A snippet commenting on the new tenor of the culture wars as expressed on the radical academic blogsphere, The Valve:
Perhaps the high point of this blog event, thus far, has been the essay posted by Morris Dickstein, who explains the current academic culture with a surplus of big-picture clarity and judiciousness: "Today the theory era is effectively ending and the public intellectual tradition is reasserting itself, along with a renewed attention in the aesthetic that many theorists dismissed as no more than an ideological formation. But thanks to tenure and the intellectual investments we make as graduate students, theory will have a long afterlife. It will also continue to inflect how many important issues are discussed, including the role of language in literature, the degree to which literary works reference the world outside the text, the role of social construction including class, race, and gender in forming our conventions of representation (as writers) and interpretation (as critics). Critical movements leave behind a residue of common sense after the dust of their polemics has settled and the most extreme positions have been abandoned."
True? What is the "public intellectual tradition" referred to here? Certainly we are operating in a time of anti-intellectualism in some ways unparralleled. Has theory--the tool of revolution against the canon--become canonical? How does that unwrite the tradition itself? I dunno but I wouldn't want to assume that I can do the kinds of things I do with texts without it ....
¶ 4:56 PM 0 comments
For me writing is like ... a halogen lamp. Once I turn it on, I'm in the pool of light it casts and I see things with a startling new clarity. Some of what I see, I don't like: the sharp edges of bias or prejudice, the moldiness of bad thinking, chipped paint of emotions, the broken furniture of ideas. Whatever I choose to bring into the lamp's glow is forever changed, whether that be a memory, a sense of who I am, how I feel about issues and/or people, tricky intellectual matters, or something I've read. Writing for me, in other words, is a means of understanding the world and my place in it in a more comprehensive way. When I better understand myself I better understand how my emotions, assumptions, and ignorances determine how and what I see. I can start to discern that to which I had otherwise remained blind. I think people in general see what they want or expect to see, but when I write I confront contradictions, either my own or those of others, and only then can I start to negotiate or work through those problems of false consciousness. See I'm starting to do it now, using big words to express big ideas, harnessing language so that I can examine my world. Here's another example of how this works for me:
My areas of expertise if you can call them that are Mary Shelley, her circle (father and mother primarily), and the Gothic romance form. I initiated study in these areas because I was hungry to see how these maverick writers used a popular tradition to explore a radical belief system. The more I work on Shelley, though, the more inescapable becomes a sense of her ambivalence about women's rights, about Empire, and about colonized peoples. So, my writing in this area has not served to reassure my assumptions or my original thoughts on the matter. Just the opposite, which is what makes it such an incredibly powerful tool when we give ourselves over to it. Writing does not always lead to self-reassurance.
Other types of writing I do on a daily basis include the following:
- commenting on student papers: I get enormous pleasure out of reading student work. It's not always easy, however, and can be very intellectually demanding in part because I have to know where a student is coming from, his/her subject area, in order to respond appropriately. I try not to grade more than 5 papers at a time because it absolutely tires me out. I like to be a reader who is "there" with the writer, and when I do that there's not much of me left over.
- responding to something I've read: I firmly believe that writing has to be given nourishment. These nutrients can come from many directions but for me reading what others think and write is essential to move my writing and ideas forward. I love to find wonderful quotes and write them on sticky pads around the house so I can contemplate them as I do the dishes or brush my teeth. When I am particularly intrigued by an idea or piece I write out formal response logs, usually in the form of an annotation in my Endnotes program. The response includes the quotations I thought were especially important and/or relevant, as well as my reactions. I have to admit, in my time drained life this is a special luxury. I'm looking around my office and see 5 books I need to annotate and I'm starting to flip out because school starts tomorrow and I need TIME to annotate effectively. Deep breath.
- syllabi and reading schedules: course design is a fascinating area. I can be creative but I have to be extremely clear on what I want and how I want it. That takes time and practice. I'm constantly revising and tweaking my syllabi because the first time I teach a class it's a draft and always needs adjustment.
- Email: I write a gazillion emails, some to close friends others to colleagues. Ironically, the letters to close friends are usually one or two line letters whereas the pieces I send off professionally are longer and more descriptive. I really want to start getting into old fashioned letter writing. There is something wonderfully affirming and satisfying about opening one's maibox and finding a thick envelope with a letter inside. The texture and weight of the stationary, the smell of the writer's pipe or perfume still lingering on the page: reading should be a sensory experience. Email just doesn't capture a person the way traditional correspondence used to ...
- Grants: I've not been terribly successful at this but am going to enter into the fray again this season. I have a wonderful digital humanities project that needs to be funded. There's a trick, a skill to successful grant writing and I'm just learning my way.
- Scholarship: Easily the most demanding and difficult and rewarding of my writing areas. Scholarship requires reading what other people think and theorize in your area, and that can be stimulating, baffling and affirming. Sometimes all at once.
Stuff I'd like to write or write about
- The family farm. It has been in my father's family since the early seventeenth century. It's located in Callaway, Virgina. We grow apples, peaches, nectarines, cattle, corn. The community around the farm is Brethren the original peace and love congregation. I would love to record my early memories of the farm and of the people who had such a profound affect on me.
- Going to Temple.
- My current spiritual quest: how being a mother has upped the ante in some ways. How my son is affirmation that life is good
- Working and growing up in daddy's veterinary hospital
- How Southern women can get away with calling their fathers "daddy" in public
- My brothers
- My father
- My mother and her sisters--so powerful to be with them around the dining room table.
- My novel. I'd like more time to pursue this cat and mouse game I have set up, to explore the character's inner lives and what they have to say.
- A biography of my grandmother, Lula. Noting the extraordinary in the ordinary: that's my goal.
- A poem to my mother. Not some maudlin crap but a real, gut-wrenching, honest poem that affects her in some profound way.
- descriptions of my son as he gets older, really detailed inch by inch portraits of his development.
- love songs to my husband. But not the mushy gushy icky kind. Married love is so much more profound than all that.
- A short story featuring my cat. Silly I know, but I think he has a lot to say about the world.
That's all for now. What kind of writing do you like to do? What is writing like for you? Like a pizza with lots of toppings, sometimes too thick and bready, other times to crisp? Like taking a shower: cleansing and something that the folks around you appreciate (smelly writing and b.o., now that would be an essay topic!)
EWG
¶ 8:36 AM 0 comments
Okay, I've never "blogged" before and am self-consciously wondering if this is such a good idea. I read a piece just yesterday about some poor schmucks fired for their too-honest blogs. I always wonder where these stories come from and why they are published. In the process of pondering their effect on me, I get my own answer: thought control and speech police. No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist but why would so much attention be given to the cruel fates of three very naive (dumb?) bloggers if not to impart the lesson that talking honestly can only be trouble? First rule: don't trash your boss/teacher/person-who-can-crush-you if there is any way, no matter how remote, that s/he can get ahold of it. Seems like a smart rule of thumb.
The article I read was published in Vanity Fair, I think, or maybe it was Cosmo? No, it was in Esquire, that's right. I was on the stairmaster and thumbing through the only magazine at the rec center I hadn't yet memorized. Our rec center subscribes to strictly gender coded mags. There are the "male" mags (GQ, Esquire, and some sort of Muscle Mag) and then there are "female" mags (Family Circle, well, actually that's about the only female mag they ever have. And I really don't care for Family Circle. Aside from the fact that the pieces are not terribly affirming for a working mother who is also an academic (I should be home cooking, gardening, and obsessing about my chiuld's development, shouldn't I?), I find the prescribed religiosity and casualness with which a Christian point of view is rammed down readers' throats incredibly off putting.) In any case, of the three, Esquire has the most interesting articles and GQ the best ads. Family Cirlce has some good recipes, but that's not usually what I want to read as I sweat my ass off and pray dinner will be ready when I get home. If I were to cook, FC might come in handy. If I were to cook. Not that I don't cook; I do, and I'm pretty good at it. But I hate thinking about food while I'm exercising. It's like rubbing salt in the wound, ya know?
BVack to why I'm here and sharing my writing in this public arena: Looking over a colleague's syllabus, I saw how he used blogspot as a way to connect students and expand their writing opportunities. I strongly believe, as most writing instructors do, that writing should be something more than producing themes (dreadful stuff, themes) for an arbitrary teacher sitting on his/her throne made of red pens. So, why not, I thought, do something similar in my own courses? Students could respond to whatever prompt I provide, but they could also make the space their own: a unique public space from which they could extemporize on the latest Bright Eyes or Black Eyed Peas CD, review or trash a film, share their impressions of an art gallery oping or concert, or whatever else may tickle their fancies. Within reason of course. Strictly PG-13.
We shall see how it works; I imagine it will be a very comfortable space for most students but some will find in intimidating. I know that I do. The only way I could get my motor running for this entry was to first stuff myself with Chinese food (sesame chicken and boiled dumplings, yum!), down 2 cups of coffee, and blast Joni Mitchell through my headphones. If it works, it works, yes?
The rules of the road will be announced in class but students generally will be asked to post at least once a week and to respond to their classmates' writing at least once a week as well. How to provide access to everyone's blogs will be the next trick ...
¶ 7:42 PM 0 comments
