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| Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Desperately-Seeking Single! Writer : Yang MingI finally read "Sense and Sensibility", after chancing upon the book in my drawer. Thankfully there weren't any cobwebs or white dust to deal with. Some pages of the book were already yellow and brown. Austen's pet subjects of marriage, rivalries and searching for true love are no strangers to me and the rest of today's singles, although her heroine grows weak at the sight of her Prince Charming, with horse and/or bowtie. I thought of the classic male writers, whose plots often revolved about crime and punishment, fighting evil and seeking to overthrow the mastermind. Amidst the predictability and stereotypes within the plots, they write something that speaks familiarly. Contemporary women's obsession with equality does not erase their equally obsessive attention from the other sex. Men's power stories evolve into the government cum corporate boardroom. Then I thought of these writers who died, somewhat similarly, from health problems, depression and tragic accidents. After I finished "Sense and Sensibility" I freaked out. In the context and times of such writers, I asked myself, will I end up like one of them? My mind swirled. Why do I want to write? What does being a writer means to me? Is it an occupation or a passion? Let me not lose my insanity or cough out blood. I don't want to be home-schooled into four walls, governed by lonely tutors. Will I never meet someone and die single and famous? Otherwise I fear growing yellow over time in a forgotten drawer. ---- First published 050405. Revised and edited 270306.
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