What I'm Reading . . . (Besides Papers and Discussion Posts)

Rick Moody, The Four Fingers of Death (predominantly sci-fi, outrageous plot). I'm not that into sci-fi, but this is surprising me. It's a lot of fun. I'm part of a book club of exactly two, and this was my friend Joseph's Voth's pick, so here and I am with this 700-page novel. (It's possible you've had Voth since he taught at MCC for a long time).

Joan Didion, Blue Nights (absolutely one of my favorite essayists; this chronicles the death of the beloved writer's only child, daughter Quintana) Didion wrote The Year of Magical Thinking about her husband's sudden death (he died shortly after Quintana fell ill . . . she is now 76, bereaved of both beloved husband and daughter).

Just finished: Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot (it follows Brown English major Madeline's academic trajectory as she deals with the "marriage plot" as it's been conceived in fiction thus far and her romantic relationships). I liked, didn't love this -- it's hardly his breathtaking-in-scope Middlesex: ""I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal."  Eugenides also write the best-known The Virgin Suicides, which was made into a film starring Kirsten Dunst.

I also finished Jonathan Franzen's epic Freedom. I loved this on so many levels. Definitely worth a read. He's fabulous at chronicling modern suburban ennui and family dynamics.

Want Free Books?

You can get quite a few classics on Google books for free. You download them; they're yours. You can read them on a Kindle, a Nook, a tablet, or your computer. Go here

Not a bad deal.


You might try this one as well -- lots of titles.

Readability is No Test for Literature?

. . .  There are plenty of entertaining reads that are part of the enjoyment of life. That doesn't make them literature. There is a simple test: "Does this writer's capacity for language expand my capacity to think and to feel?"

Subject matter is not the point. It might be socially relevant, or it might not. It might be historical, science fiction, a love story, a crime novel, a meditation in fragments. There is no point judging a novel by its subject matter; what is in vogue now will be out of date soon. Nobody reads Jane Austen because we want her advice on marriage. And we don't care that she lived right through the Napoleonic wars and never mentioned them once. Who cares about the Napoleonic wars now?  continue reading . . . 

31 Days of Frankenstein . . .

Kind of fun blog posting on various filmed versions of Mary Shelley's iconic and always relevant Frankenstein . . .

Hemingway's Letters

From Vanity Fair: read some of Hemingway's intimate correspondence.

What Did You "Really" Read This Summer?

Salon posed this question to a number of authors and critics -- an ode to the often wildly optimistic, even intimidating reading lists we often create at the beginning of summer "vacation" (for those of us lucky enough to find the summer months vacationing ones). Regardless, here are their responses.

I didn't really create a reading list myself, particularly as I was teaching summer session, but I did manage to squeeze in the novels The History of Love, The Help, American Appetites, and The Road.

You?

Panel at Books and Books to Examine 9/11's Effect on Literature

 The events of 9/11 changed the world, the way we live, our sense of ourselves in the greater scheme of things. But did they change fiction -- or an artist's responsibility to write about the important events in our past?

The Greatest Books That Never Were . . .

Literature is full of imaginary books. Given the choice, which one would you read? 

"Imaginary books seem to be nearly as numerous as the real ones, and that's even when you don't count all those bestselling thrillers people believe they'll write someday if only they can find the time to write the damn thing down. Nonexistent books certainly have some devoted fans, such as the proprietor of the ever-diverting Beachcomber's Bizarre History Blog, who is making bold moves to expand the collection known as the Invisible Library."

 

 

Billy Collins

Tomorrow we'll listen to Robert Oren Butler discuss (briefly!) the "thrumming" of literature he believes is primary to one's experience of literature while criticism and analysis should be secondary. In fact, he suggests the student of literature "forget" the academic investigation of literature upon completing a course in order to preserve said thrumming.

Interested in hearing/reading some of Butler's own fiction? Check out this page. He writes (a lot) about sex from a uniquely contemporary point of view.

In the meantime, we'll be taking a look at Billy Collins's poem "Introduction to Poetry", which echoes, albeit more subtly, Butler's point of view. While it may seem counterintuitive, I've written an analysis of the poem that suggests students avoid tearing literary works apart in hopes of figuring out what they "really" mean. This analysis will be posted in BB if you find you're interested.

Welcome!!

I’ll be using this blog as a supplement to the discussion board in BB, which is itself a rather visually unexciting media platform (though it does get the job done). I will be posting various links, news stories of interest, interviews, full texts that you might find of interest, interviews, full texts that you might find interesting, and commentary of my own. Don’t know how often I will update it, but if you follow the blog, you’ll know! I will not provide pertinent course information to the blog since it’s supplemental, but I may just comment on/analyze/discuss certain works we’re studying . . . you never know.  You, too, will be able to post to the blog and comment on others’ posting. I’m experimenting with various feeds and points of connectivity, so stay tuned. In the meantime . . . here’s a bit of random pop-culture lit news:

Will "Twilight" spark interest in literature? NSU hopes so . . . 

Will the Kardashian Sister's Novel Dollhouse Save Literature?  

Oh, boy. Chances are . . . no. I shudder, as evidently does the author of this article. Nonetheless, "Dollhouse" is as an apt a title as one might expect. A snippet: "What can we expect? A Picaresque satire? Existential fiction in the style of Sartre? No matter what genre the novel winds up being, we can safely say that it will change the face of literature as we know it. And here are five reasons why: . . ."

"Overrated: Authors, critics and editors on "great books" that aren't all that great"

This is a fun one . . . any classics on your secret list of not so "great" books? Mine? Catcher in the Rye. Most of Faulkner's novels. Thomas Pynchon for sure. You?