IdeaFestival

Harry Potter Forever!

As anyone who has seen my cubicle at work knows, I am a Harry Potter fan. Yes, I admit it. I am not a closet fan as many of you out there are (you KNOW who you are don't deny it anymore). I also freely admit that I have read the books several times (too many to count) and have all of the movies and have seen them several times as well. In fact I am currently watching a Harry Potter marathon on ABC family.

I can't explain my fascination with the series. It started when I was looking for works that I thought young teens would like to read. Someone handed me the first book, and I was hooked. There is something so simple yet so amazing about the stories. For those who loved Lord of the Rings, I suppose it is a bit like that. Except for the languages and the battles and the quest (although Harry does go on a quest) we have all the elements of a "good vs evil" story. Will Harry defeat Voldemort?  Is Snape truly evil? Will Draco get his comeuppance? (that's my favorite word du jour by the way). We just don't know! Actually I do because I bought the final book at midnight and read it in 10 hours flat! But I continue to read them because I love the characters, the story and I love hating Voldemort and Snape, and Draco....

We all have our little quirky things we love (in my 20's it was Star Trek and I collected all the hallmark ornaments ;) for the past few years it's been Harry Potter. But now that he's finished what shall I do!? I've tried to replace him with other works but none seems to do. So I will continue to read them until either a. JK Rowling decides to bring the series to life again or b. I find another series to obsess about. Later,

Tina

The Importance of Being Earnest

At the risk of sounding like a sad English teacher pushing her favorite works on the masses, I give you The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. Much like Chaucer, Oscar Wilde was a genius at commenting on society. Lady Bracknell is one of my favorite characters, not because I admire her politics (hehe) but because she is so ruthlessly honest that it comes off as funny. 

This is just a small scene but I highly recommend this film version of the play.

TIna

Vampire objections

Once again I find myself reflecting on something that Wayne has posted. The Math of Eternal Life brought to mind Anne Rice, who is probably my favorite author.

Although I heart Harry Potter, (more on him some time soon) Anne was with me through college and grad school, and later when I taught AP English literature. She was the one who made me appreciate writing as a craft and not just something that people did so I could be amused or educated. Anne is most known for her Vampire Chronicles, a series of books whose lead character Lestat is both antogonist and protagnoist. We love and hate him. He is feared and adored. Anne's ability to make us actually "see" her world and believe is part of her talent. But what makes her series so lasting (pun intended) is her ability to make us ponder eternal life. Lestat, Louis and all of the other vampires continually bemoan the fact that they must live forever. This along with the fact that most don't seem so ready to walk into the sun and give it up either. 

The series is violent, beautiful and thought-provoking. Anne says of the works,

The major theme of the novel is the misery of this character because he cannot find redemption and does not have the strength to end the evil of which he knows himself to be a part. This book reflects for me a protest against the post World War II nihilism to which I was exposed in college from 1960 through 1972. It is an expression of grief for a lost religious heritage that seemed at that time beyond recovery.

What better character to delve into the question of eternal life than one that seems to be cursed into that existence, a vampire? These books are certainly not for everyone, but if you have the time and the stomach for it, start with Interview With The Vampire, and then see what you think.

Tina 

Moral Grammar, "Crime and Punishment"

Reading Wayne's post "Do we posses a Universal Moral Grammar", brought back wonderful memories of Dostoevsky's most read novel, Crime and Punishment. Wonderful because it was the first novel my Senior AP English Literature students read and we just loved saying all those Russian names.

Written after his stint in prison in Siberia, this novel explores the very question of passion vs reason. Written in the stream-of-consciousness of the main character, Raskolnikov, it takes us through his Psyche via his aimless wandering and confusing rationalizations of "I did something wrong, but she deserved it, I did something wrong, but I'm helping society, I did something wrong, but I needed the money....." and it goes on and on until his mind and the purity of the ironic prostitute Sophia, get the best of him.

"Oh, God, how loathsome it all is! and can I, can I possibly.... No, it's nonsense, it's rubbish!" he added resolutely. "And how could such an atrocious thing come into my head? What filthy things my heart is capable of. Yes, filthy above all, disgusting, loathsome, loathsome!--and for a whole month I've been.... But no words, no exclamations, could express his agitation."

And so it goes until he actually does commit the murder in a gruesome, terrible fashion. (I dare not post that excerpt here as it really is quite atrocious and you'll just have to read it yourself to believe me)

Do we possess a universal moral grammar? Raskolnikov (don't you just love that name?) is the perfect character to study because his thoughts are based on the interviews Dostoevsky, while he was incarcerated, had with criminals. It's a great read and one I highly recommend.

TIna

Chaucer told it like it was

As most of our literary attention is often given to the bard, William Shakespeare (and rightly so) I thought it only fitting to spend some time discussing one given the title "The father of English Poetry", Geoffrey Chaucer. If Chaucer and Shakespeare were side by side, Shakespeare would get the limo and Chaucer would be left to search for a cab.

Pretend Play and Metaphor

The importance of pretend play has long been noted as an important milestone in children's development.  Pretend Play allows children to experiment with social situations, strengthen vocabulary and build critical thinking skills. A child who engages in pretend play is also beginning the process of metaphorical thinking. 

One cannot think without metaphors. Metaphors are our way of making connections with the rest of the world; it is our way of understanding new ideas and learning. George Lakoff, another of my favorite linguists, explains the concept of metaphor and its relationship to our thinking. But what he doesn't do is talk about the process of becoming metaphorical.

That's where pretend play comes in.

Poetry if you just don't have the time

I don't know very many people who sit around reading poetry.  In fact, the only ones I've ever known to sit around and read poetry are love-sick teenage girls who discovered the writings of Jewell when she was at her peak in the music industry years ago. No, it just isn't fashionable to read poetry. I admit that I too, do not sit around and contemplate the writings of Browning, Donne or Frost. In fact the only time I really ever do read poetry (did read poetry) was during my work as an English teacher in which I had to include the study of poetry in English language arts. 

It is a shame though. There are a great many poems out there worth the time and so for this entry I shall attempt to get the masses (all 5 of you) who read this post to become familiar with some very famous, very good poems.

Shakespeare, Hollywood Style

If you've never watched Kenneth Branaghs version of Much Ado About Nothing, you simply must. Catch a short piece of it here. Besides the fact that he looks a lot like my husband (:) and I think he is absolutely yummy, his is, honestly, one of the best Shakespearean actors out there. 

One really must see a Shakespearean play. Although we study the bard's language in class and watch some movies and try, oh try to help 14 year-olds understand the passion of Romeo and Juliet, it really doesn't do the plays justice unless someone with a particular talent at understanding those lines delivers them in an appropriate fashion. 

Actually, anything Branagh does is splendid but if you are sitting home one night thinking, "I really need to watch a Shakespearean play to hone my Elizabethan language skills", this movie is the one to see.  Of course if you'd rather see a tragedy and ponder the meaning of "to be or not to be", his version of Hamlet is fabulous as well. 

Tina

Right vs Wrong; the debate about GRAMMAR

I've been waiting for years for the chance to say this on a grand scale and alas the time has come! When it comes to grammar, THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG!!!!!!!  But you cry, "how so!  Blasphemy"  "Mustn't we protect the language!" NO. You mustn't. We mustn't. There is nothing to protect. The truth is our language has always been changing and will continue to change. There are a few kinks to this way of thinking though.

Poisonwood Language

Dr. Robert St. Clair is a good friend and mentor of mine whose work I have followed since he taught me in graduate school. A linguist, philosopher and teacher he has written tons of stuff on language, society, metaphor, communications and countless other topics. Most of the time I agree with him, but while perusing some of his essays on metaphor and culture I came across one that, alas, I must admit perplexed me.

In his article, “Cultural Wisdom, Communication Theory and the Metaphor of Resonance”, St. Clair attempts to discuss the disadvantages of language, by asserting that authors are limited in their ability to connect with readers on a deeper level because language is limited. He says that “any theory of literary analysis which is based on linguistic structuralism has definite limitations”. Well, yes maybe. I mean who can say how many times we’ve said, “there just aren’t enough words”. Or “I can’t find the words.” I agree that sometimes it might be a hit or miss for an author. It’s one of the reasons some people loved Bridges of Madison County and why some of us said, “ehhh.” It’s why there are classics of literature that have survived centuries and why other works fade into oblivion.

But there are those moments in literature where somewhere, someone resonates with what the speaker says.

The first time I read The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, my daughter was just a year old and I had decided she was the last. So when I got to the paragraph that describes that experience, I sobbed and told my husband (who really thought I had lost it for a moment) “You’ve got to read this paragraph!”

But the last one; the baby who trails her scent like a flag of surrender through your life when there will be no more coming after- oh, that’s love by a different name. She is the babe you hold in your arms for an hour after she’s gone to sleep. If you put her down in the crib, she might wake up changed and fly away. So instead you rock by the window, drinking the light from her skin, breathing her exhaled dreams. Your heart bays to the double crescent moons of closed lashes on her cheeks. She’s the one you can’t put down.

St. Clair uses the tuning fork to describe the metaphor of resonance and how some things just can’t be related through words, and I am drawn back to this moment in my literature experience that has stayed with me now for five years. My daughter is six now and I still read that paragraph with a catch in my throat. I resonate that experience; those words are like a tuning fork to my heart because my heart has been there, and I KNOW that feeling. It’s why we continue to read; it’s why we continue to write, to create, to blog…. Because sometimes there really are enough words.

Tina