Falling asleep in my chair was my first mistake… January 31, 2007

Okay, so I started reading Saussure last night after I got back from my night class. As I was reading, I could feel my eyelids closing over and over. It wasn’t because I found him boring, I actually was enjoying what I was reading. But the English portfolio was due yesterday and having all the stress of the last two weeks finally, I was exhausted. So I decided to put Saussure down, (I didn’t think he’d mind) and went to bed. Now I can write my blog without falling asleep where I sit.

 

I felt that Saussure was a little easier to read than some of the other critics we have read for this class. I enjoyed the idea he presented that language and speech were two separate identities. He says, “Language, unlike speaking, is something that we can study separately. Although dead languages are no longer spoken, we can easily assimilate their linguistic organisms.” I felt that this was something I kind of already knew, but it finally was pulled to the surface when I read this. He feels that language is when we connect a verbal prompt to an image. I just thought that this was a very interesting point of view.

Rhizomes and other concepts January 29, 2007

I would like to say that I understood what I read this time much quicker than I did when I read Bakhtin, but it still took me some time before I started to understand what was going on. The first part of our reading was from Raymond Williams, and his book Marxism and Literature. He discusses literature as a “concept.” I really didn’t enjoy Williams, much like I didn’t enjoy Bakhtin, but our second essay was a different story all together.

 

I have to say that reading Deleuze and Guattari’s work was absolutely hilarious. I felt like they were on drugs and I was along for the trip. However, despite the beginning of the piece, the essay was quite easy to understand.

 

They state, “A book has neither object nor subject; it is made of variously formed matters, and very different dates and speeds.” I took from this that a book cannot soley function on one set subject. Instead, the book must take on the various instances that took place in order to form different subjects. I relate this to how the world was formed, either by evolution or by God. In each case, numerous events had to occur in order for the end result. If you were to write a book and not discuss the steps that led up to the end, how would the reader know what happened?

 

To me, the rhizome is like a spider web. There is no beginning or end, just a middle. I can picture a web that has no exact beginning, but branches out and in many different directions. This concept was so much easier to understand then past concepts we have discussed.

I’d rather read Shakespeare for fun then have to read Bakhtin again January 24, 2007

To begin with, I found that Mikhail M. Bakhtin’s biography was very interesting to read. I had never heard of him until I began my homework assignment for this class. And now that I have, I really wish that I hadn’t been introduced to the man’s work. I do feel that he led an interesting life. As a teacher, he was arrested for “corrupting the young,” and put into jail. This action might have saved his life, because many people he knew were disappearing into death camps. After being saved from a ten-year prison sentence, he was exiled and eventually had to have his leg amputated. I never knew you could have inflammation of bone marrow before. I think my favorite part was the fact that he used pages from his book in order to make cigarettes when the cigarette paper was scarce during World War II. How desperate do you have to be to use your own work to keep up a habit? And honestly, do we think that was all he was smoking?

When I first tried to tackle Bakhtin’s essay, I really wanted to scream. I felt incredibly stupid, because to me, not much of what I was reading was sinking in or making any sense at all. Then I calmed down, and went to see if anyone else had written anything about having issues understanding him. I was greatly relieved to see that I was not alone in my confusion. I find that this blog is very helpful, especially in a subject such as theory. Through this blog, we can help each other by writing down what we got out of certain pieces, and to compare them to our own findings.

Now, on to the man of the hour. To quote Bakhtin, “The great historical destinies of genres are overshadowed by the petty vicissitudes of stylistic modifications, which in their turn are linked with individual artists and artistic movements.” (1190) This was the first sentence that I read and seemed to “get” right away. He says that the genres that are to be considered great through the course of history, are sometimes played down by certain artists that take it upon themselves to change the course of the genre during their lives. Artists of any time period can overpower the genre that they are trying to paint in, or write in, or create music in. It is these artists that can debase a genre.

I could sit here and try to explain everything else I read, but I feel that like Bakhtin, I would be very repetitive. This was most likely one of the hardest things I’ve had to read before, and I’m glad that I’m not alone in this opinion.

Assignment #1 January 22, 2007

When I first came to The College of Saint Rose, I decided to go into history. Many people I knew kept telling me to go into English or Communications, but being the stubborn person I am, I chose to ignore them. Following my first semester here, I realized that history was really not where I belonged, and I switched majors.

I have loved to read and write since a very early age. My love of books has followed me through my education, and my writing has grown into a passion. I enjoy writing anything from fiction, to non-fiction, historical fiction, and writing for newspapers. I love to use my words to express who I am.

My experience with literature truly began during high school. I was exposed to Greek mythology, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Melville, Dickinson, and many others. While I didn’t care for everything I read during class, I tried to keep an open mind and to learn from what I was reading. Still, I found that most of the material we read was dull. Now in college, I have been exposed to many of the same authors and poets I studied during high school and many new ones as well. This time around though, I have looked further into what the author meant or was implying while writing certain pieces. I read Tony Morrison’s Beloved, during high school and it took all I could to make it through the book. I read it again for English 112, nearly 4 years after I originally read it, and found it to be one of the best books I have ever experienced.

Literature has taught me that for many years, and even until recent years, the canon was the only accepted literature studied. It was a white, male-dominated profession, and any other works were not looked upon with as much reverence. I have noticed though, that the canon, while still important to learn and study, has lost the absolute power it once held. Now authors like Morrison can be studied as well.

Hello world! January 21, 2007

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