,.

2. New materials can inform our reading of earlier held
views in any number of ways.
DONT FORGET TO QUOTE JOYCE IN FROST
get in Wood
Blair and Campbell
Needless to say, the student is not only memorizing text,
the student is also memorizing values, moral codes, and ways
of behavior in the study of "subjects proper for the
improvement of youth of both sexes at school."

The equivalent of Walker's text on the college level is
Blair's Lectures, a series of oral lectures "originally
designed for the initiation of youth into the study of
belles lettres and composition" (Preface, Lectures).
Abraham Mills, the editor of the 1829 edition, wrote that
they "deservedly occupy a place in our schools and
universities, as an excellent elementary treatise on the
studies of composition and eloquence'' (p. x). As Connors
notes, it is true that Blair stresses the practice of
composition (REx, 201), but given that the work contains 47
lectures, the amount of space given over to the composing
process is very limited, and occurs in a portion of Lecture
XIX called "Directions for Forming a Proper Style."
In that secti on, Blair elaborates on six points which
he believes will assure the writer of a proper style:
studying clear ideas on the subject about which one is going
to speak or write, composing frequently, becoming well
acquainted with the style of the best authors, not falling
prey to a servile imitation of any author, adapting one's
style to the subject and to capacity of the hearers, and not
letting concern with style distract the writer from concern
with thought (pp. 212-215). The points that are most
directly related to composing are the first and second; they
are particularly interesting to scholars today because they
stand in marked contrast to contemporary ways of
understanding and teaching the composing process.
In the
first, Blair teaches that the writer must think closely on
the subject, "till we have attained a full and distinct view
of the matter which we are to clothe in words" (p. 213); he
is thus arguing for the separation of thought and writing.
In the second point, he is clear to say that frequent
composing practice is "indispensably necessary" (p. 213).
But he warns against "frequent, careless, and hasty
composition," arguing that from that, "we shall have more
trouble afterwards in unlearning faults, and correcting
negligences, than if we had not been accustomed to
composition at all" (p. 213). To be fair, Blair also
cautions against spending too much time on every word, but
the gist of his argument, following Quintilian, is to "write

·•

slowly, and with anxious deliberation . . . . by hasty
composition, we shall never acquire the art of composing
well" (p. 213).
Walker, therefore, teaches writing through memorization and
copying, Blair through practice, but with the caution that
writers think before writing, and that when they do write,
they do it slowly and deliberately. Both writers teach
impersonal and abstract writing, and, writing that has the
voice of a sophisticated, adult writer, not the voice of a
beginner or a youth.
Primary examples of writers who follow this mode are Samuel
Newman, Richard Green Parker, and G.P. Quackenbos.
emphasize original composition
often suggest student go on to more complex rhetorics, but
start with these
first books, books for beginners or young composers
short
often illustrated
less emphasis on rules, more on writing
writing from personal exp
my work is tentative, preliminary,
don't want to claim I've looked at all the books, but at a
lot
any generalization is fraught with problems
some of better known followed Walker
lesser known broke patterns
students were writing personal essays
argument had been that students couldn't come up with
original material
in breaking away from memorization
outlines
questions
Anon and Frost both give suggestions for finding material

some books break patterns in some ways, not in others

James Clifford:
"Cultural poesis--and politics--is the
constant reconstitution of selves and others through
specific exclusions, conventions, and discursive practices."
p. 24, Writing Culture
frost, etc. are not discrete texts
history is partial, complex, problematic
constraints on writing history
polysemous
transparency of representation no longer possible
In "Deep Play," Geertz refers to culture "as an ensemble of
texts, themselves ensembles, wich the anthropologist strains
to read over the shoulder of those to whom they properly
belong" p.74 in Writing culture
el as
about history, Blair says:
"The general idea of history is,
a record of truth for the instruction of mankind" (p. 398b).
Veyne argues, and for me rather convincingly, that history
is "mutilated knowledge."
derivative from walker or blair, in some cases with credit,
some cases not, rarely specifically cited
essays in walker are not kid essays; they are adult
subjects, adult syntax, and they are designed to pass on a
moral code
(what I'm going to say doesn't invalidate what other people
have said or seen--it's jut another trace, another layer)
NH IDEAS
"History is a city visited for the pleasure of seeing human
affairs in their diversity and naturalness, without seeking
it any other interest or any beauty. More exactly, we visit
what is still visible of that city, the traces of it that
remain; history is mutilated knowledge."
(p. 13--Veyne)
History is a true novel.

Veyne, x

what it is still possible to know about it
the traces that remain
feathers of a lost bird
danger is in thinking that there's only one bird
or that we'll ever know what the bird looked like
people make attempts at drawing it
some say it looked like this, others say, no, it looked like
thta
Position I'm more comfortable with is we can catch glimpses
of a tail feather, a wing feather here, an eye ring there

what birder sees depends on equipment, personal agility,
experience, background knowledge, willingness to wait
When I started tracking down little known 19th century
writing texts, I was enlivened by the thrill of the chase,
especially when I began to turn up texts that interrupted
the by now well-established patterns of thinking about 19th
century teaching.
The temptation for me was to think that I
was feathering in the picture of a lost bird that Berlin,
Connors, Crowley, Halloran, Johnson, had already drawn.
What I now understand is the danger of thinking there's only
one bird, or of thinking that we'll ever know what the bird
looked like. Many people make many attempts at drawing the
bird; some say it looked like this, some say it looked like
that.
Best I can say is that we're all gathering feathers
of lost birds.
collage
glimpse of birds in flight; but birds are different shapes,
sizes, colors--and they shift with the wind;
, or in the parlance of historians today, tracings.
Weltanschauungen:

world views

Michael Stanford:
"A historian and a recording angel are
two very different things." (p. 127)
History as event vs. History as account
History as document vs histroy as rhetoric
"Science is de jure incomplete; history alone can be allowed
de facto to have gaps--because it is not a fabric, it has no
weave"
(Veyne, p. 18)
"History is an intellectual activity"
"Writing history is an intellectual activity''

p. 71, venye

History is not langue, but parole
good work done in history so far
Connors
Berlin
Crowley
Johnson
Woods
As more material turns up, as we think about it in new ways,
Connors:
no personal writing
Berlin:
categories provide us with a way of talking,
undertanding, but they are rhetorical
Feathers of a lost bird
No picture of the bird

..

ever changing
Two people who had the most influence on the shape of
writing instruction in lower and secondary schools were
Blair and Walker
Blair:
Walker

