Reading for this week was a lot of fun because this week we are doing book clubs. Each of us picked a partner and then the class split into 3 groups. For each group their are 4 to 5 pairs and we're reading short stories or poems picked by the other pairs in our group.
The readings picked by the pairs in my grouping are:
"The Crime," by Victor Hugo: http://books.google.com/books?id=9LvTAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
"The Queen of Hearts": http://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/digitalcoll/digitalcoll-children.html
“The Street That Got Mislaid,” by Patrick Waddington: http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/mislaid.html
“A Haunted House,” by Virginia Woolf: http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1388/a-haunted-house
The final one is the reading that my partner and I picked and I will write about that for my class reflection blog post.
As a general observation I found it really interesting that two of the readings chosen for this week felt very thematically tied to SI.
"The Crime" is a poem in which an individual has burned down a library and is being admonished for doing so. The voice which speaks for the majority of the poem exclaims "O most unheard-of crime!/ Crime, wretch, which you upon yourself/ commit!"The speaker goes on to explain that the library was the arsonist's own "treasure, fortune, heritage" that he has burned down this precious treasure that belonged to everyone and had the power to set minds and spirits free. His speech is lengthy and moving and touches upon nearly every argument that those of us at SI would likely come up with to convince someone of the virtues of libraries. (SPOILERS beyond this point) But there is a twist because at the very end the speaker says "Knowledge, and duty, virtue, progress, right,/ and reason scattering hence delirious dreams./ and you destroy this, you!" and the man who has burnt down the library replies simply "I cannot read." What I loved about this is the way in which it brings all of our lofty ideas about libraries crashing to the ground. This poem was written in a very different time from our own, but in spite of the years that separate it and us one thing is still true and far too often overlooked. Literacy is a sign of privilege, it is not a given, and assuming that it is makes invisible a vast number of people.
I enjoyed this poem because of the way it managed to upturn some very universal assumptions, and make me consider things from s different perspective.
"The Street That Got Mislaid" is the other reading that I felt was thematically appropriate for SI because it is about a man who works in the filing section (ARM anyone?) of the city hall's engineering department, sometime in mid 20th century. This man's job is not glamorous or exciting, and he seems to live a fairly quite, rather lonely life. Yet he is clearly passionate about his job, sees the importance of it in keeping order. He tries to explain why the records he provides diligent stewardship for are important to a neighbor:
"You live here on Oven Street because it says so in my filing cabinet at city hall. The post office sends you mail because my card index tells it to. If my cards didn't say so, you wouldn't exist and Oven Street wouldn't either. That, my friend, is the triumph of bureaucracy."
The order and care for the documentation are beautiful and yet, also so utterly ridiculous.
The one day quite by accident, he discovers an index card jammed into the top of a filing drawer. He discovers a lost street, a street that has been mislaid.
I think in many ways this story is about letting go of the rigidity and structure we impose on our daily lives and finding peace in the simple joy of living and enjoying the company of others. Yet the ARM student in me couldn't help but love the thrill of discovering a lost and forgotten record, and the decisions that come along with such a discovery.
"The Queen of Hearts"is a poem or nursery rhyme that pretty much everyone knows, and could probably even recite from memory.
However, because it was so simple and because I simply can't let things be I did a little research and discovered some interesting facts. Everyone is familiar with the above rhyme and the Queen of Hearts from f Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but what I did not realize or even really think about until reading it is that the poem was actually written after Carroll's classic story. The poem also originally had verses about the king and queen of the 3 other suits as well, but those were never very popular and eventually disappeared from the poem all together.
The readings picked by the pairs in my grouping are:
"The Crime," by Victor Hugo: http://books.google.com/books?id=9LvTAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
"The Queen of Hearts": http://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/digitalcoll/digitalcoll-children.html
“The Street That Got Mislaid,” by Patrick Waddington: http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/mislaid.html
“A Haunted House,” by Virginia Woolf: http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1388/a-haunted-house
The final one is the reading that my partner and I picked and I will write about that for my class reflection blog post.
As a general observation I found it really interesting that two of the readings chosen for this week felt very thematically tied to SI.
"The Crime" is a poem in which an individual has burned down a library and is being admonished for doing so. The voice which speaks for the majority of the poem exclaims "O most unheard-of crime!/ Crime, wretch, which you upon yourself/ commit!"The speaker goes on to explain that the library was the arsonist's own "treasure, fortune, heritage" that he has burned down this precious treasure that belonged to everyone and had the power to set minds and spirits free. His speech is lengthy and moving and touches upon nearly every argument that those of us at SI would likely come up with to convince someone of the virtues of libraries. (SPOILERS beyond this point) But there is a twist because at the very end the speaker says "Knowledge, and duty, virtue, progress, right,/ and reason scattering hence delirious dreams./ and you destroy this, you!" and the man who has burnt down the library replies simply "I cannot read." What I loved about this is the way in which it brings all of our lofty ideas about libraries crashing to the ground. This poem was written in a very different time from our own, but in spite of the years that separate it and us one thing is still true and far too often overlooked. Literacy is a sign of privilege, it is not a given, and assuming that it is makes invisible a vast number of people.
I enjoyed this poem because of the way it managed to upturn some very universal assumptions, and make me consider things from s different perspective.
"The Street That Got Mislaid" is the other reading that I felt was thematically appropriate for SI because it is about a man who works in the filing section (ARM anyone?) of the city hall's engineering department, sometime in mid 20th century. This man's job is not glamorous or exciting, and he seems to live a fairly quite, rather lonely life. Yet he is clearly passionate about his job, sees the importance of it in keeping order. He tries to explain why the records he provides diligent stewardship for are important to a neighbor:
"You live here on Oven Street because it says so in my filing cabinet at city hall. The post office sends you mail because my card index tells it to. If my cards didn't say so, you wouldn't exist and Oven Street wouldn't either. That, my friend, is the triumph of bureaucracy."
The order and care for the documentation are beautiful and yet, also so utterly ridiculous.
The one day quite by accident, he discovers an index card jammed into the top of a filing drawer. He discovers a lost street, a street that has been mislaid.
I think in many ways this story is about letting go of the rigidity and structure we impose on our daily lives and finding peace in the simple joy of living and enjoying the company of others. Yet the ARM student in me couldn't help but love the thrill of discovering a lost and forgotten record, and the decisions that come along with such a discovery.
"The Queen of Hearts"is a poem or nursery rhyme that pretty much everyone knows, and could probably even recite from memory.
- The Queen of Hearts
- She made some tarts,
- All on a summer's day;
- The Knave of Hearts
- He stole those tarts,
- And took them clean away.
- The King of Hearts
- Called for the tarts,
- And beat the knave full sore;
- The Knave of Hearts
- Brought back the tarts,
- And vowed he'd steal no more.
However, because it was so simple and because I simply can't let things be I did a little research and discovered some interesting facts. Everyone is familiar with the above rhyme and the Queen of Hearts from f Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but what I did not realize or even really think about until reading it is that the poem was actually written after Carroll's classic story. The poem also originally had verses about the king and queen of the 3 other suits as well, but those were never very popular and eventually disappeared from the poem all together.
It's interesting that the readings tied so closely to SI, because most of the readings my group members chose did not. However, thankfully our readings were just as diverse as yours! It's also interesting that two of your readings were poems. My partner and I did not even think to look at poetry or nonfiction (which a pair in our group used), but those add much better diversity than just a slew of short fiction.
ReplyDeleteThe research you did on "The Queen of Hearts" is also cool! I had to do some research to prepare my own short story, and found a lot of surprises that made the story so much better. That's another good reason to participate in book clubs. You are able to take the time and find what interests you about whatever you're reading, rather than be tethered to an assignment.
I also appreciate the spoiler warning!
The readings in your book group for the week sound really interesting! One of the things I really enjoyed about my own book group was the diversity in readings. It's really cool that you had multiple poems in your group also, we didn't have any in my group and I think that would be really fun to have in a book club!
ReplyDeleteLike Grace, I also found your research into the Queen of Hearts poem/nursery. I do not know Alice in Wonderland very well or have much/any memory of the poem so I found the information you provided on that helpful! I personally am very interested in researching references in literature. I think that book clubs provide a good space to discuss the historical or cultural significance of references and the implications of them in the reading.
I think your group will have a lot of fun discussing all of the chosen readings!
Thanks for blocking the spoilers! I don't know if I've seen that trick before, but I like it!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how you picked out a sort of SI theme from the selections. Maybe we tend to gravitate toward topics that are already on our mind, or maybe it was a deliberate effort to choose something that would be of interest to most people in the class. Either way, it sort of helps to tie the stories together.
Clever spoiler masking!
ReplyDelete