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Chapter Ten

Classic Essays

The last chapter of The Norton Sampler is devoted to classic essays, or what are often referred to as timeless examples of good writing. Each of the essays in this chapter has a universal theme with which readers of any century can identify. The characters and settings somehow seem familiar, although they may be people and places the reader has never encountered.

In order to achieve these effects, the authors weave together many of the modes of writing. Orwell’s 1946 essay on the English language, for example, argues that language must be used responsibly if its decline is to be stemmed. His argument and even his proposed solution are clearly relevant today, particularly as writing is adapted for email, instant messaging, and the Web. Both the theme and the logic Orwell uses to appeal to the reader make “Politics and the English Language” a classic essay.

Are there classic Web essays? If so, do classic essays written explicitly for an electronic environment have the same characteristics as the classic essays in Chapter 10? One could argue that the characteristics themselves would not change, but that they might be complemented and enhanced by technology. If that is the case, how might Woolf or Swift have taken advantage of the incredible things that can be done with images, movies, animation, and sound on the Web to convey their messages to their readers? What would “Once More to the Lake” look like as a Web site? For example, perhaps the text would have remained the same, but White would have included links to images of Maine’s beautiful lakes. Woolf may have included a video clip of a moth, and Orwell linked to examples of the poor use of language. What effects would these changes have? Would the essays remain timeless?

1. Compile your own list of ten characteristics that would make a classic piece of writing for the Internet. Are there any specific modes of writing you think might be better suited for writing on the Web?

2. Where might one be most likely to find a classic Web essay? Would you look at webzines? Blogs? Personal home pages? Could anything on the Web be considered classic? Why or why not?

3. Choose one of the classic essays from Chapter 10 and adapt it for the Web. If you have the technical expertise, create a Web version of the essay. If you don’t, create a report describing what you would do if you could create such a page. How would the essay be enhanced by the use of hypertext, images, animation, movies, sound, video? Be as creative as you like and do what you can to take advantage of all that the Web has to offer.

 

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