Crimson Soapbox Interviews Ashok Karra.
Ashok Karra writes on poetry, politics and philosophy at his blog Rethink.
He is a graduate student who feels some of his work can and should be shared.
To that end, he has written a number of commentaries on poems that try to work through texts as carefully as possible.
Ashok has covered a number of authors; Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Virgil, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Jefferson, Blake, Dickinson, Lincoln, Nietzsche, Yeats, Ezra Pound, Heidegger and many more. It’s not a unique reading list, but few people today could even name all those.
He says the idea is not to be right about all, or even any, of these thinkers. Rather, that the goal is simply to do the best job one can do reading.
Ashok Karra highlights the importance of authenticity in your writing.
“It might be the most critical thing online. A friend whose site has massive traffic is wondering “where to?” from where he is. He’s got all the workings of a community, but it isn’t clear how they relate to him personally, and it really isn’t clear how they relate to each other.
“Community is not just some cornball concept for marketing’s sake.
“You ultimately want people to be better for reading you or buying a product or service or whatever. At the very least, it’s the only way to get an audience/repeat customers.
“Showing your personality and being friendly is a great way to set the tone that makes your site someplace people want to be. You as the writer and webmaster set things in motion.
“In terms of writing: authenticity need not be telling all your life secrets. Darren Rowse’s advice for an “about me” is a great place to start. You talk about yourself and what you’re about.
“You also should mention what you want to do for your reader.
“I certainly don’t talk about my personal life much; when it emerges in the blog, it can show up in strange places, like this commentary on Neruda’s “Love.”
When you write, think about why people should read what you say.
“This is a really good question and something I wish more people would ask. It is true there are other blogs which do close readings of texts. It is true those other blogs try to fill their readers with the history and philosophy the bloggers themselves think important.
“However, while I personally have pretty strong political views, you’d be hard pressed to say they distract from the primary agenda of introducing good poems & books to people with the relevant information they need to read and discover.
“I definitely have views on philosophical things, like “what is first philosophy” or whether existentialism is worth serious inquiry, but you won’t even find me preaching much of that.
“Part of the issue we need to consider is that there really isn’t a niche for this stuff. Yes, there are academic blogs. You can check out Brainstorm at the Chronicle of Higher Education, or Crooked Timber. They’ve got smart entries, to be sure, but they can get overly concerned with bureaucratic or technical or political issues.
“You’re not going to find me theorizing about what the future ought to look like unless you catch me musing about a more humane academy or wondering about how writers with small audiences can be heard (if they can be heard). Those are issues obviously of personal concern to me, and you don’t find me insisting exactly on what needs to be fixed and how.
“The bloggers whose work reads more like mine tend to declare more than I ever will. I try to build-up to the themes I think are essential for understanding slowly.
“Take, for example, “An Introduction to Machiavelli’s Prince.” There I say this about my take on the history of political thought:
‘In this blog we work with a simplified account of the history of political thought. It is purposely simplified so you can modify or reject it at your discretion later, if you wish.’
“I’m not saying everyone else has an agenda. I do think I have an openness and objectivity that’s hard to pin down.
Messages from our past have relevance today.
“We can all learn from what’s been said in our past.
“I think this can be expanded in a way directly relevant to the mission of Crimson Soapbox.
“The voices of the past are very serious. They include those of people like Locke, who gave us the “life, liberty and property” emphasis which made its way into the Declaration of Independence. Way back then, you had to worry you’d get your head cut off for writing.
“And even poets like Dickinson, who won’t get beheaded, definitely have different things to say about God and country; things that friends and neighbors really don’t want to hear.
“I want to take some time to take in the opinions of those people. They may not be writing just because they can; they might be writing because that’s who they are.”
“The Pages to Pixels interview with me is very solid on the importance of commentary.
“To put it simply: commentary is a way of leading in to the text. It also gives good readers a chance to breathe. In some of these books and poems you can get lost for hours on a few words. It really helps to have fellow travelers.”
Ashok appreciates anyone who reads his ideas. Join him for more at his blog Rethink.
And you can debate the importance of voices from the past with Ashok right here.
Any questions for our visiting poet?
Twitter: Anklebuster
says:
You’ll get no debate from me. I sit at the feet of Ashok, learning what I can. Here’s his response to a question I had about the best place to start with the classics:
Good stuff!
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen recently posted..Twevelation
On that note – another good place to start is Plato (or Xenophon’s) “Apology of Socrates,” but it helps to have a really good commentary to sort through those texts. They’re short but way too packed.
A huge thanks to all of you at Crimson Soapbox for this interview! I’ll definitely be sharing the link where I can.
ashok recently posted..Interviewed – this time about the state of the arts on campus
Twitter: AnthonySmits
says:
It was a pleasure, Ashok. Thank you for sharing the links.
Anthony recently posted..A Philosophic Poet: Ashok Karra Rethinks.
Twitter: DeeDawber
says:
Hi Ashok
I think you have a blog you can be trul proud of.
Don’t ever lose the passion.
Dee
Dee recently posted..Are Internet Marketers Getting Too Greedy?
Thank you for reading! I’m pretty sure I won’t lose the passion. I think what’ll actually happen is that as I get more attention, posting will be less and I’ll be working on other projects. The blog is a big deal. But I’ve got to start putting together material for larger, more involved writing.
ashok recently posted..Interviewed – this time about the state of the arts on campus
Twitter: DeeDawber
says:
Hi Ashok
Judging by the number of visitors you get, you have a very popular niche.
I am sure a lot of people will be interested in whatever you write.
Good luck
Dee
Dee recently posted..Are Internet Marketers Getting Too Greedy?
Thanks for your comment!
I’m not entirely sure how popular my niche is. The numbers are finally coming after 5 years of work and a lot of very helpful, awesome people going out on a limb and taking their time to read and promote my stuff. But that “lot” pales in comparison to people who blog about drifting or sneakers or weight loss. And I don’t know how many others would regard my numbers (around 20,000 uniques a month now).
When I start getting more recognition, I’ll probably blog a bit about what it means to be a relatively independent voice. There are a lot of bloggers doing unique things who could use the encouragement.
And I will definitely work hard to make sure people enjoy reading me. I do realize I tend to get a bit long-winded.
ashok recently posted..Interviewed – this time about the state of the arts on campus
Twitter: SheWritesaLot
says:
Hi Ashok,
I enjoyed your About Me page on your blog and your interview at Pages to Pixels. Heady stuff and very thought provoking. I’ve never been interested in poetry and I was about to bookmark your blog for reading over the weekend when I saw your post titled, Batman Begins. That’s the more consistent and fundamental teaching about justice: we don’t know where it comes from, we don’t even agree on it. But it is the most important thing in a Fallen world. Killer commentary, Ashok! No wonder you have such a great following on your blog!
Donna Anderson recently posted..Are You Tossing The Dice With Your Newsletter?
I’m thrilled to hear your response: I try to write on a diversity of things, not just poetry, precisely for that purpose. If you’ve got advice for how I can reach more people, do let me know. I’m working on putting together more commentary on visual art. I wish I knew something about dance so I could talk about it.
ashok recently posted..Interviewed yet again, this time about authenticity in blogging
Twitter: JymTarrant
says:
Wow! Into the depths of Highbrow blogging we go…
A pleasure to read Ashok’s insights into authenticity, especially the marketing understanding he reveals in the first quoted paragraph.
Nice interview, cheers!
And thanks for the recent posts plugin
Jym @ Blog Marketing recently posted..Marketing Your Blog: Know Your Perfect Reader
Any advice you’ve got for helping me reach out to more people is greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much for reading!
ashok recently posted..Many thanks for the 25,000 unique visitors last month…
Twitter: Anklebuster
says:
@Ashok, just be you. You are fascinating. Use CommentLuv judiciously and don’t get caught in any more BloggerLuv type traps. A targeted forum will probably be best. I find that many of the literary blogs are NOT self-hosted, as their owners really just want to WRITE, not WRESTLE
If you can find just one such blog, the blogroll will likely be a treasure trove of RELEVANT blogs.
Good hunting!
@Jym, you’ll be famous!
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen recently posted..Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Marketer?
@Mitch – thanks so much! Will be in touch.
ashok recently posted..Paraphrase of Fr. James Schall’s “The Obsolescence of the Colleges: On the Paperless and Placeless Institution”