Critical Friends or the Comfort of Strangers

I came across The Huge Entity this evening and have been intrigued by a recent post.

Huge Entity is the blog of a student in Roehampton studying for a MA in Creative and Professional writing. Here Danieru practises his craft. Blogs are well suited to students of creative writing and Danieru's deserves reading.

His course requires submission of a non fiction article which will be assessed.
Danieru has written his article entitled "Myth, its Evolution and the Problem of Perspective" and has posted it,
"in the hope that someone might read through it and give some honest, no-holds-barred, criticism."
He suggests that
"it's hard reading back through a work objectively when you've spent so long slaving away over it."

For what its worth I enjoyed his article and found it informative, interesting and well written. Had I come across it in a magazine it would have attracted and held my attention. Danieru offers us ideas to consider, a logical argument and a great deal of common sense. Well done. I'm not competent to offer critical advice but I do applaud his enterprise in seeking criticism in the public eye. In his introduction to the work Danieru asks "Does the essay draw you in?" The answer irrefutably is yes.

Huge Entity is an established, well read blog, he has an involved audience, some of whom were happy to take the time to criticise his work. I have no doubt that his writing is the better for the criticism. No trolling here, no sarcasm, no foolish comments; just careful scholarship.

We must also remember Danieru's readers, those travellers through cyberspace who took the time not only to read his work but became involved by leaving constructive comments. That's where the real power of blogging lies, in an involved community of participation.

I shall be looking for more of Danieru's work. Good luck with the Masters.