe the editors discuss in a specialized way is “the essay.” The view the essay today as “enjoying the same pride of place held by poetry in the Renaissance or by novels in the nineteenth century” (xv). Hence, it is important to learn essay writing skills and how effectively express one’s ideas through it. I never realized how prominent the essay is in modern times until reading this, and it certainly made me appreciate them much more. Essays to me were always just an assignment that needed to be completed, and I never gave much thought to the skills I was developing. I now look forward to improving my writing skills even further through this course.