Off to Two New Pieces!

So we got painfully behind. At least I did, and my Cool Breeze friend. :) We were technically supposed to have read Picture of Dorian Gray last week, to finish last night, but some "difficulties" popped up that had us all a bit behind. Good news though, I now have the GRE Literature test book, but no time to really look at it yet. I've flipped through it and actually feel comfortable with all the "general" information I saw on literature and theory. For this week we're reading Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. Happy reading, and we'll be posting more information as our muddled brains and lives will allow!

For the 28th, read "The Rape of the Lock," and then on the 30th "Fern Hill."

For the 1st, we will start off with Eliot's "The Wasteland" (hang on to your hats on that one!). I found some interesting sites on the poem, which I will list below if you want to take a look:
--"The Wasteland HomePage" (Interesting connection to another Bruegel painting)
--An interesting forum post about each section of the poem.
--Another web site dedicated to an analysis of the poem.
--This site "Bookrags" has some nice links to biographies of Eliot, as well as articles, etc.

For the 3rd, read "Lycidas," followed by "Comus" on the 4th, and the play Arms and the Man to round out that week.

"The Author's Epitaph, Made By Himself"

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)

Here's the painting mentioned on the list.

Also, check out "The Author's Epitaph, Made By Himself" by Sir Walter Raleigh.

And the Adventure Begins!

So, let me first begin by explaining how this all came about. Mon, Cool Breeze, and I (Mon was my roommate at BYU, and has her masters in Social Work. Cool Breeze is a friend, and current roommate, from K-State, where she got her masters in English-Creative Writing...two smart cookies!) were sitting around our table Tuesday night eating a lovely dinner when we started reminiscing over graduate school and how much we missed it. More than anything, we missed all the great reading we did, along with those discussions that made our brains hurt sometimes. Next thing I knew, they both started telling me that I need to take the GRE subject test in Literature. Now I've always said that I can't get my PhD because my foggy-memoried brain just won't wrap itself around all the theory I poured over in graduate school, but even thinking about being a PhD student makes me crazy jealous. It's always been a "pipe dream," one that I've ever only talked about in mocking "as if" language. Well, with their coaxing, and their effervescent enthusiasm to read a monstrous list of suggested books, poems, and short stories with me, we've decided to tackle the list in one year. At the end of which, I'll "attempt" the subject test. After that, who knows!

Here's my deal...I love ethnic lit., diversity studies, etc., and I have my MA in English, emphasis Cultural Studies. While at the great Kansas State University, I focused my studies on ethnic lit., mainly in Native American Literature. That was a great time in my life, and I now teach American and World Literature at Lehi High School in Lehi, Utah. Reading all these books and pieces will be difficult at times (hello...War and Peace and "The Fairie Queen," need I say more?), but it will also be great fun if you all jump on board!

Monica is currently coming up with a reading schedule. Our list is based off of a geocities link that everyone seems to be referring to. That link is: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/5187/gre.html, and seems to be pretty comprehensive. I'm a little concerned about the fact that there doesn't seem to be any "contemporary" pieces on the list, but as Monica so kindly reminded me, I've covered that on my own. :) As we get the reading schedule, I'll post it here for all to take a look at. For now, our first selection is: E. M. Forster's A Passage to India (a little ironic I think...). We are aiming to have this read by Sunday, March 11th. After we have finished, drop in and make a posting by clicking on "comment," that way we can have a "virtual" discussion of the book.

Good luck, and thanks for joining me on this mighty quest!

मई थे लोर्द ब्लेस उस इन थिस जौर्नेय। (Hindi for "May the Lord bless us in this journey.)