thebookishowl.com

Tolkien once defended fantasy literature as “escapist” by explaining that readers ”escaped” into fantasy literature the way prisoners “escaped” from jail. Tolkien saw the genre we now call fantasy literature as a necessary andedote to modern life. Tolkien’s own works were to help propel the genre of fantasy into wider acceptance and popularity at the same time they froze elements of the genre code into place while inadvertantly creating new expectations of the genre (the “trilogy” for example) that hadn’t existed before. In this week’s class we will consider the genre code for fantasy and examine some of the elements, such as the hero’s quest, that have come to dominate perception of works of this type.

This week’s reading assignment is to read a fantasy classic. We will focus on JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and will generally discuss fantasy as a genre, the myth of the hero and the nature of archetypal storytelling. We will discuss The Lord of the Rings both books and movie.

Illustration from Alice in Wonderland  by Mervyn Peake, fantasy author and illustrator. The first volume of his fantasy trilogy is available to read on the course resource page. It is an interesting alternative to reading Tolkien this week. Consult the syllabus for more choices.

Literature of Horror, Fantasy & Sci-Fi

I picked up Mats Jonsson’s graphic novel Hey Princess based solely on a friend’s recommendation after he compared Jonsson to both Lynda Barry and Jeffrey Brown (two of my favorite cartoonists).

Hey Princess is a shockingly honest look at Jonsson’s life as a young man. This could be the story of anyone as Jonsson discovers the intricacies of love (and its often attendant emotions of jealousy, pain, and other complications), along with his own search for personal identity.

With its deceptively simple artwork and honest, introspective storytelling, Hey Princess draws you into Mats Jonnson’s sometimes crude, often funny, but always engaging coming of age story.

My next book is Rebekka Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

also at Largehearted Boy:

other 52 Books, 52 Weeks reviews

Online “Best Books of 2010″ lists
Online “best of the decade” book lists
Online “best of 2009″ book lists
Online “best of 2008″ book lists
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)

Largehearted Boy

Robot Overlord with laser pirate sword

I read an interesting article in Guardian about authors who pretty much wrote science-fiction, but refused to acknowledge that what they wrote was, in fact, science-fiction. The story might take place in the future, might explore the effects of apocalyptic events… but there are no lasers or robots. Therefore not sci-fi, right? In a way it’s understandable to refuse to be categorized and keep your doors open to a wider audience, but on the other hand it seems crazy to alienate the readership that is most likely to pick your book up. It reminds me a little of when the Sci Fi Channel changed its name to SyFy to become “less geeky.”

We categorize books to help us go to the right shelf and find the kind of books we like, and it also helps publishers who can market their books to the right audience. Without properly categorized books I would probably have my mom buy me Twilight for Christmas with the explanation “it stood between that George Martin and Elizabeth Moon that you like…”

But there certainly is a negative side to categories as well. For example, you wouldn’t get me to pick up a book from the “Vampire Romance” section even if the author had won the Nobel-price in literature. I shy away from some categories like vampires to garlic (sorry, I’ll stop picking on Twilight now), and I can only expect that normal people do the same. How many readers have George R.R. Martin lost at first glance because it’s filed as “fantasy” and seems to be about dragons?

The very same author also has a view of categories that I read in Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective some time ago. He calls it “the furniture rule”, and it basically boils down to that a work is categorized based on the furniture around it. If your hero is surrounded by dragons, knights and wizards then it’s going to be filed under fantasy. If there are space ships, aliens and lasers then it’s going under science-fiction. Of course nothing is never this clear, because where do you file a book about time travelling knights armed with lasers riding on dragons*? Or a detective wizard in our modern world? Or a western gunslinger in a post-apocalyptic world with strange portals?

I’m getting a magazine from my local fantasy/sci-fi bookstore a few times per year, and at first I was a bit surprised when I saw books there like Conn Iggulden’s historical fiction (I love that genre-name) books about Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan. Yes, it’s certainly not fantasy, but I have read them and I enjoyed them very much. In fact, if you like fantasy this is the kind of books you should also like.

No, let a story be just a story. Instead of only reading books from a certain genre search across the boundaries of categorization and sometimes heed the “if you liked this one…”-advice. Who knows, it just might stand in the Vampire Romance shelf.

* Sadly there is no such story yet. But admit, you would read it.

Quilldragon

Ideas of romantic love suffuse our lives and guide our emotional experiences and behaviors. Romance comes in various forms of romantic entertainment–books, films, music–which affect and form our socially constructed notions of love, gender and courtship. These constructs of love guide public and private behavior, create judgments of values in relationships and control rules of openness or closure in expression. There is a variety of ways that American culture has understood and practiced love and romance. This special issue of the Journal of American Culture will present a conversation about romantic love and its representations which explores love and romance as a theme in art, life and culture.

We are seeking manuscripts which discuss contemporary and historical representations of love and romance, consider ways of showing love and affection and explore socially constructed notions of love, gender and courtship. We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches and analyses (literary, sociological, psychological, historical, anthropological, etc) involving any variety of topics (race, gender, class, homosexuality and queer studies, place, region, structure) which consider emotional values, attitudes and behaviors considered appropriate to love and romance.

Submissions are welcome on topics which might include, but are not restricted to, issues and themes such as:

* romantic relationship events, rituals and ceremonies (weddings, holidays, festivals)
* dating and courtship rites (speed dating, personal ads)
* popular music and love songs
* depictions in the media and popular culture (e.g., film, television, literature, comics)
* romantic love in advertising, marketing, consumerism
* internet and cyberspace (blogs, texting, social networking)
* literature and fiction (genre romance, poetry, animé)
* amatory writings, love letters, courtship and self-help manuals
* types of relationships (marriage, gay and lesbian)
* feelings and emotions (intimacy, attachment, eroticism)
* types of love: platonic, philosophical, divine and spiritual romance
* neurobiology of love and biological attraction
* historical practices and traditions of and in romance
* regional and geographic pressures and influences (southern, Caribbean)
* material culture (valentines, foods, fashions)
* folklore and mythologies
* jokes and humor
* romantic love in political discourse (capitalism)
* psychological approaches toward romantic attraction
* emotional and sexual desire
* subcultures: age (seniors, adolescents), multi-ethnic, inter-racial

We suggest manuscript submissions of 4000-6000 words in length, double-spaced, in current MLA style. Send an e-mail attachment, in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format, to . Due to virus and security concerns, we do not accept zipped or compressed files.

Manuscript deadline: 30 November 2011
Publication date: March 2013

Address inquiries to: JAC.Romance@gmail.com
Maryan Wherry
Sarah S.G. Frantz
Darcy J. Martin

Teach Me Tonight

Diedre, Eric and Crystal have all given compelling reasons for a contemporary “in” to Romantic literature. Diedre’s stunning example of a student connecting “The Negro’s Complaint” to poets in Singapore was complemented by her admission that she is “(still) a historicist critic.” Crystal’s argument that we should not let contemporary texts replace the focus of the course on “primary sources themselves,” is an important rejoinder to keep historicism at the core of what teachers of the Romantic period do.

How do we, though, justify a Romantics course when we aren’t primarily teaching survey or period courses? Is there, in other words, a purpose to teaching Romanticism that isn’t contained within a historical survey?

Here’s my reasoning.

At Georgia Tech, we are tasked to teach topical courses as what our program director calls a “vehicle” for introducing multimodal composition. We don’t just teach writing at Georgia Tech, we also teach other modalities: oral, visual, electronic and non-verbal. Part of my interest in collaboration is the way that social media applications can provide exciting challenges to the traditional image of the English student isolated at a desk, reading poems and writing alone. I am convinced that teaching multimodality can open up new ways of approaching Romantic texts that are collaborative and creative.

As I prepare my Spring sections of “Blake 2.0: William Blake and Digital Culture,” I am struck by the different projects that Blake helps to inspire in Twentieth-Century culture both within and without digital culture. In the collection I edited for the journal ImageTexT on “William Blake and Visual Culture,” I found a comic artist named Joel Priddy who wanted to create a short comic on both the visionary travels of William and the relative sense of isolation Catherine felt during his reveries. He called his short “Mr. Blakes Company.”

Similarly, the do it yourself (DIY) magazine Make recently published an article where Gareth Branwyn researched Joseph Viscomi’s work to conduct a series of “Relief-Etching Experiments” designed to allow people to make prints using a close approximation of Blake’s method. I find each project refreshing alternatives to the standard academic essay. Furthermore, I feel that each provides innovative ways to discuss the conjunction of participatory culture and collaboration, and the individualism embodied in both the myth of the Romantic genius and the DIY movement.

But I also feel that, should I engage in projects like these, I need to conceptualize the purpose of such projects. Do I really feel that the technical projects offered by Branwyn and Viscomi get me closer to Blake’s technique and, thus, to Romantic-era printing? And if so, to what end? I’m not a commercial printer or a graphic designer. Do I have my students read Priddy’s comic to get a better sense of how comic artists envision his domestic life? Why?

Obviously, I have many questions here. I do feel that the organization of my department, and its emphasis on creating multimodal forms of response to literary texts provides new opportunities for understanding just what we do when we teach Romanticism. I also like my students to feel that they are not simply critically analyzing a work, but that they are also actively engaging in a constructive response to the work. On some level, I like my students to get the sense that Romantic authors can give a set of practical guidelines for students’ own work. At the same time, I’m not an MFA teacher.

I feel that Blake, along with many other artists in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, can provide an interesting case for a practical or a pragmatic pedagogy for the Romantic period. In my pragmatic model, the history of the period is only one part of Romantic education. Another part is finding a way to understand the reason why Blake inspires creative responses, and to engage in such responses in a thoughtful and critical way. I want my students to do something with William Blake, or other Romantic visual and literary artists.

Despite my attempt at a definition, I don’t really have my pedagogy fully worked out. I would welcome any suggestions for improvement, either by making my project more historical or by making my project more “practical.”

Teaching Romanticism: An RC Pedagogies Blog

The Year of Our War is one of those books that only got picked up by me because it was standing on the fantasy shelf. I knew nothing about it, but as I tend to do with all new books I pick up on impulse I jump in with both feet, because it’s often on such occasions that I find the gold nuggets in a genre more and more populated by stereotype stories and never-ending series. And a gold nugget this is.

Right from the start it’s clear that this is no ordinary book. The world of the Fourlands incorporate elements from the renaissance as well as the modern world. At first it was a bit off-putting to discover things that don’t normally exist in your average fantasy world – such as drugs, cigarettes, newspapers, t-shirts, and jeans – since it seemed that the author didn’t go all the way when creating the new world. But once I learned to see through my scepticism and my own foolish notions of what is right and what is wrong in fantasy worlds it was easy to lay back and enjoy the ride.

The Fourlands has been waging a long and bloody war against a race of huge and monstrous insects, and it’s not going well. Ruling the Fourlands is the immortal and mysterious Emperor, assisted by The Circle, of which each member is the embodiment of a profession and through contests granted immortality. Among them is Jant, the Messenger, whose spot in the Circle has been fairly secure for the last two hundred years as he is the only one in a race of winged people who can fly. However, Jant seems intent to recklessly push the boundaries of both immortality and the patience of his friends to the limit with his addiction to a lethal drug. But it’s only when he is deeply within the effects of the drug – in quantities that would kill mortal men – that Jant can travel to a bizarre and dark alternate world, where he start to see a way to save the Fourlands against the insect threat. If the world is real that is.

Although the book is mainly about those immortal, Swainston does a good job at displaying the view from those that are not. Because after all, bitterness and envy run can only run high when looking at those that will never die, and knowing that you will. The character Swallow is determined to be the first Musician in the Circle, but it’s hard to see art as equal to swordsmanship when the biggest issue of a realm is killing insects before they kill you.

I like when books are intentionally vague in details of the world and not just cram all the worlds history, secrets, and present events into the first few chapters or prologue. If, after the first chapter, you are not wondering “how?” or “why?” and want to continue reading then the author did something wrong. But you could also take the secrecy too far, and I think that’s one of the books few flaws; unless you have read a summary of the story (like this review) it will require some effort to fully get into the world. Just a simple thing that everyone in the Circle have three different names is enough to confuse the best of us.

The book is well paced, and with flashbacks and present events it paints the bizarre and complicated picture of the world without banging you on the head with information. Although Jant has the traits to become your typical anti-hero I feel it would be an insult to already redeemed anti-heroes by including him in their midst. Jant is, to put it plainly, a douchebag, and considering that he was a douchebag before he became immortal – and still is two hundred years later – I’d say he is not likely to change his ways. But oddly enough it’s still fascinating to read about him.

This is a book much recommended if you have grown tired of your usual fantasy and like something weird. It’s a story told from the perspective of strange people with strange habits in a strange world, but it’s a good story – and that’s all that matters.

Quilldragon

In an effort to make the Romantic Circles Pedagogies section a true commons, we are looking for a crew of commentators with varying levels of experience for our new blog and pedagogies group.  We hope to launch the blog with several regular contributors of various interests and experience, creating a space for sharing ideas on teaching, texts, and techniques.  We may be able to offer the participants a small stipend for their efforts.  These bloggers will offer one or two posts per week, offering dispatches from the front that reflect on their own Romantic pedagogy and the pedagogy of Romanticism.

Essentially the blog will be the first set in a series of proposed changes to the Pedagogies section of the Romantic Circles website.  We will continue to produce peer-edited volumes of essays, and we hope soon to feature interactive digital projects, interviews, notes on using digital tools such as Wikis and databases, along with the arsenal of syllabi and other teaching materials the site already has to offer (http://www.rc.umd.edu/pedagogies/).  We are imagining this site as a place where professors and students of all levels can debate approaches to particular texts, explore innovative classroom techniques, and report on new Romantic topics.

Interested techno-Romanticists should send a short paragraph of interest to Kate Singer at ksinger[at]mtholyoke[dot]edu, by Sept 3rd.  Please feel free to send any questions as well.

Romantic Circles Blog

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Originally uploaded by King Wenclas

I’m thinking nothing but positive thoughts.

AttackingtheDemi-Puppets

I hadn’t come across the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature and Media (IGEL) before, and I thought some of TMT’s readers might not have either, so here’s a very short post about IGEL and the scientific study of literature. The society

is aimed at the advancement of empirical literary research through international and interdisciplinary cooperation. The principal duties of the Society are to support scientific projects through information and cooperation, to further personal contact in all areas of research supported by the Society, to support students and junior researchers in the field of empirical literary research, to press for the application of empirical results, and to organize international conferences.

The first issue of IGEL’s journal, Scientific Study of Literature is due to appear in 2011:

Literature has an important role in human culture. Broadly interpreted, literature is defined as all cultural artefacts that make use of literary devices, such as narrativity, metaphoricity, symbolism. Its manifestations include novels, short stories, poetry, theatre, film, television, and, more recently, digital forms such as hypertext storytelling. This new journal, Scientific Study of Literature (SSOL), will publish empirical studies that apply scientific stringency to cast light on the structure and function of literary phenomena. The journal welcomes contributions from many disciplinary perspectives (psychological, developmental, cross-cultural, cognitive, neuroscience, computational, and educational) to deepen our understanding of literature, literary processes, and literary applications.

According to a post at OnFiction, that “first issue should appear mid-2011, and will include a number of short pieces from leaders in the field with their thoughts on the future of the empirical study of literature.” OnFiction is

a magazine with the aim of developing the psychology of fiction. Using theoretical and empirical perspectives, we endeavour to understand how fiction is created, and how readers and audience members engage in it.

Articles are added twice a week, and we maintain archives of academic papers, magazine articles, film and book reviews, original fiction, as well as annotated lists of psychologically significant works of fiction and books on the psychology of fiction.

One of the more recent posts was about Janice Radway’s Reading the Romance.

Teach Me Tonight

Romantic Circles is pleased to announce a new volume in the Praxis Series: The Sublime and Education, edited by J. Jennifer Jones.

http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/sublime_education/index.html

The Sublime and Education offers a series of essays on how the concept of education intersects with sublime theory and Romantic aesthetics. Rooted in the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, this diverse collection engages comparatively with Romantic-era literature and cultural theory of the 20th and 21st centuries. One underlying inspiration is the pedagogical theory of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, who has thought widely about humanities-based training using Romantic-era texts as principal theoretical and literary tools, formative among them the aesthetic philosophy of Kant.  Spivak’s pedagogical theory can perhaps best be apprehended through the claim that proper pedagogy consists in “the uncoercive rearrangement of desires,” which is to say a pedagogy founded on a notion of an immanent rather than a transcendental sublime. In complementary but nevertheless highly individuated ways, each contributor to this volume offers just this type of reformative work.

This volume of the Romantic Circles Praxis Series includes an editor’s introduction by J. Jennifer Jones; essays by Christopher Braider, Frances Ferguson, Paul Hamilton, Anne McCarthy, Forest Pyle, and Deborah Elise White; and an afterword by Ian Balfour.

Romantic Circles Blog