Monday, March 26, 2012
My Fantasy World
I have recently set some time aside for my fantasy story. I tried bringing it to an end, but before I knew it I was opening up a new plot. My fantasy world continues to grow, but needs some major editing. I want to quit with fantasy for a second and write a non-fantasy adventure story; however, last time I did that it had a tiny fantasy twist to it. I guess I'm just stuck in my fantasy world.
Foucault
Sadly enough my Foucault paper was a little dissapointing. Instead of bein a traditional paper, it was broken up into sections. I did have fun doing the research, but it was really hard to categorize him for the different sections of my paper. For example, I had to figure out whether he was an idealist, realist, exisitentialist, or perennialist. It was hard to pinpoint because as a post-modernist, he refused to be labeled. Existentialism broke out after the war, and Nietszhe had a lot to do with existential thought- that is almost all of my proof that Foucault was an existentialist. Maybe if I had the time/capacity to read his works rather than a summary published by Cambridge, I woud have been better off.
Foucault's most interesting theory is about the truth of knowledge. He claims that there is no truth in knowledge and people who are in power deliberately say things in certain ways to make you believe what they want you to believe. He does not have any straight literary theory, but he does have a theory of an "author function" where when you read, you don't think about why the author wrote this text, you think about how the author is conveying the culture of his/her time.
I'll be writing more on Literary theory in the fall when I take a class on lit theory.
Foucault's most interesting theory is about the truth of knowledge. He claims that there is no truth in knowledge and people who are in power deliberately say things in certain ways to make you believe what they want you to believe. He does not have any straight literary theory, but he does have a theory of an "author function" where when you read, you don't think about why the author wrote this text, you think about how the author is conveying the culture of his/her time.
I'll be writing more on Literary theory in the fall when I take a class on lit theory.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Comics - new paper (Aren't I supposed to be on Spring Break?)
Spring break started for me today as I have no classes on Fridays. I have much research to do and since research is normally referred to as "work" I decided to spend my first day of spring break relaxing. I was watching tv and soon became bored. (tv really cannot hold my attention for very long.) My mind started floating to one of my research papers, one that I am particularly interested in.
This paper is for my senior seminar class on graphic novels. I am supposed to engage myself in Hillary Chute's "Comics as Literature? Reading Graphic Narrative." The first time I read this article I found it very tedious, and I had to ask my boyfriend to read it with me just so I could summarize the main points of the article. After a few months of studying and reading graphic novels (or narratives) and reading this article for the umpteenth time, I'm really starting to get a grasp on everything that Chute approaches. I'm even making little notations in the margins of other interesting topics within the article to look into and see what other critics are saying about it. (Like the difference between a graphic novel and a graphic narrative, for example.)
One of the topics Chute addresses in this article is the history of comics, and how comics represent history. Scott McCloud goes into more detail than Chute does about the history of comics in his book "Understanding Comics." I will use information from both Chute and McCloud, as well as other articles that I can find, to look into this. I do not want to summarize the history of comics but I want to focus on "Medieval comics."
I know that some medieval works have illustrations with the text (probably because a lot of people were illiterate). The Book of Kells, for example is a copy of the bible with pictures illustrating the stories within the text. The story can be told through the pictures alone, or one can read the text. Medieval musical manuscripts also have pictures. Some of the manuscripts have the musical scores, poetry, and pictures to tell a story. I'm going to look around and see what other medieval works I can find that include pictures with the text. Who would have thought that comics existed in the Middle Ages?
I have to connect my thesis to the texts we have been reading in class, which is going to be tough. I have not figured out how I will link it, but I'm going to use Kyle Baker's "Nat Turner" as a bridge. "Nat Turner" is a story about slave rebellion. Baker draws the story with pictures, but uses text from the historical documentation of Nat Turner's confessions, which was dictated by Nat Turner when he was in prison.
I've come across another problem. If I am focusing on historical texts, that means I'm treating the Book of Kells as a historical text. Also, that means that I cannot use fictional texts written by Medieval writers that would have been illustrated. I need to come up with a way to either make it universal so I can include fictional works, or find more non-fictional texts from the Middle Ages that I can use within the umbrella of "comics" or "graphic novels."
I have much work ahead of me, and plenty of time to do it; however, I am spending my "relaxing day" doing research. Maybe research is what I consider a fun, relaxing activity. 8-)
This paper is for my senior seminar class on graphic novels. I am supposed to engage myself in Hillary Chute's "Comics as Literature? Reading Graphic Narrative." The first time I read this article I found it very tedious, and I had to ask my boyfriend to read it with me just so I could summarize the main points of the article. After a few months of studying and reading graphic novels (or narratives) and reading this article for the umpteenth time, I'm really starting to get a grasp on everything that Chute approaches. I'm even making little notations in the margins of other interesting topics within the article to look into and see what other critics are saying about it. (Like the difference between a graphic novel and a graphic narrative, for example.)
One of the topics Chute addresses in this article is the history of comics, and how comics represent history. Scott McCloud goes into more detail than Chute does about the history of comics in his book "Understanding Comics." I will use information from both Chute and McCloud, as well as other articles that I can find, to look into this. I do not want to summarize the history of comics but I want to focus on "Medieval comics."
I know that some medieval works have illustrations with the text (probably because a lot of people were illiterate). The Book of Kells, for example is a copy of the bible with pictures illustrating the stories within the text. The story can be told through the pictures alone, or one can read the text. Medieval musical manuscripts also have pictures. Some of the manuscripts have the musical scores, poetry, and pictures to tell a story. I'm going to look around and see what other medieval works I can find that include pictures with the text. Who would have thought that comics existed in the Middle Ages?
I have to connect my thesis to the texts we have been reading in class, which is going to be tough. I have not figured out how I will link it, but I'm going to use Kyle Baker's "Nat Turner" as a bridge. "Nat Turner" is a story about slave rebellion. Baker draws the story with pictures, but uses text from the historical documentation of Nat Turner's confessions, which was dictated by Nat Turner when he was in prison.
I've come across another problem. If I am focusing on historical texts, that means I'm treating the Book of Kells as a historical text. Also, that means that I cannot use fictional texts written by Medieval writers that would have been illustrated. I need to come up with a way to either make it universal so I can include fictional works, or find more non-fictional texts from the Middle Ages that I can use within the umbrella of "comics" or "graphic novels."
I have much work ahead of me, and plenty of time to do it; however, I am spending my "relaxing day" doing research. Maybe research is what I consider a fun, relaxing activity. 8-)
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Thousands of Words
This is a piece that I wrote several years back:
Thousands of Words
Thousands of Words
If you asked I would write you a thousand words and then I would write a thousand more. I would write tales of war, Knight ship, and more. I would write of princes and princesses and all their galore. I would write life and beauty and so much more. I would write the ocean so deep that you wouldn’t know it was that you were looking for. I would write my imagination and you would hunger for more. I would write with a mad burning desire and include all of its gore. I would write of memories past and so much more. I would write the future and what happened before. Yet it wouldn’t be enough because I would write thousands of words and so much more.
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