Final Blog

The Stones of Summer written by Dow Mossman in 1972, was not a widely known or read book, but it did change the life of one, Mark Moskowitz. After reading brief summaries of Mossman’s novel, it is clear why this book changed someone’s life. Internally, we all need to find ourselves and Mossman’s character Dawes Oldham Williams does just that, searching for himself, with interesting intertwined stories along the way. This man was so intrigued by the novel and the author himself, that, twenty-five years later, he decided to make a documentary called the Stone Reader. In his great endeavor, Moskowitz attempted to track down the author and anyone involved in the publication of the book or written within the lines of the texts. His ultimate goal was to have the book reprinted and show society a great book that they more than likely missed out on. His endeavors were unfortunately leading him no where until he finally got leads with the original (multiple) manuscripts at the library, meeting with the editor, and finally coming into contact with the author himself. Mossman at first appeared to have animosity for the book that may have caused him many hardships to write, but then was really excited that someone loved his one hit novel.

The documentary was rather enjoyable and very interesting. The fact that someone spent so much time to get a book into reprint in a dying field where real books exist is impressive dedication. At first it seemed to be a loss cause, but Moskowitz’s perseverance illustrates that when you truly believe in something, you go all out.

I enjoyed this section of English 215. I enjoyed a majority of the books, especially the ones closer to the end of the semester like Saints at the River and Glengarry, Glenn Ross. I really appreciated the blogging aspect as well, rather the weekly writing assignments. They helped me to dig deep into the poems, plays, stories, etc. rather than just read over them. This portion of the class was really helpful and I took a lot away from it. I definitely think there should be more class discussion, between the class as a whole and the teacher, incorporated. The assignments and test were at a decent level of difficulty equal to that of the class. I liked this class and I am glad that I took it.