What is going on here?

Before I write a commentary on another book, I'll pause for station identification--what is "Cognosco"? There are a couple things that it is not. 1) It is not book reviewing. I am not praising or attacking, recommending or rejecting a book. 2) It is not literary criticism. I am not studying a book through the lens of a literary theory, e.g., structuralism. Because I never developed an interest in the use of literary theory (a requirement in my English BA), I never developed strength in the use of literary theory, either. (N.B.: This weakness may be unfortunate. I just read about many kinds of literary criticism: formalist, structuralist, and deconstructionist criticism--involving discussion of the text only--sociological and feminist criticism--discussion of the text in relation to society and history--and mythological/archetypal and psychoanalytic criticism--discussion of the text in relation to religious beliefs, archetypal imagery, or psychoanalytic concepts. To name a few. Once again, ignorance is not bliss.)

So--what is this? The answer lies (surprise) in the Latin word "cognosco," which means "I am getting to know," as opposed to "scio" or "I know." I am a student of the book I have chosen to write something about, as opposed to an authority delivering a truth. First, I choose a book that has got my attention somehow. Then, I select an aspect of the book that especially interests me. In both cases, I am following up on a question once posed by a professor at the Boston University School of Education: "What interests you?" This may sound like a rather innocuous, commonplace question to you, but it revolutionized the way I looked at any text. Instead of selecting some obvious subject or theme in a book, whether or not it really engaged me, I zeroed in only on that part of a text that I really cared about. Thus, by honoring myself and my interests, I ended up writing about the text with enthusiasm and thoroughness, as opposed to dull dutifulness leading to something fragmented.

Which brings me back to this blog. Having selected a subject that really engages me, I take notes, complete with quotes, and put them all together in paragraphs of (more or less) Prussian orderliness. Then, as I am writing, "cognosco" occurs--
"I am getting to know" my subject, and, of course I hope, so are you!