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I've gotten to add some more to the 'Read' list. The thought crossed my mind as to why I was keeping it in the first place; it's kind of a New Year's Resolution because I'm curious to see what I actually do read over the course of the year, and it's partially a confidence thing. It's pure ego. Keeping single essays off the list is a pure judgement call, since I'm just doing books, but the difference is pretty arbitrary. Totally arbitrary, actually, since some of the books are simply compilations of essays. You add essays, you start asking about other read material - web comics, maybe. News articles, whatever.
I'm just thinking to myself that there aren't points, nobody's judging me and I'm not judging anyone else, so the list having no actual standards is as meaningless as keeping the list in the first place. Which makes me feel better.
I've gotten something out of almost everything I've read for class except Nussbaum's Poetic Justice, which I feel is probably pretty good if you're trying to convince a lawyer why literature has a kind of practical value. I feel like Nussbaum basically gets the question of 'why literature' subtly but fundimentally wrong and so her answer to the question goes way off course. Her conclusion comes off as kind of weak - saying that a literary-style judge in the form of the judge of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" has a valueable style of judgement, then cites cases that have a kind of literary language where she indicates that a literary style isn't really required for giving a good verdict, but seems like it might help. It was only, like, 150 pages though, so I scooted through it pretty fast. I've gotta hit 60 pages of Sedgewick's Episemology of the Closet by 4:30 Monday, which is hardly homework at all, really.
I read a lot last year because of the semester's diaspora lit class, and read a lot of single essays. I probably didn't read through as many full books last year as I have by the end of March this one, though. I can lay that all at the feet of my 502 class. Seven of twelve books are 502. I didn't need to read the full texts, but in for a penny, in for a pound. I didn't much care for Zamyatin's We, to be really honest. Probably the book I've liked the most overall was the essay compilation Henry Louis Gates edited, "Race", Writing, and Difference.
I'm on top of stuff at the moment. I'm actually ahead, which is probably completely due to my neurotic desire to avoid looking foolish in front of my peers and because I'm not doing TA work this semester. Since I had the extra time, I've dumped it almost totally into essay prep and academic reading.
I'm just thinking to myself that there aren't points, nobody's judging me and I'm not judging anyone else, so the list having no actual standards is as meaningless as keeping the list in the first place. Which makes me feel better.
I've gotten something out of almost everything I've read for class except Nussbaum's Poetic Justice, which I feel is probably pretty good if you're trying to convince a lawyer why literature has a kind of practical value. I feel like Nussbaum basically gets the question of 'why literature' subtly but fundimentally wrong and so her answer to the question goes way off course. Her conclusion comes off as kind of weak - saying that a literary-style judge in the form of the judge of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" has a valueable style of judgement, then cites cases that have a kind of literary language where she indicates that a literary style isn't really required for giving a good verdict, but seems like it might help. It was only, like, 150 pages though, so I scooted through it pretty fast. I've gotta hit 60 pages of Sedgewick's Episemology of the Closet by 4:30 Monday, which is hardly homework at all, really.
I read a lot last year because of the semester's diaspora lit class, and read a lot of single essays. I probably didn't read through as many full books last year as I have by the end of March this one, though. I can lay that all at the feet of my 502 class. Seven of twelve books are 502. I didn't need to read the full texts, but in for a penny, in for a pound. I didn't much care for Zamyatin's We, to be really honest. Probably the book I've liked the most overall was the essay compilation Henry Louis Gates edited, "Race", Writing, and Difference.
I'm on top of stuff at the moment. I'm actually ahead, which is probably completely due to my neurotic desire to avoid looking foolish in front of my peers and because I'm not doing TA work this semester. Since I had the extra time, I've dumped it almost totally into essay prep and academic reading.