Even as a child I was always interested in reading and writing. Even though now my purview is literature, when I was young I was vastly more interested in science and science texts: field guides, star charts, books about how things were built, and so on. So while I read a lot, most of what I read was of a purely descriptive nature.
As I approached 3rd and 4th grade, I started to become increasingly interested in comic books.Of the two major moments in my childhood where I actually began to feel the power of language, comics had a direct role in the first. I read a reprint of Uncanny X-Men #3 -- you know, the one where the heroes are under siege in the academy by Juggernaut -- and for the first time in my life, I felt truly transported and compelled not by just the story and the artwork, but the language. I remember thinking, "This would be just as good without the pictures." At that point I started writing my own comics. And when I say writing, I mean literally just writing. I couldn't draw well at all, so I just modeled character movement with stick figures while I wrote huge blocks of text. As it turns out, an adult Harvey Peakar (American Splendor) wrote his comics the same way.
The second time this happened I was in 6th grade. I'd started reading Stephen King, which was the first time I was really consumed by fiction. I can still remember exactly where I was when I finished Pet Semetery -- in my grandparents' bedroom on a gloomy Monday afternoon -- because I had a physical reaction to the book. If you've not read it, then know that the story is incredibly dark, and the action just descends deeper and deeper into darkness as the book reaches its close. The thing is, though, I had a suspicion that it wasn't just the story that made me react so viscerally (I mean, I literally felt sick). It was the language. I was sure of it. It had something to do with the actual words and their arrangements that produced this effect. It just so happened that it was coupled with a horrific story which acted as the perfect vehicle. So, I started to go back through the book and copy down all of the words and sentences that created that effect. I remember describing it to someone as feeling like I was a rock covered in moss.
So began my horror fiction phase, and I wrote stories constantly modeled after King and the language of PS. Often times, even today, that language shows up on my poems and I wonder, "Where the hell did this creepy shit come from?" And then I remember taking all those notes with my little red notebook in 6th grade.
Well, I just had to response to this blog, mainly because I can't resist a good "Stephen King first" story. And as it turns out, Pet Sematary was my first King novel, too! But unlike Chad, I didn't read it until I was 20, a sophomore in college casually blowing off my classes while I fell deeper and deeper into the wonderful, horrible, magical literary pit of despair that King dug for readers in that book. It felt like I was Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, only the rabbit hole happened to be located in a cemetery and half-unearthed corpses lined the walls. But my reaction to the text was a bit different. Rather than go back through the book, highlighting everything I could find that spoke to me, I went back through the bookstore and bought about 10 Stephen King novels. I couldn't (still can't) get enough of them, and books like It, The Shining, Cujo, Misery, 'Salem's Lot, The Dark Tower series, and most of all, The Stand, quickly became my favorite books of all time.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have to say, I think my path to understanding language, and eventually the power of it, started in a very different way. I could sum my reading education up in two words: video games. More than any teacher, any book, any assignment, video games taught me to read. Video games, especially the RPG types like Final Fantasy, which were so text-heavy and really pushed story to the forefront of the gaming experiences they offered, taught me first to understand language, and then how to understand the power and beauty of a really well-told story starring deeply complex characters, which is probably why Stephen King grabbed me, as he's one of the best authors around when it comes to characterization and character-driven stories. While I didn't read many books until middle school and high school started forcing me, I probably read just as much playing video games instead. And it. was. awesome.