plagiarism

From The Travels of Sir John Mandeville

I've completely stolen the idea of this post from my dear friend, Amanda, who is pursuing a M.F.A. in Acting at Northern Illinois University. You got this, Miss Amanda. Anyway, I thought it'd be nice to give you an idea of what I'm actually working on, too. Note: Italicized sections are verbatim syllabus.

19th Century Seminar

This course looks at the careers of three canonical figures of the Romantic period: Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and Sir Walter Scott. It interrogates assumptions about Romantic-era literary and social history by considering how the productions of these authors respond to their historical moment and how they both perpetuate and challenge notions of 'Romanticism'. We will discuss cultural stereotypes and literary popularity within the context of historicist consciousness and trans-historical appeal.

Summary: Even though I'm not exactly sure what "trans-historical appeal" means, I'm super excited for this class. Jane Austen + Me = Double-plus good. Every time.

Becoming Indian in Early Modern Travel Writing

In this seminar, we will read a rich variety of early modern travel writing about Europeans and Indians in the Americas and Asia. Our primary goal will be to understand how early modern Europeans apprehended otherness, and the modern knowledge formations - anthropology, ethnography - that their writing engendered. We will also consider the literary forms - epic, romance, satire - to which these writers resorted in chronicling a wide variety of "Becomings-Indian."

Summary: Apparently, this class requires an absolute tidal wave of reading. I quote: "If you're hesitant about the prospect of tackling 150-200 pages of sometimes very dense early modern writing, theory, and criticism a week, this seminar may not be for you!" (My favorite part is the friendly exclamation mark) Still, though, I'm excited about this course. My professor is like a Monty Python character (and British, to boot!), so that's cool.And we get to read cool stuff, like The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, in which a person who may or may not have been real writes about monsters and, famously, men whose heads grow beneath their shoulders. His book was later used as a reference manual for Columbus (who's travels we're also reading) and Shakespeare (pretty sure it's referenced in Othello). Good times.

Introduction to Literary Theory

Yeah... this class doesn't have a description. It's a basic literary theory survey course, covering such topics as Structuralism, Psychoanalysis, Queer Theory, Postmodernity, and Historical Materialism. Every other person (except me, of course) in class has already taken a theory course in undergrad. Guess I have some catching up to do (this is a good place to imagine me speaking in a tone of unmistakable nervous hysteria)!

So that's my schedules, folks. Currently I have class Wednesday and Friday and am still looking for work. In other news, we move into our new place on the 16th (at least tentatively... I'm signing the lease on Tuesday). Go team, go!

theme song

What do you do with a B.A. in English?

What is my life going to be?

Four years of college and plenty of knowledge

Have earned me this useless degree.

I can't pay the bills yet,

'cus I have no skills yet.

The world is a big scary place.

Yet somehow I can't shake

The feeling I might make

A difference to the human race.

-Avenue Q

to-may-to, to-motto

While perusing Cornell University's English Department website today, I came across the following quote, which I have since written on our chalkboard and adopted into my growing list of graduate school application slogans:

"To pretend I actually do the thing: I have therefore only pretended to pretend."
-Jacques Derrida

This gives me hope: if I can just continue to act like I know what I'm doing for the next five-to-seven years, I'll magically end up with a dissertation and a fancy title at the end.

Other (less snobbishly academic) mottos-o'-mine*:

"Whoa! Dream big."
-Juno

"Trying hard now
it's so hard now
trying hard now

Getting strong now
won't be long now
getting strong now

Gonna fly now
flying high now
gonna fly, fly, fly...."
-The "Rocky" Theme Song


*Being unsure of the plural of "motto," I checked it out on Dictionary.com, which indicated that both "mottos" and "mottoes" are correct derivatives. I have chosen "mottos" here for the obvious reason that "mottoes" looks silly.

i want this

Dear Elna Baker,

This is just a note to express my appreciation and gratitude for your non-conformist fabulousness. As you probably know, George Dawes Green had this to say about you:

"Elna Baker's memoirs of Mormon chastity and self-denial are presented with such passion and wit and unbridled effervescence that somehow her life comes out as pure erotic adventure, a romance of wild sunshine hedonism. As she juggles it all before us-her doubt and her deep faith and her lust and longing and fierce discipline-she's a dazzlement, a living breathing paradox and an absolute original and a joy to behold."

If I buy your book for all my friends, will you please teach me how to be you?

Sincerely,

Haylie Swenson