Oh last English blog! The fun we've had! Below are some of my favorite moments:
Who could forget this blog post on Elizabeth's Bishop's "One Art"? Not me. This was one of my favorite poems all semester and in turn my favorite blog. I just had fun reading about it. Sometimes I felt like analyzing a poem was sort of burden like I would never get to the bottom of it, nor would I necessarily care once I got there, but not with "One Art", no way.
I really loved analyzing T.S Eliot's "The Wasteland" in this blog post. This poem was way beyond me but it was a lot of fun to dissect the tarot reading. I was so excited to find out that someone else had picked apart the tarot. At the end of the day, I didn't feel as scared of the poem. In class you said that the first key to understanding "The Wasteland" was to find in a way in. I feel like the tarot card reading was my way of getting inside...a little? Hopefully?
I picked this blog because I feel like it talks about a turning point I had this semester. I realized how intimidated I had been my literature. And in turn how close minded I had been.
I picked these blogs because they are the blogs I remember writing the most. I remember writing all of my blogs, except for one at the beginning, but these one I remember feeling the strongest about. The first two were picked because I loved those poems and loved writing about them. I feel like when I get excited about what I am reading it shows in my blog posts. I am not satisfied to accept the answers I have created in my mind. I want to look at other sources, I want to hear what people have to say. I want to be involved in the discussion. Even if that discussion is just me looking around on EBSCO. The third post I picked because half way through writing it I had an epiphany. I realized that I had learned a lot in this class. I didn't plan on talking about my feelings through literature in this blog but it just happened. I was excited to have such a breakthrough, which will be discussed more in the following paragraph.
So, how have my ideas about literature changed since the beginning of the semester and what can I say I have learned? I have learned a lot. Its is almost a little overwhelming to sit down and think about it and try to type it in a blog. So, at the beginning of the semester I was like, "Okay, okay. I don't really care about what these dudes have to say." And halfway through the semester when we had to write midterms essay I was having a major literature break down. I have never had to write an essay like that before and it was hard. It was hard to find sources that were saying what I was thinking. It was tricky, tricky, tricky. But as quarter of the way through the semester I realized that I enjoy knowing about literature. That it makes me really happy to try to understand what is being written. And I feel super smart when I can be like well don't you think that this means that means this. That's the main reason I go to school to feel smart. I think I have gained a nice overview of literature this semester. I feel like I could talk about literature at a bar with someone. And probably sound really passionate. I don't think I will ever be an English major or even seek out another literature class. But I really enjoyed this one. I think I have learned how to analyze literature this semester, which probably sounds really generic, like, duh, of course you learned how to analyze literature. But it was hard! And a lot of work! And I am proud of the kind of reader I have become!
Speaking of the kind of reader I have become, I have become way more appreciative of different types of authors. I am far more open to books. I probably never would have wanted to read The Crying Lot of 49 before this class. I guess I learned not to judge a book by its cover. Literally! Or the author. I am excited to read more classics. I think I might check out another Pynchon novel for my summer reading list. This summer all I want to do is read for fun. That's a new weird goal I never had before this class. I think that by reading things I wasn't so into, I remembered how much I like to read things I am into. As a thinker, I guess I have learned how to think like other people. I usually stick to reading books that are written by someone who shares my perspective on things, therefore it is really easy to think like them. But this semester I had to read things and think about things in a different way. I feel like this class pushed my brain out of its comfort zone by making me think about new things. As far as my writing skills, I think the essay was a really great experience. I know there will be other times in my college career where I have to write essays that aren't like completely fact based and have more opinions and ideas. I'm glad that experience is over and I have it under my belt. The next time an essay like that presents itself I won't be so scared! My weakness is mainly myself. Sometimes I think I am too unimpressed or something. Or I am not afraid to say when I don't like something. I don't know if it is that I genuinely don't like it or I just don't want to like it. This is a weird thing I do that spills over into all areas of my life, not just literature. My strengths and my weaknesses are sort of the same thing. A strong opinion.
I think I should get an A in this class, mainly because I have an A already in this class and I am pretty sure I will do okay on the final. Not to sound overly confident. I also think I deserve an A because I participated. I read the stories, I came to class, I learned, I contributed, I had a good time. I don't particularly like fighting for a grade, so to speak. I guess I deserve whatever letter grade I earned in the class, and I really hope I earned an A. I know I tried my hardest!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
I had no idea I would enjoy this book so much! And to answer the question of is it important to know what Tristero is...No, not at all. I mean it is intersting to try to put together the pieces, but it doesn't mean anything. I think maybe Tristero is a metaphor for something else in our culture, but I am not a hundred percent sure. I think for the rest of my blog I am just going to post the the lines I underlined and explained why I liked them!
First of all I love the scene where she is in the gay bar. I think it is so funny that she just goes up to that dude with the muted horn and is like, "What if I told you, that I was an agent of Thirn and Taxis?" That cracks me up! She is just such a little investigative weirdo. I feel like if she was my friend telling me this story I would super love it. And I also enjoy the part where after the conversation with the man and she is alone and Pynchon writes, "Despair came over her, as it will when nobody around has any sexual relevance to you." Oh Oedipa.
I also feel like the line, "With coincidences blossoming these days wherever she looked, she had nothing but a sound, a word, Trystero, to hold them together." This along with many other lines seem to making a statement about the analysis of literature. Like we look for things, sounds, words, to tie some big allusive idea together that we are not even sure exist.
I like how throughout the book it seems as though Pynchon is giving you little clues, or something as to not feel so overwhelmed. Like last week with the "All Oedipa remembered was his his strong nose..."In the reading this week I found it comforting when after her nighttime journey of seeing all the signs in the different places Pynchon writes, "The repetition of the symbols was to be enough, without trauma as well as perhaps to attenuate it or even jar it altogether from her memory. She was meant to remember." It was sort of like Pynchon telling me, "Don't worry, you get the general idea, I have mentioned this horn so many times, you know what you need to know." I also really enjoyed this line, "She also wanted to know why the chance of its being real should menace her so." I was wondering that too. Like why do we care so much about it. Does it even matter. No.
And that's the thing. I have tons of questions, like little questions, but do they matter? I enjoyed the book, I had a lot of fun reading it. What now?
I feel like in these parts he almost downplays the story. I get the feeling that he might downplay not the story so much, but what people tend to want to do to stories, as in figure them out. Like Pynchon is just telling the reader to lay back and enjoy the story, and you will get what you get, because at the end of the day Oedipa is still waiting for someone to bid on the stamp collection.
Oh and this line reminded me of what we were talking about in class last week about original version of stories and do they die when the author dies, " Though she could never again call back any image of the dead man to dress up, pose, talk to and make answer, neither would she lose a new compassion for the cul-de-sac he'd tried to find a way out of, for the enigma his efforts had created."
I feel like that is hardcore talking about what it is like to read a book and trying to make sense of it.
I'm pretty excited for class discussion on Friday! I like what I think Pynchon is getting at.... And I really don't want Oedipa to be on LSD or crazy! I just really like her, and I don't want it to be in her head, even if she does. And what else is so weird is how she is so scared that Tristero exists. So what if it does?
First of all I love the scene where she is in the gay bar. I think it is so funny that she just goes up to that dude with the muted horn and is like, "What if I told you, that I was an agent of Thirn and Taxis?" That cracks me up! She is just such a little investigative weirdo. I feel like if she was my friend telling me this story I would super love it. And I also enjoy the part where after the conversation with the man and she is alone and Pynchon writes, "Despair came over her, as it will when nobody around has any sexual relevance to you." Oh Oedipa.
I also feel like the line, "With coincidences blossoming these days wherever she looked, she had nothing but a sound, a word, Trystero, to hold them together." This along with many other lines seem to making a statement about the analysis of literature. Like we look for things, sounds, words, to tie some big allusive idea together that we are not even sure exist.
I like how throughout the book it seems as though Pynchon is giving you little clues, or something as to not feel so overwhelmed. Like last week with the "All Oedipa remembered was his his strong nose..."In the reading this week I found it comforting when after her nighttime journey of seeing all the signs in the different places Pynchon writes, "The repetition of the symbols was to be enough, without trauma as well as perhaps to attenuate it or even jar it altogether from her memory. She was meant to remember." It was sort of like Pynchon telling me, "Don't worry, you get the general idea, I have mentioned this horn so many times, you know what you need to know." I also really enjoyed this line, "She also wanted to know why the chance of its being real should menace her so." I was wondering that too. Like why do we care so much about it. Does it even matter. No.
And that's the thing. I have tons of questions, like little questions, but do they matter? I enjoyed the book, I had a lot of fun reading it. What now?
I feel like in these parts he almost downplays the story. I get the feeling that he might downplay not the story so much, but what people tend to want to do to stories, as in figure them out. Like Pynchon is just telling the reader to lay back and enjoy the story, and you will get what you get, because at the end of the day Oedipa is still waiting for someone to bid on the stamp collection.
Oh and this line reminded me of what we were talking about in class last week about original version of stories and do they die when the author dies, " Though she could never again call back any image of the dead man to dress up, pose, talk to and make answer, neither would she lose a new compassion for the cul-de-sac he'd tried to find a way out of, for the enigma his efforts had created."
I feel like that is hardcore talking about what it is like to read a book and trying to make sense of it.
I'm pretty excited for class discussion on Friday! I like what I think Pynchon is getting at.... And I really don't want Oedipa to be on LSD or crazy! I just really like her, and I don't want it to be in her head, even if she does. And what else is so weird is how she is so scared that Tristero exists. So what if it does?
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