A Different Perspective
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“If you describe me from this side, it is going to be different than from the other side,” says Mr. Mark Behr, explaining how writers and readers must learn to respect different perspectives. Darien High School got a taste of something new recently when this South African author spoke during 7th and 8th periods to DHS students about writing and literature. He offered students his insight on writing novels and the hard work that it takes.
Mark Behr grew up in South African during hard times and political unrest. He stressed to the students that even with the discrimination in his country, it was not until he was 22 years old that he heard the name of anti-apartheid activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela who shone a light on the type of society he was living in: Mandela helped Behr realize what a sheltered life he led.
Behr is currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at the College of Santa Fe. He is also the author of two novels and his currently working on third novel. His first novel, The Smell of Apples, is going to be turned into a film next year.
From Behr’s experience, he gave the students advice on the process of writing a novel. Behr said that he had wanted to be a writer since he was 14 but he did not really work at it until he was older. He enlightened some of the prospective student writers saying that writing is not easy and that some authors have to rewrite their work word-for-word more than 25 times. Mr. Behr even admitted that he was “not a natural writer,” and said that “talent only takes you so far.” The key to becoming a good writer, he said is hard work and dedication and having the ability to just sit down and start writing.
“Writing is 90 percent self-discipline,” he said. Mr. Behr compared writing to the conditioning of a marathon runner — one must keep at it to stay good at it.
Sophomore Stephanie Ko said, "I was really surprised how he compared writing as a process not just as a task and how the process takes time to perfect," Ko said.
When asked what the hardest part of the writing process is for him, he said that writing is so lonely and that he had to sit alone for hours with just a screen. “It’s just you, and you’re responsible for all,” he said.
Mr. Behr also addressed how contemporary literature moves toward making a single truth. But that does not mean we should limit our perspective to that single truth. Mr. Behr spoke about opening ourselves up to different voices in literature other than the usual expected viewpoint. He cited an example that little children in Africa were not getting anything out of learning about a flower coming out of the snow because they did not know what snow was – there was no point of identification and thus the truth of the writing was lost. He emphasizes how everyone has a different perspective and he made some valid points that got students thinking. Sophomore Kaitlin Maier said, “his speech was eye opening and created a new perspective for me.”
Mr. Behr pushed the students to open their eyes to more diverse voices and respect that everyone’s perspective is different.
