Third Year Hon. Mention: Leaking Matter

WRIT 3730, Substantive Editing. CD: Dunja Baus.

Abstract

The author of this meditation on writing has chosen to consciously consider questions of originality and of authorial voice in their writing. Seamlessly interweaving metaphor, analysis, and reflection, “Leaking Matter” is an investigation of audience and identity—its composer asks, in novel ways, if, when we conform to the demands of genre (especially the academic genre), we lose some essential part of ourselves as writers? But since the alternative is to remain at the mercy of those who use rhetoric to control others, the integration and acceptance of this loss is a trial that must be faced. In service of this goal, the author’s own poetry is used to unpack questions of language mastery and of the writer’s place in a world that is much larger than ourselves. Written in a smooth, compelling style, the writer’s university-level analysis and their careful environmental scan have combined here in a complex and compelling submission.