A Commonplace Life
Jul. 24th, 2011 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hafoc
I have changed the title of this journal to A Commonplace Life. No, I don't intend that title to belittle myself.
I'm calling my journal by that name because during the past couple of weeks I ran across the idea of the Commonplace Book. I'd heard of it, of course. I had the idea that it was a sort of Early Victorian diary or notebook.
This is vaguely true, but only vaguely. A Commonplace Book was where you copied excerpts from books you'd read, especially ones you'd borrowed. You would comment on the meaning of those excerpts, whether you agreed with them, and why or why not. You might include your own observations, recipes, gardening tips, or anything else that was important to you. And, most importantly, you would index the lot of it so you could find what you wanted later.
It was a powerful tool for learning, literacy, and research during the centuries when books were rare, and a book you borrowed and read today might not come within your sight again for the rest of your life. You made a point of copying out any passages you thought you might need later, because if you did need them, your handwritten copy might be the only resource you had.
It occurred to me that's what my journal would be, if I did it properly. Not so much recording and commenting on written material. It's too easy to buy your own copy or find quotes in a web search for me to spend great amounts of time writing down passages from The Flashman Papers, or whatever else I might be reading at the moment. But I do like to write down the stories I've overheard others speak, and comment on some of the little events I run across.
And so, A Commonplace Life. It's a pun, It would be, coming from me.
I'm calling my journal by that name because during the past couple of weeks I ran across the idea of the Commonplace Book. I'd heard of it, of course. I had the idea that it was a sort of Early Victorian diary or notebook.
This is vaguely true, but only vaguely. A Commonplace Book was where you copied excerpts from books you'd read, especially ones you'd borrowed. You would comment on the meaning of those excerpts, whether you agreed with them, and why or why not. You might include your own observations, recipes, gardening tips, or anything else that was important to you. And, most importantly, you would index the lot of it so you could find what you wanted later.
It was a powerful tool for learning, literacy, and research during the centuries when books were rare, and a book you borrowed and read today might not come within your sight again for the rest of your life. You made a point of copying out any passages you thought you might need later, because if you did need them, your handwritten copy might be the only resource you had.
It occurred to me that's what my journal would be, if I did it properly. Not so much recording and commenting on written material. It's too easy to buy your own copy or find quotes in a web search for me to spend great amounts of time writing down passages from The Flashman Papers, or whatever else I might be reading at the moment. But I do like to write down the stories I've overheard others speak, and comment on some of the little events I run across.
And so, A Commonplace Life. It's a pun, It would be, coming from me.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-25 05:21 pm (UTC)