Sunday, June 15, 2014

I, playwright

In my own personal view of myself I have always thought of myself as primarily a literary type.  In my early years I read huge amounts of classical fiction and have always enjoyed poetry.  Out of a class of 1,000 students I got the highest mark awarded for the poetry paper in my first-year English course at the University of Qld many years ago and to this day it does not take much to provoke me into reciting large slabs of Chaucer in the original Middle English.

But it always seemed clear to me that literature was no way to make a living so I concentrated my studies on the social sciences instead.

My son seems to be much the same.  He wrote his first story when he was 9 but obviously concluded he had to study more practical things at university.  So he took a B.Sc. degree with first class honours in Mathematics.  He then started on a study program for a Ph.D. in mathematics.  But he has just abandoned that program and has started to write fiction instead.  He has decided to follow his natural bent no matter how impractical it may be.

I think he is wiser than I was.  So at age 70 I have decided to write a few plays.  They are just trifles for home performance but in case anybody is interested, you can access them here or here

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

2 comments:

Doom said...

I'm not sure either is wrong, and feel the same as you but tried for engineering. Still, it's a pleasant notion that father and son... Well... it's a good story.

I have certainly considered writing, but it is as beyond me as engineering school. There are no easy paths, to success. Poor health eats it all. So I blog, if really just to write a bit, and stir pots and clear my head.

Well, I wish your son luck in his pursuits. Perhaps you could go on with the Waterhouse events? Perhaps, though, changing the names to protect the guilty? :p I am almost sure you could get a solid whole play out of the notions, and your own memories.

You all and Brits and shrubberies... Ha! Just a bit of teasing from a Yank, mind you. One who isn't even certain about the why's and wherefores of shrubberies. I've never had one.

Unknown said...

I believe that success is simply a state of mind..I retired quite early in life..Not a lot of money but a lot of quality time..To be sure the Lord has blessed me with good health..A woman who loves me and whom I love, a small boat on a lake in Florida and my life is complete.. Btw, John you're just a youngster. I'm 74..

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