While it took me a few pages to get used to the language, I think the fundamental style of this piece is very innovative. I especially enjoyed the journal format. Will you please teach us the "do"s and "don't"s of this technique, Melvin? (Time permitting, of course.)
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I'm starting to realize that I'm ridiculously bad at the "posting before midnight" deal, so I'm sorry about that!
I also agree with many of the other comments on the weblog already because Byrd's style is similar to Rowlandson's style. They both use long and sometimes hard to understand sentences that tend to drag on a bit too long. However, I have always liked reading journal style narratives because a journal is so personal that it seems like something you're not supposed to be reading. It's hard to get through because of all of the random names, but I feel like I'm looking into someone else's life. I like it more than Rowlandson's because it is about such a different subject matter, so it's an interesting change to read more about political problems than religion.
My own favorite part of Byrd, once you get past the interminable length of his sentences and the somewhat awkward style, is how funny it is. The political basis of the narrative was mentioned earlier - and this for me is the basis of the humor - especially how much he seems to take no end of pleasure in bad-mouthing people from North Carolina. We can talk about that, along with the journal-style, in class.
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