Comp notes: My Antonia

I pulled out my dusty comps note book ( a fat three-ring binder, bursting at the seams with notes) to bring you my notes for My Antonia, and would like to provide the following commentary:

Comps Tip #1: While studying for comps, my advisor gave me this invaluable piece of information and I now pass it on to you, padawan. Don't get lost in the world of the book to the extent that you lose track of its historicity. Books aren't written in vacuums, and to prove that you know your stuff (which is what comps exams are all about) you should be able to trace themes across time periods and place texts in their proper historical context. 


Author: Willa Cather
Date: 1918
(Modern Period text)

Historical Context:

• 1915, 7 May. Lusitania is sink without warning, losing 1198 out of  1924 passengers. Although tensions run  high even after Germany offer condolences, Wilson says, "There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight." The U.S. demands reparations, but Germany delays.
• 1916, In Mexico, Pancho Villa kills 18 American mining engineers whom he has forced off a train. Two months later, he raids towns in New Mexico with a force of 1500 men, killing 17 Americans. General John Pershing pursues Villa across the border in a two-year unsuccessful effort to capture him.
• 1916, Mexican President Carranza orders U.S. troops out of Mexico.
• 1917, Wilson proposes "Fourteen Points" for peace in the world.
• Willa Cather writes My Antonia
• O. Henry award for the short story established
• 1918, Spanish Influenza sweeps across the nation,  often spread by troops.

Plot Notes:

Jim Burden and Antonia's relationship as it progresses through the years. Life in a small town, rural life, cirty life. Male/Female life in these places. Class as related to the Farm Girls. Women's relationship with family as opposed to men (Lena provides for her mother, her brother does not). Constant theme of migration (everybody is technically alien here, because they all migrated from somewhere--be it elsewhere in the nation or in the world). Connection between "women" and "land"/"place." Sucess---the Bohemians are eventually much more successful than the anglo settlers because they are willing to do whatever it takes to make it. Portrayed varyingly as honorable and ugly/horrible.

Important Characters:

• Jim Burden
• Antonia Shimerda
• Lena Lingard
• Josiah/Grandfather Burden
• Emmaline Burden (grandmother)
• Otto Fuchs
• Jake Marpole
• Mr. and Mrs. Shimerda
• Ambrosch Shimerda
• Yulka
• Marek 
• Russian Pavel
• Russian Peter
• Mr. Harling
• Francis Harling
• Mrs. Harling
• Larry Donovan
• Wick Cutter/his wife
• Widow Steavens
• Anton Jelinek
• Peter Krajiek
• Cuzak

Important Themes/Symbols:

The plow in the sun

Language/Culture/othering

Farm Girls vs. City Girls

Stength in Women--gender roles

Love/sex and reputation

Hard work, gendered work

text moves from country to city, text contains a sequential migration

Book Four: MY ANTONIA

My Antonia by Willa Cather, published in 1918.

TTR: aprrx. a week, but in actual hours, about four. Started 1/15/13 and Finished 1/22/13.

Comments:

This is probably one of Cather's more famous works, and if you're a big fan of works like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and/or any of the Transcendentalists such as A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Thoreau, then this novel is full of lovely little landscapes/descriptions that you will love.

Cather works with many micro texts within her larger frame narrative, creating the fictional/literary equivalent of something that fascinates people--especially math and science geeks: a fractal. A story within a story within a story, and all of them focused on one theme: migration.

This book is a quick read and written simply, however there are a plethora of meanings and what is on the surface a very straightforward narrative becomes complex in its implications.

Book Three: TENDER AT THE BONE

 If it seems odd that most of January is gone and I am only posting notes for the third book in my reading journal, it is, but not alarmingly so. Sure, you may all be beginning to doubt my boasts concerning my reading prowess, but fear not Dear Readers, I will prevail in the end.

Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table. by Ruth Reichl, published by Random House, 2010.

TTR: Started 1/19/13 and Finished 1/21/13. (You'll note that my reading times get slower with the onset of school-work and grading).

Comments:

I began reading Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table on Friday (January 19th) after stumbling across it on a free-book table in my friendly University Languages and Literature department. Ah, I love free books. I picked it up because of the old-timey cover, and kept it because of two words on the back, "food" and "hilarious."

Both of those words happened to be true, in terms of this text, which is essentially a foodie's memoir. Stuffed with recipes and garlanded with broad cultural and historical experience, this book keeps you hungry and interested. I've never really read a book about food before, and the experience was an invaluable one not only because it made me rethink the potential "things" I can write about, but also because it made me laugh.

The Bookworm

In Case of Curiosity: Upcoming Books on Read, Scribble, Revise

My dear, at this point mostly imaginary, readers:

I write you this semi-formal and semi-facetious letter in case you've become concerned for my literacy.
I have not stopped reading, I just slipped in a puddle of lackadaisical behavior and started puttering in several different books of varying sorts. In fact, I'm between forty- and fifty-percent done with several books at the moment. So...my literacy is alive and well. Thanks for asking.

What's that, dear readers? You'd at least like to know what they are so you'll know what to look forward to in the upcoming week or so? Fine. I suppose I'll have to tell you:

1. Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter by Steven Rinella. In case you hadn't guessed, it's about hunting. According to my Kindle, I am currently 45% done with this book. Also, don't take my lackadaisical behavior the wrong way; I really, really, really like what Rinella has to say, I'm just extra puttery of late.

2. The Female Barber Detective, or Joe Phenix in Silver City by Albert Aiken. This is a book that I'm writing about for my thesis. Unless you are incredibly lucky and have a lot of money to spend (or you can find it at a good Research Library) you will probably NEVER stumble across this book. It's a dime novel, and it has never been reprinted or turned into a facsimile edition or anything useful of the sort. It's about a female detective who happens to also be a barber (mostly because she has to shave her own mustache every morning. Yes, she is a mustachioed sleuth). I am about a third of the way done with this book, and it's only slow going because I'm typing a readable version up for my thesis committee to read.

3. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher. It's a bunch of short stories based in the world of the Dresden Files. I LOVE Butcher's work, but I'm taking it slow because it will probably be awhile before the next novel comes out... I'd say I'm about a fourth of the way through, maybe a bit more.

4. My Antonia by Willa Cather. This is a classic text in terms of migration/eco crit studies. It's also the second time I've read it, so I guess I could just cheat and post notes from the first read-through. But I am a woman of integrity, so you will get new notes and THEN old notes. Did I mention I am also a woman of awesome? Yep, that's right. I'm hovering right at 50% through, and I just started re-reading it yesterday. Awesome-sauce.

5. Sherlock's Sisters by Joseph A. Kestner. This is another book for my thesis, and I just started reading it today. I am only 24 pages in. But if I do fake math, I've read the first of three chapters, so I'm a third of the way done (hurray for fake math, it makes me look like a superstar). I think Kestner's book will be very useful for me...

6. Place: a Short Introduction by Tim Cresswell. Now, this is not by any means the first time I've worked with Cresswell, or even this particular text, in grad school. It's just the first time I plan to read through the entire text in a semi-consecutive manner. I'm only a page or two in (hey, I was reading the last item on the list today, in between working...).

7. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. There's just something about food-related books that appeals to me this month, I guess. Once again, I'm only a few pages in. Just picked this lovely book up on a free-book table today. I am addicted to free books (although not to the point where I'll just graby anything). The book is pretty funny so far--and, at the risk of being repeptitive, I am ONLY a few pages in. This hilarity bodes well.

Well, those are all of the upcoming posts I am going to make.  If you are scoffing at my apparent over-eagerness, or overkill, or overestimation of my own abilites, I have this to say: seven books at once  is child's play. Child's play, I tell you. You do not want to see the complete list of books I need to read before February 15th (the deadline for the first draft-chapter of my thesis). But I, like the brave little toaster, know the power of perseverence. So, good night and good reading.

Sincerely,
 The Bookworm.

Comp notes: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Hopefully, I'm helping someone with these notes.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
King Arthur - Courteous
Guenevere
Green Knight - 130-231 - Larger than life like Beowulf

• Muscular - green = nature - carries an ax
• Carries bob of holly - sign of peace?

Sir Gawain - 337-65 - Nephew of King Arthur

• Humble - New type of warrior
• Lower-class?
• Chilvary
• Loyal
• Armor, appearance, beauty - 566-89

- Story starts off with emphasis on lineage
- Quickly shifts to courtly manners and details
- Difference between the Green Knight's interruption and Grendel's?

• Green Knight passes the kingdom in peace and not destruction
• A life for a life - Significance of cleaving the Green Knight's head?

- Passing of the seasons - emphasis on nature

• Setting - Christmas in the beginning of the story and once more at the beginning Gawain's journey - Significance?
• Many alliteration and attention to detail - Significance?
• Gawain journey to his death
• Represents a Christian's journey

- Number 5 (625-69) significance - Christ-like?
- 720-25 - Less detail fighting and action
- Though both stories give thanks to God, God has more power in Sir Gawain than in Beowulf
- Castle within the woods - Significance? Nature

Lord of the castle - 844-47
- Further evidence of courtesy and chivalry - 916-19

Lady of the castle - 941-69
- Chilvaric code - 1010-19 - Secret Romance
*The Agreement* - The lord will hunt; Gawain will sleep - Exchange prizes

• Constrasting the descriptiong of the lord's hunt and Gawain's hunt
• All hunting scenes are active and fast-paced
• Gawain as prey; lady as hunter
• His knightly code is tested
• Heavy use of passive voice to describe his actions (1302-06)

Day 1:

• Hunt 1 - Deer (grace, beauty) - very detailed and graphic
• Bedroom Hunt 1 - Kissed the lady
• Exchange of Goods

Day 2:

• Hunt 2 - Boar (strength, perseverence)
• Bedroom Hunt 2 - Kissed the lady again
• Exchange of Goods

Day 3:

• Hunt 3 - Fox (sly, clever, deceptive)
• Gawain dreams of death
• Bedroom Hunt 3 - Takes lady's girdle
• Exchange of Goods - Gawain does not give the lord the girdle

- The only sin Gawain commits is covetting his life
- The "servant" tries to test him, as well

First stroke - Gawain flinches
Second stroke - Gawain doesn't flinch
Third stroke - Green Knight nicks Gawain's neck

- Gawain blames women for his sin - makes excuses

And here you'll find a cartoon of the story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t855W1rFYEo

Comp Notes: Beowulf

Excuse my lack of organization with my notes.  I write my notes as I read through the stories so hopefully you all can understand them.  Sometimes my thoughts are more half-thoughts and/or questions so if you have answers to these questions, feel free to answer them.

Idea of Lineage (Importance)
- Epic starts off reciting the beginning of a lineage

• Shield Sheafson - good warchief
• One of the first Thanes

- Who is a hero in Beowulf and what are the heroic values?

• 12-25 - Beowulf represents a good son who is generous "giving freely"
• Preservation of name - Beowulf's lineage 258
• 64-69 - Hrothgar wants his name in history and so builds the great mead-hall, Heorot
• 669-73 - Strength/Brute Force
• Honor - word - Comitatus - King - Thane
• Acquisition of Wealth
• 418-23 - Glory/Fame - Boastful
• Armor - Signifies his nobility 248-54
• Beowulf tells of his lineage (AKA credentials) 258-66
• Further mentions of armor and lineage - 320-47

- What is NOT a hero? What does Grendel represent?

• Grendel's lineage?
• 102-07 An outsider, cursed with Caine's name
• 86-98 Night walker who is not fully described
• 122 Greedy and grim
• Anti-hero
• Wars without reason - leads to senseless death 151-63
• Contrast with Beowulf - Beowulf fights to help those in need

- Unferth - All bark and no bite 500-18

• Contrast with Beowulf 581-94
• Further evidence of humane actions from Beowulf
• Importance of boasting and follow-up
• Beowulf follows up with goals of defeating Grendel 425-55
• Unferth does not boasts of himself - criticizes Beowulf - Criticism leads ot greater boasting of Beowulf's abilities 530-80

- Grendel's Mother 1259-60

• Grendel and his kind has no lineage - Grendel and his mother are "fatherless creatures;" outsiders
• They are the intruders, the others

Wealhtheow - Queen - Role as Servant to the King

• No words, no speech

Fighting with Grendel

• Beowulf takes off armor to prove strength
• Significance of Grendel dying violently without an arm?
• 860-62 - No blame on their king on his inability to stop the monster - Beowulf becomes Hrothgar's adopted son and his men are rewarded
• Huge celebration held after Grendel's death
• Beowulf wears the torque of the city (Heorot)
• Significance of the wife giving it to him?

- Important message of glory after death

• Above water are serpents and monsters - fights with sword, Hrunting
• 1533-34 - "he would rely on the might of his arm"
• Use of an ancient sword to defeat Grendel's mother

(Halfway through the notes, I started writing page numbers of the Norton Anthology rather than line numbers...)
- p. 70-71 - Hrothgar warns Beowulf the signs of a bad king

• Pride is a king's downfall - When Beowulf goes back home, boasts his story
• p. 79 - Signs of a warrior
• Dragon - Representation of greed?
• 2430-60 - Brother killing brother - Death of a nation

Passing on the lineage
- Wiglaf - Encouraged other men to fight with their king

• Giving thanks to God being able to see treasure
• Beowulf's kingdom falls after his death
• His people extolled his greatness after his death
• Significance of death?

Book Two: AGENTS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS

Agents of Light and Darkness, by Simon R. Green. Second book in the Nightside Series. Published by Ace, 2003.

TTR: Started 1/1/13 and Finished 1/2/13

Comments:

The Nightside series is set in London, England and built upon the premise of a sort of "underground" world/London in which all vice/illicit desire/things that society kicks to the curb exist and are amplified. In the Nightside, it is always 3am, reality isn't obvious/existent, persay, and crazy bleep happens. The series follows PI John Taylor and his crazy "friends," Susie Shooter and Razor Eddie as they find the solutions to mysteries (Taylor is gifted with a "Sight" that helps him find things, he claims not to solve mysteries, although that is basically what he does).

This novel is the second in the series, which means that the first one was good enough to peak my attention. The story was entertaining, but I felt that there were a lot of things that could have been expounded on. Elements of the plot and the story world that I found intriguing were brushed over and dismissed. There was lots of telling rather than showing. But still, and entertaining read.

Book One: THIS YEAR YOU WRITE YOUR NOVEL

This Year You Write Your Novel, by Walter Mosley. Little Brown and Company, 2009.

(Wow, feels weird not to be using MLA format, here. But for the sake of you nonacademic bookworms, I'll persevere).

Time To Read (TTR from here on): Started and finished on January 1st, 2013*.

Comments:

While this is a book for honest-to-goodness newbie writers, and I am certainly not that (I'm working on novel six, at the moment. They say you've got to write about 1,000,000 words before you break through, and I'm seriously close), it felt like time well spent. Why? Because it was the new year and I needed encouragement/confirmation, which I found. I also found a few gems of insight, which is a plus. I especially liked the section on revisions/rewrites.

Here's a link to the NPR review, too: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9620861

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*I am a crazy fast reader (I'm not necessarily bragging, sometimes this is a very bad thing. Just ask my overtaxed eyeballs**), but This Year You Write Your Novel is also really short.

On the topic of fast reading, I feel like--but have no experience to back me up on this--that my fast reading is akin to being a junkie. I recently read Jim Butcher's Cold Days, a 500+ page novel, cover to cover over five hours, without stopping for anything. I read my two-volume, gateway edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, which is about 1400 pages, in a week (and I was lagging, then).

**Actually, no, I do not wear nor do I require glasses. My eyeballs are resilient little boogers.