On Reading and Reflection

Joe liked that my shirt matched the blanket

When I started this blog, I had planned to use it as a place to review and reflect on the books I read. While I have posted occasionally about books and articles that struck me in the last 4 years, I'm disappointed that I haven't written more on this topic. This year in particular, I have surprised myself by not posting about my reading assignments at all so far. It's not like I'm not reading - last term I read 10 authors for one seminar and selections on 10 topics for the other. So where are the reading posts?

Right now, I think the lack of posts on reading comes down to one factor: time. The structure of this course leaves very little time between assignments to reflect on a text in a meaningful way before diving into something new. Maybe the processing time is supposed to happen when we're writing all of our papers during third term in May and June, but I'm not sure. I have classes on Wednesdays and Fridays; this has been my schedule so far this term:

Week Zero (before term): complete research and write 6,000 word rough draft of contexts paper.

Week One (last week)

Assignments

(for Authors) 23 poems by Wallace Stevens

2 weeks worth of reading from fall term

(for Modernism & Sex) four articles by Schopenhauer and Freud totaling about 100 pages

Schedule 

Finish the contexts draft on Sunday for submission on Monday. Monday and Tuesday read the poetry for class on Wednesday. After Authors seminar, read the first of the four articles for Friday. Finish the Freud readings on Thursday. Class on Friday and a break in the evening.

Response

I was surprised by how many of the Stevens poems I recognized. I really liked his style in some of them, though I'm not sure how much I really understood, especially before our class discussion. He has a way with language that I like a lot, but that also confounds me.

The Schopenhauer reading ("The Metaphysics of Sexual Love") was interesting, partly because I knew that my classmates would be shouting "sexism!" in discussion. It reminded me a lot of the Psychology of Gender Differences course I took at LMU that is still one of my favorite courses ever (and literally the ONLY one I took at LMU that did not count toward anything for my graduation, I just really wanted to take it). There were some intriguing arguments, but overall his ideas seemed inherently flawed. The Freud chapters were easier to get through. I was surprised by how direct and easily comprehensible Freud's writing is; his arguments are clear, straight forward, and reasonable (most of the time). We read "'Civilized' Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness," "On the Universal Tendency to Debasement in the Sphere of Love," and "Beyond the Pleasure Principle." I liked the first one best.

eating alone? better get some reading done...

Week Two (this week)

Assignments

(for Authors) two novels by Jean Rhys, Voyage in the Dark and Good Morning, Midnight (total: 320 pgs)

(for Modernism & Sex) watch Wagner's opera of Tristan & Isolde, a four and a half hour performance

Charlie wanted to read with me.
Again, Joe just liked the the book
cover matched the blanket...

Schedule

Completed Voyage in the Dark on Saturday and Sunday. Took a break on Monday to spend time with Joe before his trip home. Read all of Good Morning, Midnight on Tuesday. On the way to class on Wednesday, began next week's Author assignment on the bus. After class on Wednesday, watched the first half of Wagner's opera. Will complete opera on Thursday and read more of next week's novel.

Response

Jean Rhys uses simple, direct language, which I like because that's how I tend to write too. Even though her style isn't as elevated as a lot of the writers we read, her characters are very relatable and it's easy to see yourself in them in some way, even if your situation is very different. I had a tough time getting into Good Morning, Midnight because it's about a woman who feels out of place, lonely, and like she has no home and I happened to be reading it the day Joe left for a week in California and I was already feeling incredibly homesick. Bad combination. I really liked the seminar discussion on this one, though. The lecturer this time is one I enjoy a lot because he knows how (and when) to allow the class to follow a tangent but still remembers what got us there and how to get back on point afterward. As a teacher, I know how difficult that is sometimes so I really respect it in him.

Week Three (next week)

Assignments

(for Authors) Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Dream of the Heart (354 pgs), plus two short stories, "Making Arrangements" and "Porphyria's Lover"

(for Modernism & Sex) D. H. Lawrence's novel Women in Love (481 pgs)

Schedule

My goal is to finish The Dream of the Heart by Saturday or Sunday at the very latest. I want to finish Women in Love before Joe gets home on Thursday afternoon and then hopefully take a little time off to hang out with him.

And what's my reward when I finish these two long novels in week three? I get to start the Annotated Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov for the seminar 5 days later. And two more novels are due two days after that.

This is the first month of term.

books for spring term

I feel unbelievably lucky to have a flexible schedule and the freedom to spend this year reading. I can stay up late and eat dinner with Joe when he gets home from work at 3 in the morning if I want to. I can sleep late and spend the day in my pajamas if I want to. But if anyone thinks this course is relaxed, they've been fooled. In fact, after looking at the work I have in front of me I am starting to wonder why I'm spending time writing this post when I really should be tackling some of this reading.