Tutor profile: Minali V.

What is your writing and editing style?

I really believe in maintaining the individual voice of the writer, and try my hardest to not change that. Instead, I go through grammar, punctuation, and wording errors first, and then think about how the piece flows. I find that, many times, the flow of an essay is the most important part, and can really impact the content negatively if done wrong. I try to help the writer get a better flow while not stifling their own style with my own.

What kind of literature speaks to you the most?

I tend to read (and really only enjoy) fiction; and, within that realm, I find myself most drawn to 19th-century British literature, especially those with Faustian protagonists. I really do sympathize with Faust, and find the entire myth truly insulting to people who, quite often, just want to absorb as much knowledge as physically possible. From The Picture of Dorian Gray to Frankenstein, the Faustian hero is inescapable in Victorian literature, and in each novel, he is a character to be an example of what not to do. I really dislike that reading, and, as an avid reader and someone who loves learning, I find myself pitying the characters and identifying with them more often than not.

What is your favorite artistic period?

One of my favorite artistic periods is the Baroque era, especially the work of Bernini. I feel that it is one of the first periods since the Hellenistic period of ancient Greece that allowed the true, raw physicality of the human form to come out in art. It has a very musical quality to it, almost like a dance of emotions. Even looking at Bernini's sculpture of David in comparison to Michelangelo's or Donatello's, you can see that the emphasis was no longer on maintaining an aesthetic of the human body, but seeing how the body can express strain, or pressure, or pure determination. It's a beautiful way to think of art, that it is a visual projection of internalized emotion.