Who is Your Brain Voice?

Sometimes I wonder how my voice sounds in people's heads when they read my blog, or if they hear their own voices. I wonder if the tone I intend is coming through, though often I suppose it doesn't matter if it does or not. It seems more important for my comic.

Every now and then, I have an experience that reminds me of how differently people experience prose. I was reminded again reading an article by Terry Eagleton this morning on the recently crowned King Charles and a comment Charles had once made about Eagleton. The article, entitled, "Why doesn't King Charles like me?" seemed one that shifted between mildly bemused and idly contemplative. Then I scrolled down to the comments and found people taking Eagleton to task at great length for misunderstanding the general perception of the monarchy and for throwing "a hissy fit."

When I took a literary criticism class in college, I had to read a book by Eagleton detailing the history of critical philosophy and thought going back to Aristotle and reaching through the various, splintered concepts and theories of 20th century analyses. Throughout, I found Eagleton's tone to be unobtrusive and congenial, only occasionally offering his own point of view on different theories. It seemed as good as any source I could think of to inform myself on the topic and even kind of a pleasant read. I was surprised, then, in class discussion when many of the students vocally resented having to read the book and angrily accused Eagleton of hating literature and art.

It seems King Charles feels similarly, so I'm with Eagleton in wondering at this mysterious antipathy. I can't think of much to explain it beyond there probably being political connotations I'm unaware of. I remember some years ago watching a debate between Eagleton and Roger Scruton and Scruton coming off better in the debate but Eagleton never inspired the loathing in me other people seem to have for him. Even Scruton seemed to get along with him though he disagreed with him. Maybe I need to hear his book read by someone whose manner of speaking inexplicably sets my teeth on edge, like Olympia Dukakis.

Lately I've been listening to a YouTube channel of Dagoth Ur reading various short stories, mainly HP Lovecraft stories. It's part of a trend I've suddenly discovered of Dagoth Ur parody YouTubers making content such as tier lists and general commentary in the guise of Dagoth Ur. Dagoth Ur, in case you've never heard of him--and he is very obscure at this point--is the villain of the 2002 Elder Scrolls game Morrowind--the predecessor of Oblivion and Skyrim. I doubt Morrowind gets many new players these days and even people who played it twenty years ago might not rank Dagoth Ur as among its most memorable elements as he only appears briefly in the game. But he did have a distinctive voice. I remember my friend, Tim, and I used to like to imitate it. Apparently we weren't alone.

Listening to him read Lovecraft, though, I started to unironically enjoy it.