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Writers as Architects

I personally love the melding of writing/literature with other mediums, and the idea of creating original architectural structures based on that material is absolutely mind-boggling. It was nice being able to see the structures the students created, especially since they explained their thought processes and I have had personal experience with some of the works they did.

I am also really excited about sharing our different structures in connection to the works we have read this semester. I know in selecting mine I had to think about the books in a different way, following the anti-literal approach outlined in the article, and so that was a fantastic experience when it came to selecting a truly representative piece of architecture.

More than all that, I thought it was an interesting take on the writing process. This article makes me want to think more about the kinds of structures I am building in my own writing, and the ways in which I hope readers will interpret those structures.

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Rhetorical Schema

I like the idea of analyzing visual imagery rhetorically, since a large part of my education here in the fine arts department has involved in depth analysis of visual imagery. What was most interesting to me, though, to that effect, was the author's insistence on separating that analysis from intentionalist views. I found this interesting because most of the time we view art in class through the lens of creator's intention. The effect they choose and attempt to achieve has always been an integral part of analysis, so to remove that from the equation is disconcerting and mind boggling. Even so, it makes a lot of sense, and I'm a tad disappointed to have not thought of it before.

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Freud

While I find it to be true in a sense that the imagination of the writer seems to be a continuation of childhood imagination, I wonder at why Freud never mentioned the adult's sophistication of thought of mastery of language. Childhood imagination has few words to describe it because the child itself is still learning them. So while the imaginative processes may be the same, the enacting of that imagination into words is not. Secondly, I can't help but wonder at the intensely typical storyline he used to describe the connection to daydreams. Male centric, of course, but also heteronormative and with little interest in anything beyond a sort of cliche hero's journey. While it serves his purpose, it pains me to think of the many storylines out there that do not follow this formula, or maybe refuse typical romance or romance at all, which he has simply ignored. It makes me wonder, too, whether such stories would strengthen or weaken his argument.

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Laugh of the Medusa

While Cixous' writing was long and somewhat dense, I found it also magnificently poetic. I could float along with the words and feel empowered. They carried me away. My favorite part, in particular, was the part about writing our selves. This probably is because, as a writer, I feel it is essential that my story be my own, be part of me. But more than that, I loved it because this does not happen enough. I'm sure it happens more often now, of course, but even then. For the sake of not just women but every oppressed minority, stories must be told. Like the Twitter-famous Syrian girl who is putting her struggle into words, for her sake and for ours it is essential that these stories are told and spread. I also found the male versus female in a male dominated world aspect of Cixous' whole piece interesting to think about. I am excited to discuss it more in class.

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Click-Clack the Rattlebag

WHOA DUDE.

I’ve never read Neil Gaiman before, but I’ve heard only good things. So while I was in some ways expecting the quality -- and freakiness -- of this story, it still took me by surprise and shook me up.

I guess the biggest thing about it is the ending. The rest is interesting enough, but the ending only provides question, only makes room for speculation. I love stories that do that, because they are creative in the way they spark the readers’ creativity and imagination. Truly well-done.

If I had to pick one thing that was difficult, I would say it was understanding the context. We were given all the necessary parts of the setting, but I couldn’t puzzle out why this boy and his sister’s boyfriend were in this big house alone. I know the boyfriend technically tells the story of the day, but why would she leave him with her little brother? And I suppose this begs the question of whether or not this little boy is even real, but that’s a little too mind-bending for a Wednesday evening.

Regardless, this was a fantastic story.

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Letter to My Daughter

What a beautiful series of excerpts from this book. My favorite was the first, “Home,” because the last paragraph seemed so simple yet profound, and intensely relateable.

In all, I thought this was a fantastic look at real humanity, at the simplicity of the human condition and the complexity of racial tensions, especially what it’s like to be on the side of the oppressed. But the best thing about it was that these moments were Real Life moments, moments every person lives through in some manner, and Angelou does a fantastic job at teasing out the lessons those moments have to offer. I enjoyed it a lot.

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The Lottery

I love this story, and I mean LOVE. I have since the first time I read it. I love how you think you understand and then you realize what is actually going on. I love how it feels so contemporary. I love how it is simple, yet it haunts you. I have yet to not think about this story on a daily basis, and the first time I read it was in middle school. I blame this story for getting me into books like The Hunger Games, too. It gave me a taste for the genre I have had since.

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Postmodernism Rocks

I liked this a lot, actually. Yes, there were parts I found boring, and there was a LOT of weird. But I liked sitting back and letting the weird happen. I liked telling myself there was no point in figuring out what the point was, so I just enjoyed the ride. On the whole, I had a pleasant reading experience. I felt like I was reading Waiting for Godot minus the headache. I will admit to some confusion, such as the point of this whole story. I'm not sure I know what really happened (or if I'm supposed to) or how this totally relates to the topic of monsters, but I can see this being a popular postmodern text, especially given its setting in time. I thought the writing was generally excellent, though I do have a low tolerance for male authors who find it absolutely necessary to mention their male characters' penises at least once (but that is a conversation for another time). On the whole it was well written and I think I felt what he wanted me to feel through each moment of the story. I'm excited to discuss this further.

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What an end!

It was so nice being able to finish this book, and also very stressful. The whole time, though I believed I was certain Lo would survive, my heart was still racing with worry. I liked, too, the way Carrie’s character turned out through the ending. I like her a lot.

If I had to pick one thing I love most about this book, it’s that it clings to typical aspects of the mystery genre, but still manages to throw you for a loop. It’s marvelously done in that respect. I would read things, be surprised at the series of events, and then retrospectively think that of course they would turn out that way. It happened with Carrie, for example. I really was worried that she was dead, thought Lo was never going to find anything except that truth, was surprised when she found the money in her bank, and then though of course Carrie isn’t dead! And this is one of the main things I think makes this book so incredibly popular, is even when you know what to look for, you don’t see it until it’s happened already.

This was a fantastic book, and I’m already excited to recommend it to people and to reread it.

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Wow. Just wow. Talk about an enthralling text. The Nancy Drew fanatic in me was tearing this mystery apart from the moment it started being mysterious, and though I don’t think anyone but Sherlock Holmes could’ve guessed the precise details of this mystery, I definitely had some key components figured out prior to the Big Reveal. I’m incredibly excited to finish it off! Resisting picking it back up has been unbelievably difficult.

One thing I love about this text is the way Lo is handled. In many ways, I wanted to trust her, but in other ways -- after seeing her half-drunk and running on two hours of sleep post burglary -- I was constantly questioning her reliability. I believed the tangible evidence, but I also kept writing off a lot of her actions, thoughts, and questions as just her being paranoid. I had to actually take a step back and reevaluate myself a couple times, which is a level of interaction I love having with a text.

I think it’s also absolutely fantastic how real this text is. We’re given a character with a diagnosed condition and prescription medication who tells us of realistic and unhealthy relationships she’s been in. She’s up front about how she feels about her anxiety and her pills, she’s up front about the emotional manipulation, she’s up front about being a mess and barely keeping it together on a daily basis. We even learn a little of the loss of her dream, a slice of reality that I definitely did not expect to encounter.

I’m excited to dissect this book more in class. There’s so much here, and so much about monsters, too!

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And So It Goes

What an interesting text on the whole. Events passed quickly, one after the other, and a lot of it seemed simplified or implausible. But it ended on an interesting note, with the idea of nobody being all good or all bad. I understand the underlying religious tones of it, but I still think it ended in a nice place in that way. I also think it's great that the places they dreamt of didn't turn out to be as wonderful as they'd hoped. I feel like that's a common journey with a valuable lesson and it was nice to see it presented on paper, even if it was through the eyes of a cow. I also liked the general idea that life doesn't turn out the way you plan, such as with Tom flying planes and then advocating for turkey rights, or Shalom and Joe making peace. That was just a great general point about people finding their purpose and I found it very comforting. This book has been such an exciting adventure. I'm glad we read it.

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Holy Cow, there it goes.

That first one hundred pages went by really quickly. I mean, really quickly. As in I track my reading times and I am averaging 29 seconds per page. I can finish this book in under two hours. So suffice to say I am utterly baffled by the easy simplicity of this book.

I’m also a little worried about the second half, given the first half was just about them finding out these awful things and deciding to go across the world. How much can really happen in one hundred pages when the writing is this easy and the format is very open? I’m fairly skeptical. I guess I am already starting to wonder if this book has bitten off more than it can chew. It’s clever, telling the story of the horrors of factory farming through the perspective of an animal, and it’s quite entertaining. But can you really fully attack and criticize the meat industry in two hundred pages of simple writing where all the dialogue is in script format? Probably not. I hope to be surprised, but if I end up having any major problems with this novel, that will probably be it. On the whole, though, I’m having a great time!

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darth vader is just the phantom of the opera in space

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Little article about some facts behind Phantom.

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So Much Water So Close to Home

Wow. Talk about creep factor. I feel like the words of this story have slithered off the page and are crawling all over me! And talk about monsters, too, the way those men treated that girl’s body. I loved the constant attention to the water, the sort of disjointed way in which Claire dealt with her husband’s tale of the dead girl. That’s some higher level writing, making us all feel confused and disgusted like she does.

I think the freakiest part of this whole thing is it’s not so far from real life. It’s not like Willa, which dealt with the idea of an after life that we can’t confirm. It’s real people in a real world, real dead bodies and real rape and their real names in a real newspaper -- or, as close to realistic as one can get in fiction. If these were real people, as awful as their story is, these events wouldn’t be so far-fetched.

In all, despite feeling thoroughly creeped out, I enjoyed this story a lot. It was a ride from start to finish and was written so, so well.

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Willa

Having not read much of Stephen King’s work, I always find it exciting to settle into one of his pieces such as this one. I didn’t see the ghosts coming at all, for starters. But I also really appreciate the literary aspect of the piece. I was talking with Kaitlin about types of stories and we both discussed how much we sometimes love that intense literary kind of tale. And while this did have a lot going on, there was something mellow and to-the-point about the way it was executed that was just really relaxing and thrilling at the same time.

In addition, I totally did not expect the ghosts. I was thinking of all kinds of monsters except ghosts, which made me realize that I don’t really think of ghosts as monsters. I’m not sure why this is, except maybe it’s some internalized idea of Casper that prevents me from immediately adding ghosts to the monster category. Either way, it was nice to be surprised at the Big Plot Twist within the tale.

In all, I enjoyed this very much. I’m excited to delve deeper into it in class.