See a photo of John, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2.
Q&A with John Randall, Question 3
Q: You describe on your Web site the time in your life that you got into narratology, but what attracted you to this field? What has inspired you to study this discipline since the 1970s?
A: In junior-high band, I discovered that I wanted to be the next
Beethoven. Sadly, I also discovered I was a wee bit short of talent in the musical field. But I had also discovered long before a talent for words. I love words! I scoop them up in both hands like precious jewels and scatter them about the page with the 7th Symphony playing in the background to remind me that there are always even greater riches to be found ahead. It’s really as simple as that: I love words and everything connected to them, and it just so happened that in college I learned I could major in words as English Literature and as the essence of meaning itself in linguistic anthropology. A perfect marriage that I’ve been lovingly engaged in ever since.