Entry tags:
into the void
I have been away from LJ/DW for some time now, in a larger sense because of the seemingly ever-increasing demands of my job and my family and my desire to actually finish my dissertation, but in a smaller and more local sense because of traveling over the holidays and school starting once again and a fannish trajectory that has me reading far more often than producing or commenting on source material. Add in an anxiety disorder which has in the last weeks blossomed uncomfortably, and I have not been around very often. I sometimes feel as if I'm standing on the shoreline of fandom, right where water eats sand, sinking further and further into the sandy slurry over the last four years while fandom slowly, slowly recedes outwards. Pretty soon I'll be perched on dry dunes and watching the surf crash in down the way.
All this to say, what I miss most about fandom is talking to you guys. On a regular basis. About things. :) Josh is watching Oz with Dax, and I have a whole evening to spend wading back into the waves. So talk to me. I have talking points.
1. Let's say you fall through a whole in the sky into the Potterverse when Lily is pregnant but before the prophecy is made. Let's say you help defeat Voldemort before Harry can even be involved and while you are angsting over time travel and universe hopping and mostly not-angsting over becoming the filling in a Sirius/Remus sandwich, you are asked to teach a Muggle literature class at Hogwarts to the seventh years. Now remember, the objective of this class isn't merely to showcase excellence in Muggle literature. The texts you choose have to do something more--they must illuminate the Muggle human condition. They must offer some commentary you feel necessary for this class to understand about what it means to be a Muggle or perhaps about the Muggle perception of and fascination with magic. The texts don't have to be readily accessible to the wee wizards; part of what you'll be doing as a teacher is providing context for the Muggle history and situations they don't understand. This is a Muggle world literature class that spans all recorded history. What text(s) do you choose and why?
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executrix sent me the most marvelous parcel of books this Christmas, truly her most inspired assortment yet (and believe me, this lady is no slouch in the book delivery dept). In this parcel was Very Far Away From Anywhere Else by Ursula K. LeGuin. Clocking in at about 80 pgs, this novella is a lovely slice of adolescence. I think it does a very good job of capturing the peculiarities of being a teenager--the way everything feels so very terribly important, the sense that you are disconnected from and different than those around you, that what you are going through is unique to you and you alone and the select few individuals you find along your journey, the notion of life as some kind of quest for an answer, a thing to be figured out, a puzzle. I love it. It's really more of a postcard of a book than anything, but UKlG's prose is as fine as ever. Also in the box: Aimee and Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin, 1943 (which is about the love affair between a German woman and a Jewish woman who has gone underground in Berlin; has anyone read this book? I have interestingly mixed feelings about the author's epilogue) and Love in a Dark Time which tries to force intersections between homosexuality, Irishness, and Catholicism in a discussion of a set of artistic figures with varying degrees of success. The chapter on Wilde is the most successful, the chapter on Almodovar the least. He seems pasteded on, yo.
3. Adam and Joy gave us Never Let Me Go which OMG, y'all. Wow. I mean. I knew that Remains of the Day is supposed to be awesome and a pinnacle but I'd never read or seen the movie, and now I just want to devour everything this guy has ever written. Never Let Me Go is haunting and creepy and ambivalent and so overwhelming sad that it instantly jumps into favored status with Lorraine. I think it's been made into a movie. Anybody seen or watched?
4. Finally, seen any movies? Read any books? Heard any songs? Cooked anything awesome? Been thinking thinky thoughts about a thing? I wanna know.
All this to say, what I miss most about fandom is talking to you guys. On a regular basis. About things. :) Josh is watching Oz with Dax, and I have a whole evening to spend wading back into the waves. So talk to me. I have talking points.
1. Let's say you fall through a whole in the sky into the Potterverse when Lily is pregnant but before the prophecy is made. Let's say you help defeat Voldemort before Harry can even be involved and while you are angsting over time travel and universe hopping and mostly not-angsting over becoming the filling in a Sirius/Remus sandwich, you are asked to teach a Muggle literature class at Hogwarts to the seventh years. Now remember, the objective of this class isn't merely to showcase excellence in Muggle literature. The texts you choose have to do something more--they must illuminate the Muggle human condition. They must offer some commentary you feel necessary for this class to understand about what it means to be a Muggle or perhaps about the Muggle perception of and fascination with magic. The texts don't have to be readily accessible to the wee wizards; part of what you'll be doing as a teacher is providing context for the Muggle history and situations they don't understand. This is a Muggle world literature class that spans all recorded history. What text(s) do you choose and why?
2.
executrix sent me the most marvelous parcel of books this Christmas, truly her most inspired assortment yet (and believe me, this lady is no slouch in the book delivery dept). In this parcel was Very Far Away From Anywhere Else by Ursula K. LeGuin. Clocking in at about 80 pgs, this novella is a lovely slice of adolescence. I think it does a very good job of capturing the peculiarities of being a teenager--the way everything feels so very terribly important, the sense that you are disconnected from and different than those around you, that what you are going through is unique to you and you alone and the select few individuals you find along your journey, the notion of life as some kind of quest for an answer, a thing to be figured out, a puzzle. I love it. It's really more of a postcard of a book than anything, but UKlG's prose is as fine as ever. Also in the box: Aimee and Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin, 1943 (which is about the love affair between a German woman and a Jewish woman who has gone underground in Berlin; has anyone read this book? I have interestingly mixed feelings about the author's epilogue) and Love in a Dark Time which tries to force intersections between homosexuality, Irishness, and Catholicism in a discussion of a set of artistic figures with varying degrees of success. The chapter on Wilde is the most successful, the chapter on Almodovar the least. He seems pasteded on, yo.3. Adam and Joy gave us Never Let Me Go which OMG, y'all. Wow. I mean. I knew that Remains of the Day is supposed to be awesome and a pinnacle but I'd never read or seen the movie, and now I just want to devour everything this guy has ever written. Never Let Me Go is haunting and creepy and ambivalent and so overwhelming sad that it instantly jumps into favored status with Lorraine. I think it's been made into a movie. Anybody seen or watched?
4. Finally, seen any movies? Read any books? Heard any songs? Cooked anything awesome? Been thinking thinky thoughts about a thing? I wanna know.
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Re-obsessed with the Mountain Goats right now
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I've got no good thoughts on the fannishness thing. I can only say that you're one of my favorite people regardless of fannish texts or whether you're commenting on source texts or any of that. I just enjoy you. I'll also say that the ocean doesn't go away -- you can come down to the water if you like, or, if you hang around long enough, it will eventually come back to you.
*hugs more and more and more*
(Also, I can't brain enough to think of texts I would teach wee baby wizards, but maybe LoTR within the context of WWII and also calling out things like the way women can be read as the torchbearers of civilization much like the white women in Heart of Darkness, hence Éowyn's predicament; the current of racism, of dark=ugly=evil/light=beauty=good, that was a product of and also a reinforcement of that same current running throughout Western society; and that sort of thing. I'll think more when I can brain better. :)
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It's so reassuring to hear that kind of thing. I don't get tired of you guys either. I'll always be interested in what's going on with you and how you are regardless of what you're doing fannishly too.
My anxiety is kind of hitting the scary point. I'm scared to turn on the computer or check my email. It's insanely dumb. I am going to make an appt and try to get some help next week. I have always been anxious, but this is super ridiculous.
I love the idea of incorporating WWII and woman power in the syllabus. From the books, you can infer that Grindelwald was one of the propelling factors of WWII so seeing that from the Muggle perspective might be a good idea for the wee witchlings.
Muggle books
...no muggle lit class would be complete without the great gatsby...yes, a cliche, but this book really focuses--in beautiful language--on the way muggles hurt each other, what they do out of fear, how though ideas of race and class may no longer at the forefront of life decisions, the muggle world really has not progressed in those areas--we could all learn from a little Ginny-Dean relationship...also I think it's important for wizarding women--I hesitate to use the word witch--understand how muggle women can be both repressed and empowered...especially since gender roles have not progressed much in 90 years...the most empowered women--those at hogwarts and in the wizarding world may figure out how to change/improve this area...plus, I love a story of triumph, which is what I see in this novel even w/ gatsby's death--he turns the upperclass into the base creatures they are underneath...a bit of magic without a wand;)
Re: Muggle books
I am reading SLOUCHING TOWARD BETHLEHEM, and I have to be completely honest. It's not grabbing me like I thought it would. I loved YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, but that writing is so different. It's a fully fledged memoir rather than being a collection of journalistic articles, and for whatever reason, I'm feeling sort of meh about STB. IDK.
I think GATSBY is a great suggestion re: my Hogwarts syllabus. I love how passionate you are about this book. I've only read it twice, and I don't have nearly the familiarity you do with it, but it sounds perfect. RE: witch, although I understand your hesitation in using the term, I think it's also important to remember that the Muggle world has demonized the word, not the Wizarding one. For witches, it's a source of power and has a totally different meaning.
Is This The Promised End?
My pick for Victorian novel would be Middlemarch instead of Jane Eyre or Oliver Twist, for breadth of discussion of Muggle society in a spirit of forgiveness.
And, for narrow discussion of Muggle Society, Why Even Bother?, King Lear--especially since it took a happy-ending original and B7ed up the end, so yay for discussion of how authors shape their source material.
Marge Piercy's Small Changes, for 20th Century Muggle Society, Female Division.
Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, for Muggle Society, Conflict Among Subgroups Division.
Re: Is This The Promised End?
Middlemarch is a great suggestion for the reason you mention and also because it focuses on marriage and gender relations and class (in short, it is a Victorian novel LOL).
I have to now to my abject shame to admit that I've never read King Lear or the other two books you mention.
Re: Is This The Promised End?
I think you would adore "Small Changes," I find it a very lovable book although not exactly of World's Classics stature. A Suitable Boy certainly takes some plowing through--it's VEEEERY long and very sad.