February 25, 2003 10:49 | WebBlogging

Collective writing

Are we all not just writing in the same big book?
Are we all not just contributing to one large account of our lives, our thoughts, ideas and dreams?
Are we not writing our own history?

Who really are the history writers of today? Will someone take on the herculean task of revising the inumerable stories of our times in order to formulate "a historical narrative"? If someone does, they will most likely refer to journalistic sources mostly, which arguably cannot be considered truthful or authorative or complete.

A comment I left on Joi Ito's weblog:

Can it be that the 'Net, through weblogging and collaborative writing, is the Master Narrative to end all master narratives? A massive chronicling (and shaping) of history and experience as we live it?

And, to whit:

"It may be that universal history is the history of a handful of metaphors."
-Jorge Luis Borges

I highly recommend (again!) reading "The Triumph of Narrative" by Robert Fulford.

Comments

I bought Fulf's TON for M a few weeks ago, after thumbing through your copy at YULblog last month. They have (had?) a few copies at Indigo downtown. Looks like a great book. I'm wondering if the lectures are available in MP3 or RA. It would be nice to listen to it first, then read it.