tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8545857588529925482.post4012582484198314854..comments2023-10-26T12:16:51.307+01:00Comments on Pepys Motet: On the RoadBenjamin Tillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17131693431596716861noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8545857588529925482.post-90360927017903115702010-02-24T09:07:40.755+00:002010-02-24T09:07:40.755+00:00Eric, please don't retreat to the sidelines! I...Eric, please don't retreat to the sidelines! I love reading your thoughts. It's a privilege to hear from someone who knows Pepys as well as you do... and to hear your perspective on things. It's the comments on this blog that keep me writing it! So more, please! <br /><br />And thank you for those words of encouragement!Benjamin Tillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17131693431596716861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8545857588529925482.post-8061284663239023192010-02-24T05:38:13.756+00:002010-02-24T05:38:13.756+00:00I was going to refrain from posting yet again, see...I was going to refrain from posting yet again, seeing as how I must have an outdated view of blogs. (Generally I would think a good creative type such as yourself, writing a blog with 25 or more followers, would be greeted by intelligent discussion and roused by infectious encouragement, but I seem to have become a cheering squad of one.) So I'll raise my voice in support, then retreat to the sidelines to give you peace.<br /><br />Simply put, you are on the right track. You see Sam as a person, you connect him to your life and to the lives around you. You can see that the world has changed only superficially since the 1660s. (How different, after all is your experience in a transport cafe from one of Sam's meals in a public house?) So explore his humanity and the way he observes the world; note his contradictions and hypocrisies; ponder his attitudes as they evolve from a Puritan world into status, wealth and a new profligate society. See how Sam is you and Sam is me, for good or for ill.<br /><br />Yes, you are putting too much pressure on yourself. And yes, you're missing your own genius. And yes, you're writing crap. So did Sam. And we're still reading him three hundred and (almost) fifty years later.<br /><br />Cheers!Eric Wallahttp://mylermontov.deviantart.com/noreply@blogger.com