Last summer, I had a stroke of inspiration. I would create a blog on which different people talked about the text (book, movie, album, etc.) that was crucial in their lives. Perhaps it brought them to a career, or perhaps it came at a tumultuous time and brought them peace. The purpose would be to show the power of art (in all its forms) and to bring new texts to my audience. Getting folks to contribute was tough, and I only had about five posts. It simply could not support its own blog. However, I think The Lady Americanist is the perfect place to pick it back up. Let us begin: (reposted from the original blog with light editing).
Welcome to The Text That Mattered, a venture that was embarked upon in the throws of a graduate program in American studies. This discipline frequently emphasizes the importance of a text, be it a film, a book, a piece of art, or an album. Our reactions to art of all sorts is very personal and can be deeply profound, which is what I hope to explore here. An important relationship with a text is most certainly not limited (or even defined) by academics, but something that everyone experiences at some point in their lives. As the feature grows, I hope to interview a very diverse cross-section of people, exposing the universality of art and the importance of the humanities in the course of everyday human existence.
The interviewees are not choosing their favorite texts, but the text that was most profound in their lives (although these might overlap). The questions and the concept were also inspired by the now-defunct column in O Magazine, “Books That Made a Difference,” as well as the Proust Questionnaire in Vanity Fair and numerous other interviews that I have read and heard about how art has changed lives.
Feel free to use this feature as a way to discover new texts. Perhaps the life changing text will reveal itself to you here. I can’t wait to see what we discover together.
the lady americanist 