My presentation was on Don Delillo’s “Videotape”, and I tried to impart some reading as a writer wisdom to the class. My result could use some work. You wouldn’t know it from my 10 minute schpeal, but I was actually captain of the school debate team. Out of practice in front of a totally different kind of audience, I was nervous and ummed way more than is allowable in a presentation. My unease was palpable, and catching myself up meant that I couldn’t impart with confidence what I wanted to say. Listing his influence such as New York and jazz gives the reader some insight into his writing, but I didn’t properly associate his biographical information to his writing, and everything for a writer is relevant. To understand the story it is important to have a grasp of the wider reasoning in his book, which I managed to impart. However, when I cite passages from the book, I don’t make a strong enough break from the text to what I want to say about the text. I’m glad I was able to touch on some of the major literary points in the piece, such as repetition, circularity, and pronoun use, but for the class to really appreciate the concepts I am conveying, my voice needs to carry more strength and directness. Also, I wish I had had a better awareness of time. Overall, I did successfully impart a lot of what I wanted to say, though not all. I think I need to get into practice again.
Tags: don delillo, response, videotape
